{"id":24207,"date":"2026-06-20T10:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/24207\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T10:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:39:05","slug":"wyndham-clark-breaks-shinnecock-record-to-seize-commanding-lead-at-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/24207\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyndham Clark breaks Shinnecock record to seize commanding lead at US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wyndham Clark held off charges by fellow major winners Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Collin Morikawa to seize a four-stroke lead in Friday’s second round of the US Open<\/a> at a blustery Shinnecock.<\/p>\n

Clark, the 2023 US Open winner, curled in a 33-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to fire a one-under-par 69 and stand on seven-under 133 for 36 holes.<\/p>\n

“I had it on a good line and I almost really called it,” Clark said of his last putt. “I’m glad it went in. It was a great way to finish the round.”<\/p>\n

Clark posted the lowest 36-hole US Open score ever at Shinnecock, his 133 sitting one under the old mark set by Phil Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama back in 2004.<\/p>\n

A second-place pack on 137 included England’s Fitzpatrick, South Korean Tom Kim and Americans Schauffele and Sam Stevens, with American Morikawa on 138.<\/p>\n

On a gruelling 20-hole day, Clark parred his first 10, starting with two holes to complete a six-under 64 opening round after a severe fog delay prevented completion on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old American began his second round with eight pars but lipped out a 43-foot birdie putt at the ninth, then missed a three-foot comeback effort.<\/p>\n

“Had an awesome day yesterday and then came out today, wasn’t as good, but I really fought and hopefully this is the toughest day for me,” Clark said.<\/p>\n

Clark sank a five-foot birdie putt at the 12th and added a birdie putt from just beyond 28 feet at the 13th, then made bogey at the par-five 16th before his closing birdie.<\/p>\n

England’s Fitzpatrick fired a 70. The 2022 US Open winner had bogeys at the 11th, following a five-foot par putt miss, and the 12th, where his second shot struck a buggy path.<\/p>\n

He birdied the par-five 16th from just inside 10 feet and sank a 13-foot birdie putt at the 18th.<\/p>\n

“Two in the last three is always nice, especially at a US Open,” Fitzpatrick said. “Struggled a little bit off the tee on the back nine, but overall scrambled incredibly well to be where I am.”<\/p>\n

Two-time major winner Schauffele, a back-nine starter, birdied three of his last four holes before the turn and sandwiched birdies at the fourth and sixth around his lone bogey in shooting a 66.<\/p>\n

“Pretty pumped to come out and shoot something low,” Schauffele said. “It’s just a lot of patience and good golf shots, for the most part.”<\/p>\n

Two-time major winner Morikawa made five birdies in his first 10 holes in shooting a 65. The American birdied the 15th and 16th but made bogey at the par-three 17th.<\/p>\n

“I chipped it a lot better,” said Morikawa. “That’s the difference of kicking yourself out of a tournament, keeping yourself in it.”<\/p>\n

Justin Thomas, a two-time winner of the PGA Championship, closed with a birdie at the ninth to shoot a 68 and stand on 139.<\/p>\n

Others fell by the wayside.<\/p>\n

Second-ranked Rory McIlroy began the back nine with three bogeys and erased birdies at the 13th and 14th with a double-bogey at the 15th in shooting a 71 to stand on 140.<\/p>\n

“Back nine was a bit of a battle,” McIlroy said. “Couldn’t stop getting myself to hit it over the back of the green… still feel like I’m in the tournament and in with a decent chance.”<\/p>\n

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, who would complete a career Grand Slam with a victory, shot a 68 to stand on 140.<\/p>\n

Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson pulled within a stroke of Clark with a birdie on the 10th, only to double-bogey the par-three 11th and bogey the 12th and 13th on his way to a 77 to finish on 143.<\/p>\n

Fellow American Gary Woodland, the 2019 US Open winner, began with a birdie but made bogeys on four of the next six holes and shot a 73 to stand on 140.<\/p>\n

Those missing the cut included two-time major winners Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, defending champion JJ Spaun and Australian Adam Scott in his 100th consecutive major.<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wyndham Clark held off charges by fellow major winners Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Collin Morikawa to seize…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9743,495,3587,2385,9739,9740,9744,87,1553,2113,2002,2199,6113,2225,528,1516,1399,531,1482,399,2168,208,9741,3812,9742,2425,1037,424,1401],"class_list":["post-24207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-collin-morikawa","tag-9743","tag-adam-scott","tag-afp","tag-american","tag-american-morikawa","tag-americans-schauffele","tag-australian","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-collin-morikawa","tag-dustin-johnson","tag-england","tag-gary-woodland","tag-grand-slam","tag-jj-spaun","tag-jon-rahm","tag-justin-thomas","tag-matt-fitzpatrick","tag-pga-championship","tag-phil-mickelson","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-sam-stevens","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-shigeki-maruyama","tag-shinnecock","tag-south-korean","tag-tom-kim","tag-us-open","tag-wyndham-clark","tag-xander-schauffele"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}