Scottie Scheffler will have to produce something special to reel in Wyndham Clark’s six-stroke lead if he is to win the US Open at Shinnecock Hills and complete the career grand slam.
The world number one, who headed straight to the putting green after shooting a 69 which moved him into joint second, turns 30 on Sunday on Father’s Day, making it a potential triple celebration. But he faces a formidable challenge in Clark, who is bidding to become the first wire-to-wire US Open winner since Martin Kaymer in 2014.
“World No.1 Scottie Scheffler trails Wyndham Clark by six shots entering the final round of the US Open.”
Clark made crucial par saves from five feet (three times), six feet, seven feet and 14ft, and produced a stunning 275-yard approach to inside five feet for the week’s first eagle at the par-five 16th. That gave him an advantage of seven over the chasing pack. His luck continued at the 17th, where he found heavy rough but claimed a free drop from a television tower and was then allowed to place his ball after it twice rolled away. There were also eyebrows raised about the amount of ‘gardening’ he was doing on the line of his putts on the Poa annua greens. Clark missed a five-footer on the last for par, signing for a level-par 70.
Since the first Masters in 1934, there have been 13 previous instances of players leading by six or more shots through 54 holes, and only Greg Norman at Augusta in 1996 failed to close out victory.
“I think it’s appropriate to understand what’s at stake,” said Scheffler, who will go out with Clark in the final group. “I’d rather be leading but I have an opportunity to go out there and have a great round and give myself a chance to win the tournament.”
Scheffler at least put himself in the picture, unlike Rory McIlroy, whose bid for a first US Open title since 2011 collapsed after the turn after going out in a two-under 33. Three successive birdies from the fifth moved him to within four of Clark, but he overshot the green at the difficult 10th for the second successive day for the first of five bogeys.
Elsewhere at Shinnecock Hills, Chilean Joaquin Neimann was handed a two-shot penalty for “serious misconduct” after throwing his club.