Tom Kim is watching Wyndham Clark carry the outright lead into the weekend at the U.S. Open after rounds of 64 and 69 at Shinnecock Hills. The position puts Clark ahead with 36 holes left and keeps his name at the top after a rough stretch that included last year’s miss at Oakmont.
Clark’s first two rounds added up to 133, and that is the number that matters now. He was 64 on Thursday and 69 on Friday, a two-round total that left him alone in front as the field moved toward the final two days.
Shinnecock Hills pace
The Friday round was the tighter one. Clark still posted 69 after opening with 64, and that combination was enough to separate him from the pack at Shinnecock Hills. He won THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson with a final-round 60, and that earlier burst gives a clean comparison point for how low he can go when the putter and swing are in sync.
The leaderboard position also fits a better run than the one he carried through much of 2025. He played well at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, and outside of that stretch he had been mostly a non-factor except for three weeks around The Open Championship.
Oakmont and Clark and Pat Coyner
The harder layer sits behind the scoring. Last year at Oakmont, Clark shot 74-74 to miss the cut and smashed a locker on the way out, and he spent the last year answering for that moment while trying to rebuild the swing and the public image around it.
Over the offseason, Clark and Pat Coyner started working on the rebuild, and the work brought his swing back to where it was in 2023 when he won his U.S. Open. That is the backdrop to the lead now: a player trying to turn a tournament position into something larger than one round.
Clark said Friday, "I've gotten a lot of grief since last year, rightfully so" and "The thing that's unfortunate is that's not who I am, what happened last year." He added, "I'm hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible incident." The final 36 holes now ask whether the score holds up while that old moment keeps following him around.
