SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Wyndham Clark keeps leaving his mark on Shinnecock Hills. He finished off the lowest opening round in a U.S. Open on this fearsome course Friday morning, and then he delivered two big birdie putts and set the 36-hole standard and build a four-shot lead going into the weekend.
With so much chaos and cringing around him, Clark played a steady hand — a far cry from where he was at the U.S. Open last year when he missed the cut
and smashed up a locker at storied Oakmont.
His last act was a 35-foot birdie putt down the slope on the 18th green that dropped for a 1-under 69. That put him at 7-under 133, one shot better than Phil Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama at the halfway point in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills.
And he thinks he could be better.
“I really felt like I could be in double digits (under par),” Clark said. “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.”
Xander Schauffele, with the best U.S. Open record of anyone without a U.S. Open title over the last 10 years, had a 66 to finish at 137 along with Matt Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open champion who birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 70.
They were joined at 137 in the afternoon, when the course began to dry, by Sam Stevens (69) and Tom Kim (67).
Scottie Scheffler still has the career Grand Slam in his sights. He missed only two fairways and hit his last 10 greens for a 68 that left him the group at 140, along with Rory McIlroy (71) who was closing in on Clark until starting the back nine with three straight bogeys.
Both feel they are right in the thick of it, though so much depends on Clark and what the USGA has in mind for a Shinnecock course that only figures to get drier, faster and scarier over the next two days.
“If there’s a course where you feel like you still have a chance if you’re seven back going into the weekend like I am, it’s definitely this one,” McIlroy said.
It's a better chance than Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, the two biggest stars from LIV Golf who missed the cut. DeChambeau left early from his third straight major.
The shocker was Rahm, a runner-up at the PGA Championship last month. He didn't make a bogey until his 21st hole. But he shot 41 on the back nine for a 78 to match his highest score in a U.S. Open, also at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.
The cut came at 4-over 144.
The 10 players who remained under par was one short of the record for Shinnecock in 2004. That was the year the field averaged 78.7 in the final round.
The most remarkable day belonged to Joaquin Niemann. He made a 9 on No. 6 — his 15th and final hole of the fog-delayed first round that was halted by darkness — only for it to become an 11 when the USGA penalized two shots for bad behavior.
Niemann hit two drives off the property, chopped his way up the fairway and finally lost it by heaving his club. The majors are cracking down on behavior this year — the Masters was the first to use the policy this year — and the USGA deemed it serious enough to skip the warning and go straight to the harsh two-shot penalty.
Niemann headed out for his second round, made five birdies in six holes and shot 65 to make it to the weekend at 3-over 143. It was the first time in 97 years at the U.S. Open someone made 10 or worse in a U.S. Open and still make the cut.
“All the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn’t resist to throw it away,” Niemann said. “There was no people, obviously. No one there. I’m not proud of it, but yeah, sometimes all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated. And that was me there.”
Collin Morikawa also shot 65 to match Niemann for the low score Friday, only his performance put him in sixth place, five shots behind. Justin Thomas and Sam Burns, who played in the final group at the U.S. Open last year, were in the group of players at 139.
The wind wasn't as strong as Thursday, and while the course was still relatively soft by U.S. Open standards — greens were being sprayed in the early morning — the sun was out and test was getting a little bit tougher.
It was a long day for Clark and the other finishers because they had to return at 6:35 a.m. to resume the first round — 10 hours after they walked off the course.
Clark finished with two pars for a 64, the lowest start ever for a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, and had a two-shot lead. He doubled that, and no one could catch him.
He was on a heater coming into Shinnecock Hills, winning The CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a 60 in the final round, contending in the Memorial and the Canadian Open the last two weeks. Frustration peaked a year ago at Oakmont and in the months that followed. Now, he appears to be more comfortable with each day.
“Momentum is a huge thing in golf, and I feel like I have it right now,” Clark said.
Schauffele has seven top 10s in his nine U.S. Open appearances, a Californian who keeps his cool even amid a tough test.
“It’s a brutal week,” Schauffele said. “Everyone watching at home wants to see guys shooting in the 80s and doing crazy things. I get it. You know, it’s once a year you get to see some carnage, and it’s at a U.S. Open. Try to embrace it as much as you can.”
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