Wyndham Clark takes four-shot lead as U.S. Open play is suspended

Wyndham Clark turned a late change in weather and setup into the best opening-round position at the 126th U.S. Open, reaching 6 under through 16 holes and building a four-shot lead before darkness stopped play at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Clark will return Friday morning to finish his final two holes, but the biggest question already hanging over the championship is whether his edge reflects major-championship form, or the timing of a tee time that caught the course after the wind eased. The United States Golf Association had softened Shinnecock with slower, more receptive greens and reasonable pin positions to keep it playable in the expected wind, and the afternoon wave benefited as conditions became noticeably easier.

The first round began with a two-hour fog delay, then swung sharply with the weather. Early starters faced gusts above 30 mph, and Rory McIlroy managed a 69 in those harsher conditions. The scoring average for that wave was well above 74, while the afternoon field played at least a stroke easier as the wind subsided. When play was suspended, 17 players were under par, a sign of how dramatically the course changed over the course of the day.

Clark made the most of the softer finish, riding a birdie-birdie-eagle stretch to separate from the field. He said, “Everything was kind of clicking,” and added that the wind had laid down by the time he teed off. That mattered at Shinnecock, where small changes in firmness and breeze can rewrite the scorecard in a hurry.

The venue itself added another layer to the scene. Shinnecock Hills, on Long Island in Southampton, N.Y., has now hosted the U.S. Open six times, with previous championships in 1896, 1986, 1995, 2004 and 2018. It is the only course to host the national championship in three different centuries, and this year’s field includes 156 players out of a record 10,201 entries.

Clark’s position also carried historical weight because of who trails him. He won the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club by one stroke over McIlroy after missing the cut in his two previous U.S. Open starts, and now he has another chance to turn a fast start into a title. John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer, said Thursday’s wind forecast could resemble the famously brutal 1992 Pebble Beach U.S. Open, with sustained winds of 12 to 24 mph and gusts approaching 40 mph. If that arrives, the shape of this leaderboard could change as quickly as the course did.