Tom Rock: Wyndham Clark makes locker full of birdies to lead U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills
Wyndham Clark after sinking a putt in the second round of the U.S. Open on Friday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
The player lockers at Shinnecock Hills have survived to reach the weekend.
They’ve been there, in one form or another, since America’s oldest golf clubhouse was built in 1892. But coming into this weekend’s U.S. Open, there was at least a shade of doubt that they’d make the cut. The ones at Oakmont Country Club, site of last year’s U.S. Open? They did not.
Wyndham Clark, who bogeyed the final hole of his second round in that Open and failed to advance to the third and fourth by what turned out to be that single stroke, took his frustrations out on a century-old changing stall there. He was conditionally banned from the club, publicly apologized, and has since worked hard enough to improve his game and his psyche that the difference has been noticeable.
Even with all of that self-improvement and his comments just a few days ago that he wanted to find “redemption” for his actions here, there was an uneasy potential for more angry outbursts and damaging tantrums this week. Shinnecock has a way of getting under the skin of golfers with the most mellow dispositions. Imagine what it can do to a sleep-deprived guy with a fuse the length of a gimme tap-in?
But those fears were quickly erased as the action unfolded.
Clark jumped out to the lead after the first round (which he completed on Friday morning after his first day was cut short by darkness) when he shot a 6-under-par 64 and ended his Day 2 with a 33-foot birdie putt on 18 for a 69 that put him at 7 under. As he walked off the course for a well-deserved break after 36 holes played in the span of about 20 hours with only five or so hours of rest, he not only had a four-stroke lead over his closest competitors — Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Sam Stevens were all at 3 under at that moment — but he had posted the lowest opening two-day score in U.S. Open history at Shinnecock Hills.
That lead held throughout the rest of the day, although Tom Kim eventually joined the group at minus-3.
Clark said he felt he should have done even better and gotten to “10 or 11 under” after the way he started out on Thursday. If he had done that, he likely could have threatened the largest 36-hole lead in any U.S. Open, the six-stroke advantages enjoyed by Tiger Woods in 2000, Rory McIlroy in 2011 and Martin Kaymer in 2014. All three of those players won their tournaments.
He never reached that unimaginable score — he came into the tournament thinking even-par could win the whole thing — but he definitely liked where he was.
“Momentum is a huge thing in golf, and I feel like I have it right now,” he said. “Just keep it going. Keep pushing that momentum ball down the hill.”
It’s been another example of golf’s most all-or-nothing player. He won the 2023 U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club, but in his four other career U.S. Open starts before this one, he missed the cut three times and finished tied for 56th at 12 over in the other.
At this point, it seems his switch is toggled back to the “all,” and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to find a balance in that regard. Instead he is focused on figuring out how to live with the extremes.
“I was on top of the world in my game, at least when I won the U.S. Open, and then had some good years,” Clark said on Friday. “Then next thing you know, I’m apologizing for breaking a locker a year later.
“I just think with the mental game, there’s ebbs and flows. I think that’s kind of what happens both on the golf course and off the golf course. Right now I’m trending back up, which is nice.”
Nice for the fans at Shinnecock to see, too. As Clark walked off the green on Friday holding hands with his wife and smiling, it was a very different image from the one he has become more well-known for. He probably got more attention for his impromptu demo work at last year’s Open than he did for winning two years earlier.
“I’ve gotten a lot of grief since last year, and rightfully so,” he said on Friday. “The thing that’s unfortunate is that’s not who I am . . . I really feel like I can show people that I’m fun and outgoing. I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game. I just had a bad moment.”
He hasn’t had many of those in this Open.
Good for him. Good for golf.
And most of all, good for those poor defenseless old lockers!
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
