Wyndham Clark Takes Four Shot Lead At US Open After Second Round At Shinnecock Hills

Wyndham Clark is now leading the U.S. Open by four shots and now going into the final two days of the tournament. He played his second round on Friday at Shinnecock Hills GolfClub and finished one shot under par for that round, which surprisingly puts him at seven shots under par for the tournament so far. This comes right after he had an incredible first round where he finished six shots under par, so even though Friday's round wasn't as clean or as impressive as his first one, but he still ended the day in a really strong position with two rounds down and two to go.

Clark actually had some unfinished business to take care of before his second round even actually began, since it was a bad weather that had delayed his first round and he still had two holes left to finish from the day before. By the time he was ready to start his second round properly, the four-shot lead he had been sitting on overnight had already shrunk down to just two shots, because the player he was paired with, Dustin Johnson, had scored really well late in the previous evening.

Things got a little rocky for Clark early on too, as he managed nothing but pars for his first eight holes and then actually lost a shot on hole number nine, dropping him down to five shots under par overall. Johnson then scored well again on hole ten, and for a brief moment it genuinely looked like the gap between the two players might close completely. But then Johnson's game completely fell apart. He lost eight shots over his next five holes, including some really costly mistakes, while Clark managed to settle himself down and score well twice in a row on holes twelve and thirteen, which helped him pull well ahead of the rest of the players again.

Clark kept running into trouble off the tee through the middle part of his round, ending up in difficult spots on both hole fourteen and hole fifteen, but somehow managed to avoid losing any shots on either hole. His luck finally ran out on hole sixteen, where a poor shot off the tee led to him getting stuck in sand traps and eventually losing a shot there. His overall ball striking was not nearly as sharp as it but had been the day before, he also struggled a bit with longer putts for a good portion of the round, but he still found a way to finish it by sinking a long putt from quite far away on the very last hole, which locked in his four-shot lead as he walked off the course.

The players which are closest to him on the leaderboard at that point were Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele, both were three shots under par, while well known players like Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg were still out on the course later that day trying to catch up to him.

Sportscapefeels that Clark still managed to score well even on a day when his game clearly was not at its best, and that kind of toughness usually matters more at a tournament like the U.S. Open than simply playing a flashy, perfect round. Watching Johnson completely fall apart while playing right alongside him is a good reminder of just how quickly things can go wrong on this particular golf course. The next two days are going to reveal a lot more about whether Clark can actually hold on and win his second major championship, far more than anything that has happened so far this week.