From broken locker to U.S. Open leader: A year after his lowest moment, Wyndham Clark stands above the field

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Has anyone ever experienced the range of U.S. Open experience in quite the way Wyndham Clark has over the last three years? Back in 2023, he won at L.A. Country Club, defeating Rory McIlroy in a thrilling, every-shot-matters victory. Then last year, he bottomed out at Oakmont, losing his temper so badly that he destroyed a locker at the august old clubhouse. And now, he heads into the weekend at Shinnecock with a four-stroke clubhouse lead on the field at -7. That’s one hell of a rollercoaster.

“I was on top of the world in my game, at least when I won the U.S. Open, and then had some good years. Then next thing you know, I’m apologizing for breaking a locker the year later,” he said Friday after his round. “With the mental game, there’s ebbs and flows. If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to go down to go back up. … Right now I’m trending back up, which is nice.”

The entire Thursday afternoon/Friday morning side of the draw enjoyed a series of conditions unprecedented in Shinnecock’s U.S. Open history, and no one took more advantage of the opportunity than Clark. This is a course that has permitted only three below-par finishes in the previous four U.S. Opens played here, and yet Clark absolutely torched his way around Shinnecock on Thursday. He shot 6-under through 16 holes before darkness ended the round.

After a quick night — he went to bed at 10:30 p.m. and had an alarm set for 4 a.m. — Clark returned to the course and managed to keep his head while everyone else lost theirs. Dustin Johnson, Bryson Dechambeau, Jon Rahm — they all exploded, but Clark stayed steady, right up to his closing birdie to get to -7:

Clark has spent the last year on a redemption tour of sorts, trying to make amends for that locker-room incident. He’s aware that he’ll never convince some people

“I’ve gotten a lot of grief since last year, rightfully so. The thing that’s unfortunate is that’s not who I am, what happened last year,” he said. “I’m hoping I can win back the fans that I had, or some new fans, because it was a terrible incident. You know, I really feel like I can show people that I’m fun and outgoing, I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment. Hopefully I can win those people back.”

In the year since the Oakmont locker-room incident, he’s brought on board a new swing coach, a new putter and a new approach to mental health. The results have been obvious, particularly since the PGA Championship — a win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, a solo third-place finish at the Memorial, and a T11 at the RBC Canadian Open where he tweaked the home crowd with a USA Hockey jersey:

A victory at Shinnecock would be a nice capper to this run. Based on how the Friday afternoon weather shaped up, Clark is likely to be in the final group out on Saturday afternoon. He’ll have the tournament in his hands, and he’s hoping to ride his recent run of good finishes for another two days.

“There was definitely a lot of uncertainty last year, even if I played good going into the weekend, just because I didn’t really believe I could keep playing good just because I hadn’t seen it,” he said. “Versus now, regardless of where my game is at, I feel like good things are going to happen, and I can continue to play good. Momentum is a huge thing in golf, and I feel like I have it right now.”