Wyndham Clark heads to the U.S. Open weekend at Shinnecock with the lead, momentum and a familiar swagger after opening rounds of 64 and 69.
Wyndham Clark is back in U.S. Open bully mode, and Shinnecock Hills is starting to look like his kind of fight.
Clark followed an electric opening-round 64 with a tougher, more revealing 69 on Friday, moving to 7-under and grabbing the outright lead heading into the weekend.
Thursday showed the firepower. Friday showed the grit. At a U.S. Open, that second piece usually matters more.
This was not some soft, stress-free lap around Shinnecock. The wind showed up. The greens got firmer. Players around him started leaking shots.
Clark didn’t run away cleanly, but he didn’t blink either. He opened with eight straight pars before a three-putt bogey at No. 9 could’ve started the wobble.
Instead, he steadied himself, kept attacking and found the kind of shots that separate contenders from survivors.
The key burst came on the back nine.
Clark birdied the 12th after stuffing an iron inside 5 feet, then poured in a 29-footer at the 13th to stretch his lead. Even when he got loose off the tee late, especially around Nos. 14, 15 and 16, he managed the damage instead of letting the round explode.
Then came the punctuation mark: a 33-foot birdie at the 18th that sent him into Saturday looking dangerous.
If this version of Clark feels familiar, it should.
This is the same combustible, confident player who stared down Rory McIlroy and won the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. When Clark is rolling, he doesn’t play quietly.
He walks like he expects the next shot to behave, swings like the wind is someone else’s problem and putts like every cup owes him money.
The difference now is the road back. Clark has been open about a rough 2025, a shaken mental game and the locker-smashing incident after missing the cut at Oakmont with back-to-back 74s.
He’s spent plenty of time answering for that moment. This week is a chance to write something louder.
Working with swing coach Pat Coyner, Clark has rebuilt pieces of the game that once made him a major champion. His win at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, capped by a final-round 60, hinted the ceiling was still there.
Now, at Shinnecock, the ceiling is staring at everyone.
There are 36 holes left, and the U.S. Open has a way of eating confidence whole. But Clark has already proven he can win this kind of knife fight.
He’s not just leading. He looks like he believes it again.
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