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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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Wyndham Clark conquered the golf course at Shinnecock Hills in a spectacular second round performance that made history during the U.S. Open.
He got off to a 6-under 64 for his opening round on Thursday, which also included a delay. Clark then followed up with an impressive 1-under-69 on Friday to set a new record.
He now has the lowest 36-hole performance for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Friday's round featured three birdies on the back nine, which helped him keep his spot atop the leaderboard for the weekend.
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Clark has one other performance where he opened his first two rounds in the 60s. He did so at the 2023 U.S. Open, which he won, which has to serve as strong motivation heading towards the final two rounds.
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The 2023 U.S. Open is the only major that Clark won, where he bested one of the world's best golfers, Rory McIlroy, by one stroke to finish as the winner.
He currently leads by four and looks to be in a very good position heading into this weekend, but there are plenty of contenders in the hunt.
McIlroy currently sits in a tie for 10th on the leaderboard at this year's Open, with multiple golfers, including Scottie Scheffler, Akshay Bhatia, and Maverick McNealy, among others.
Trailing Clark are four golfers in a tie for second: Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim, Sam Stevens, and Matt Fitzpatrick.
"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," Clark said after Friday's second round. "Hopefully, I can bring my A-game on the weekend."
Last year, Clark made headlines with his poor performance during the U.S. Open at Oakmont. He missed making the cut by a shot, and then damaged the clubhouse locker room, resulting in the club banning him from the property.
Along with that, he had the incident this year where he threw a club during the PGA Championship after one of his bad drives. Clark missed the cut there, and has since apologized for the incident. He's now hoping he can change the perception of him.
"I've gotten 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, per ESPN. "I'm hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans, because it was a terrible incident."
After a rough start in the first four months of this year, Clark has performed very well in the past several months, including a win at The CJ Cup and a third-place finish at The Memorial Tournament earlier this month. Now he can add a second U.S. Open win in two years, an impressive feat that would give him a second major victory.
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