SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Wyndham Clark had his six-shot lead whittled to a single shot after just five holes Sunday in the U.S. Open and headed to the back nine trying to avoid U.S. Open history for losing the largest 54-hole lead. And it all happened in a New York minute.
Clark fought his swing and the crowd — cheering for Scottie Scheffler and clearly against Clark — as he played the front nine in 3-over over 38, which included a pair of superb par saves.
The threat wasn't Scheffler in his bid for the career Grand Slam — it was Sam Burns, seeking redemption from the chance that got away from him last year at Oakmont.
Burns charged through the front nine, his biggest moment a 50-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole that produced a cheer that could be heard all over Shinnecock Hills. That pulled him to within one shot of Clark, who bogeyed the easiest hole on the course at the par-5 fifth.
Burns bogeyed the ninth and headed to the back nine at 3-under par. Clark lipped out from a chip well short of the ninth green to save par to stay at 4 under.
Clark missed the par-3 second green 40 yards to the left, chipped through the green and had to scramble for bogey. But he was fighting more than his swing. When it was his turn on the fourth tee, one fan said loudly, “Don't choke, Wyndham.”
Security removed the man from the course.
Clark from a fairway bunker flared his shot closer to the concession stand than the fourth green, under a pair of trash containers. Still, he made the 15-foot par save.
The real damage came at the par-5 fifth. He went just over the back of the green, into the light rough of the walkway toward the next tee. The shot troubled him, and he ultimate picked a bump into the hill, a dangerous choice because the grass was growing against his ball. It came up woefully short, back down the hill and he chipped the next one too strong. Two putts later he had a bogey.
In five holes, he lost five shots of his six-shot lead. No one has ever lost more than a five-shot lead in the U.S. Open, and that was in 1919.
Scheffler had his own issues — a bogey on the first when he went over the back of the green, and he had to save par from a bunker on the third after missing the fairway. Scheffler made his lone birdie with a two-putt on the par-5 fifth.
On the seventh from a front bunker, Scheffler didn't hit it hard enough and it rolled back into the sand. But he blasted out to just inside 15 feet and made that for bogey to at least stay in the game.
Scheffler made the turn at even par for the championship, four shots behind instead of six, but with three players between him and Burn.
Joaquin Niemann — who had an 11 on the sixth hole of the first round that included a conduct penalty for heaving his wedge — closed with a 66.
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