US Open, round two leaderboard
-7Â W Clark (US);Â -3Â M Fitzpatrick (Eng), T Kim (Kor), X Schauffele (US), S Stevens (US)
Selected: -2 C Morikawa (US); -1 J Thomas (US); Level A Fitzpatrick (Eng), R McIlroy (NI), S Scheffler (US); +1 A Rai (Eng), J Rose (Eng), L Aberg (Swe), T Fleetwood (Eng); +2 T Hatton (Eng); +4 R MacIntyre (Sco)
Once again the weather took top billing at Shinnecock Hills as Wyndham Clark built a healthy four-shot halfway lead at the US Open.
Scottie Scheffler called the gusting wind “the biggest challenge”, while Rory McIlroy pointed out their “side of the draw played in the windiest conditions and the scores show that” after the world’s top two finished the second round on level par for the championship, seven adrift of Clark.
It is, of course, one of the hazards of playing an outdoor sport with start times spread across a day. The scoring average shifted from 73.87 on Thursday morning to 71.97 for Friday’s early starters.
Clark, the 2023 champion, was one of those who took advantage of playing his first round in the more benign conditions late on Thursday and second round early on Friday, as he followed his opening six-under 64 with a 69.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open winner, was also on that side of the draw and is among Clark’s nearest challengers on three under after posting a 70. He was joined on that number by two-time major champion Xander Schauffele.
But the wind was not solely to blame given two players on McIlroy and Scheffler’s side of the draw are also four back and joint second – South Korea’s Tom Kim and American Sam Stevens.
McIlroy also reached three under after picking up two birdies in his opening eight holes and looked the most likely player to eat into Clark’s lead, before he was derailed by a combination of poorly executed shots and the strengthening wind on his second nine holes.
The blustery conditions were not as extreme as on Thursday when 40mph gusts of wind buffeted the Long Island course in New York state.
But they were clearly penal enough to trouble Scheffler, who struggled with his putting.
“With the amount of pitch you have on the greens, playing in the wind is extremely difficult, and judging speed on putts when the wind is blowing that hard can be challenging as well,” he said.
Clark aiming to restore reputation
Wyndham Clark missed the cut at the US PGA Championship last monthWhether out early-late or late-early, Clark is the player who has dealt best with both the weather and the notoriously tricky Shinnecock Hills layout.
The course played fairly on Friday, with championship organisers the United States Golf Association – who have accepted conditions at previous US Opens held at this course had been substandard – keeping a close eye on conditions.
And Clark superbly plotted his way round the course, holing a 33-foot birdie putt on the last to become the first player to reach seven under after 36 holes during a Shinnecock US Open.
The 32-year-old, who won his national title at the Los Angeles Country Club in 2023, had an infamous meltdown 12 months ago, smashing a locker in the clubhouse at Oakmont after missing the US Open cut.
That led to him receiving a ban from the Pennsylvania club until he underwent anger management therapy and paid for the repairs.
And while he has made reparations off the course, he has now put himself in a position to deliver some sort of public “redemption” on it, over the weekend.
“I’ve had a lot of grief since last year, rightfully so. The thing that’s unfortunate is that’s not who I am, what happened last year,” he said.
“I’m hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible incident.
“I really feel like I can show people that I’m fun and outgoing, I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment.
“I really felt like I could be in double digits, but you know, the great thing about that is I didn’t feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully I can bring my A-game on the weekend.”
Having established a healthy advantage on Friday, Clark at least now appears fully in control of his emotions having also broken the clubhead off a driver at the US PGA Championship prior to the locker-room incident.
And he also showed he is more than capable of playing the pantomime villain to a tee, when he wore a USA hockey jersey to needle home fans at last week’s RBC Canadian Open.
