Half the field head home at Shinnecock Hills
American Wyndham Clark shot a really impressive opening round of 6-under par 64 which he followed by a 69 to snatch the lead after 36 holes in the third Major of the season in the 2026 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, New York, USA (18-21 June). Winner of the 2023 US Open at the Los Angeles CC, 32-year old Wyndham Clark from Denver has a 4-stroke lead over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, Americans Xander Schauffele and Sam Stevens, and Tom Kim (Korea).
The 126th US Open got off to a challenging start when fog caused a two-hour delay to the tee-off times. However, Wyndham Clark was not the only player shining that day. One of the twenty American amateurs in the field, 21-year old Ryder Cowan from Edmond was on-course for a tremendous start. He was 1-under par after three holes and went on to shoot a super round of 2-under par 68 for a share of second place with a number of players including Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson who still had a few holes to be played early on Friday morning as lack of light stopped the golf at Shinnecock Hills.
In fact, Cowan even took the lead for a while after getting to 3-under par after eight holes.
Masters Champion, Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland was also an early leader after carding a round of 2-under par after 17 holes. Alas, a bogey down the final hole left the multi-Major winner on 1-under par.
A short while later American Sam Stevens took the clubhouse-lead with a 68.
Clark’s impressive lead
Wyndham Clark started his first round at the 10th where he knocked in birdies there and at the 11th. He followed that with another birdie at the 18th. The first nine saw him birdie the 3rd, 4th and then he made a brilliant eagle at the 597-yard par-5 5th. Clark actually finished his last two holes on Friday morning which resulted in a delighful round of 6-under par 64 and the outright lead in the US Open.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the US Open in 2022, had a glorious first day too with a 3-under par 67. On Friday he added a level par 70 to just about hang on to the shirt-tails of leader Wyndham Clark together with Xander Schauffele (71,76) , Sam Stevens (68,69) and Tom Kim (70,67).
Day two saw an American by the name of Harry Higgs excel at the par-3 11th hole where he holed an enormously long putt from about 75-feet off the green for birdie. The boost for the 34-year old from Camden, New Jersey saw him shoot-up the leaderboard with a 2-under par 68 with his opening 71 for a share of seventh spot with other Americans Justin Thomas, Sam Burns and Sahith Theegala.
And if you’re wondering who is five shots off the lead set by Wyndham Clark, well, that honour goes to Collin Morikawa (USA) who shot an impressively low round of 65 on day two for sole sixth on 138.
Eleven players share tie 11th on 140. They include Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick’s younger brother, Alex, together with William Mouw and amateur Ryder Cowan.
By the way, the freshly-crowned PGA Champion from England, Aaron Rai, lies in a tie for 22nd after carding a 67 on day two. He shares the spot with fellow-countrymen Justin Rose, winner of the US Open in 2013, and Tommy Fleetwood, and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.
Bye, Bye Bryson
Halfway through the US Open, there is a cut which sends the highest scores home. Alas, two-time US Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau (USA) waved bye-bye after carding one too many with rounds of 70-75. Among the 13 top players missing out on the weekend were Viktor Hovland (Norway), Rickie Fowler (USA) and Patrick Reed (USA). Two shots shy of making the cut were Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Spain’s Jon Rahm.
Defending champion J.J. Spaun had a tough time at Shinnecock Hills too shooting rounds of 77 and 71 to miss the cut by three shots.
But among the players just making the 4-over par cut was a collection of 13 players in a share of 60th place including Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), last year’s runner-up from Scotland Robert MacIntyre, and two amateurs Marek Fleming (USA) and Eric Lee (USA).
Today is ‘moving day’ in the US Open, so let’s watch the players carefully as they take a few extra risks to challenge Wyndham Clark who stands in number one spot.
Wendy Hoad
Editor
MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: American Wyndham Clark snatches the half-way lead in the 126th US Open.