Wyndham Clark of Denver, Colorado has clearly been the best golfer at Shinnecock over the first three days at the third major of the 2026 golf season. On Saturday, Clark extended his lead art the 2026 United States Open from four to six strokes. Actually, for a period of time Clark’s lead over the field was seven strokes, but then Clark bogeyed the 18th hole to see his lead drop from a converted touchdown to an unconverted touchdown.
Either way, Clark’s lead is comfortable. The 2023 United States Open champion is 18 holes away from winning his second major title after winning in Los Angeles three years ago.
On Saturday, Clark had one eagle, two birdies and four bogeys for a score of even par. Clark eagled the 16th hole, birdied the fifth and 14th holes, and bogeyed the first, eighth, and 15th holes, in addition to bogeying the aforementioned 18th hole.
It was Clark’s eagle that deserves significant attention. He had a 330 yard tee shot, 275 yard approach shot, and an eagle putt of four feet and four inches.
One reason why Clark has the commanding lead is because of his putting. In a three hole stretch from the ninth to the 11th holes, Clark made difficult par putts to put him in the comfortable position. The putt on the ninth hole was six feet and nine inches, the putt on the 10th hole was five feet and four inches, and the putt on the 11th hole was five feet and nine inches. Clark was actually discouraged with some of the shots he made off the tee and his approach shots, but it was his putter that put him at -7.
There are four golfers in second place at -1. They are Americans Scottie Scheffler, Sam Stevens, and Sahith Theegala, as well as South Korea’s Tom Kim.
