SOUTHAMPTON, NY – It Wyndham in the wind on Thursday at the U.S. Open as Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open Champion at L.A. Country Club, fired a sizzling 8-under 64 in blustery conditions to lead the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills by three shots. Meanwhile a whopping six former U.S. Open champions shot ever par or better, and eight players finished Round 1 under par, with nine more standing at Even par. The average score in the early wave of players was 73.87, while the late wave players were averaging more than a stroke less, at 72.67, when play concluded Thursday evening. Shinnecock Hills, a classic William Flynn design from 1931, is hosting its sixth U.S. Open and fifth in the last 40 years.
To call the leaderboard star-studded is a flaming understatement, Clark leads by two over 2016 U.S. Open Champion Dustin Johnson, by three over 2019 Champion Gary Woodland and 2022 Champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England, (3-under) and by four over 2021 Champion, Spain’s John Rahm, (2-under). And 2011 champion Rory McIlroy in only five shots behind at 1-under. Twenty-four of the last 27 U.S. Open champions were either leading or were within four shots of the lead at the conclusion of the opening day. Each of the last five champions were either leading or were within two shots of the leader at the end of Round 1.
Starting on the back nine, Clark opened the day with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 to race out to 2-under early. He added another birdie on the difficult, 484-yard 18th. Then after bogeying the brutishly long par-3 second hole, Clark went birdie-birdie-eagle form the third through fifth holes to zoom past everyone and lead the field by a clear three shots. His round was interrupted by darkness. The morning finish, which affected 50 players, was due to a two-hour fog delay shortly after play began.
Clark then posted two more pars to post a blistering 64. Clark made everything he looked at on the greens. He hit 11 fairways and 13 greens and took a mere 24 putts, 4th in the field in that statistic.
“Obviously getting off to a great start, birdieing the first two was really nice. Then I kind of had a little bit of a lull, but made some great par saves. It was great birdieing 18,” Clark stated shortly after finishing in the Thursday gloaming. “Then a little mishap, missed a shorty on 1 and then a bogey on 2, but then got into a nice rhythm. Yeah, everything was kind of clicking. We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall, a good round.
Meanwhile Dustin Johnson, also starting on the back nine, made four straight birdies at holes 1-4 before a double bogey toppled him from a share of the lead yesterday. That left him at 2 under with three holes to finish this morning. But Johnson birdied both the difficult par-3 seventh and the long par-4 ninth to post a brilliant 66. 27 putts powered his round, though he opened and closed his Thursday with three putt greens at 10 and 6.
“I started with a three-putt on 10, and then I just three-putted on 6 from like four feet. Obviously at the end of the day, kind of a little bumpy,” he groused sourly. “[But] I rolled it really nice. Obviously it's windy. It's tough to read them. Yeah, played really good. Happy with the way I'm playing….Finally the last couple months, I feel like the game is starting to come back into form and swinging it really nicely.”
Johnson’s day was shades of his opening two rounds at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 when he led after two rounds of 69 and 67.
“Toward the last hour we played, the wind laid down a little bit. With the course being quite soft, it definitely played a little bit easier, he noted. “But at the start of the day, it was playing very, very difficult. Obviously we got maybe a little fortunate there towards the end just because the wind did lay down just a hair for us, but it still played tough, so I had to hit good shots.”
Gary Woodland, the popular winner at Pebble Beach seven years ago posted a 67 after finishing three holes Froday as well. Acknowledging the difficult conditions, Woodland echoed the thoughts of Matt Fotzpatrick, who like Woodland, praised his playing partners’ solid rounds as inspiration and motivation for his 3-under round.
“Our group had a good day, too, so I was feeding off the momentum in the group. It's a tough day, right? It's tough for everybody,” he offered cheerfully. “Biggest thing for me, I stayed patient. Didn't have my best stuff, but I made a lot of putts and saved myself to keep the momentum going. So, yeah, it was nice. It was a nice start, for sure.”
Coming off a bogey at the par-3 second Woodland, like Clark, rattled off three consecutive birdies. He hit two solid shots into the third green, but William Flynn’s ubiquitous false fronts spun his approach forty feet back away from the flag. So Woodland holed it anyway.
“Any time you make a 40-footer, that's a big plus. Then gave myself a good look on the next hole, hit a great shot out of there, out of the fescue, in there to about 15 feet. Rolled it in nicely,” he chirped airily. “Then gave myself a really good chance there on the par-5. Hit two great shots. We got lucky, straight downwind. Gave myself a chance for eagle, but I'll take the 4. Happy with where I'm at, for sure.”
Bryson DeChambeau, 2020 and 2024 U.S. Open champion at Winged Foot and Pinehurst No. 2 respectively, opened with an Even par 70. He currently is six shots back of Clark. He also hit a 427-yard drive, the longest of his career and the longest in U.S. Open history
“That's also my longest drive ever on tour,” he beamed. “Which is great!”
