six-shot 54-hole lead<\/a> and a vice grip on his second major championship. Only a few dozen fans were walking along the ropes as Clark finished his journey up the 18th \u2014 a scene so unusual in the history of this famously egalitarian tournament that not even the leader could believe it.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was unfortunate it got a little flat,\u201d said Clark, who leads a group of four players by six (one being Scheffler). \u201cSometimes it made it tough to stay really focused because it seemed like everyone was leaving, and it was like the tournament was over, and I had to keep myself really focused and in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, to the throngs of fans headed toward the exits after that putt fell on the 13th \u2014 and frankly much before it too \u2014 the tournament already was over. Ever since Clark started this U.S. Open with a 64 in mostly listless golden hour conditions, he has held the tournament by the throat. On Saturday, you didn\u2019t need to stay to the bitter end to see that reality had not changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my gosh,\u201d one fan said, exasperated, when the eagle putt fell into the hole on 16 to briefly bring the lead to seven. \u201cIt\u2019s over!\u201d<\/p>\n
Technically, not yet. We have seen too many of these major championships to know that a 54-hole lead means about as much as the leaderboard it\u2019s stapled to. The tournaments are 72 holes. The U.S. Open is 72 holes on the high wire over a snake pit.<\/p>\n
And yet, not even Clark could deny that. If you watched all 50-plus feet of par putts fall on Saturday evening, you did not leave Shinnecock with the feeling that you were witnessing the loser.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. Scottie is the best player in the world, and he\u2019s going to play probably really good,\u201d Clark said. \u201cBut it\u2019s nice to have a six-shot lead on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Clark close things out in casual fashion on Sunday, it will be tempting to frame the win as a career-altering moment for an unusually gifted player, particularly after Clark\u2019s high-profile locker room debacle at Oakmont a year ago. But it feels more accurate, even to the man himself, to call it for what it is: the latest extreme high of a very volatile career.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was very volatile. Hopefully tomorrow it can be definitely a little more low-key, and hopefully I can play some boring golf,\u201d Clark said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t disagree with [the suggestion I\u2019m a volatile player.]\u201d<\/p>\n
For the few dozen fans who caught all of his back nine on Saturday evening, there was something oddly charming about this side of that volatility. Clark would not be denied. He would not be stopped. He would not yield an inch of ground even as nearly everyone and everything around him seemed to be rooting for the slightest retreat.<\/p>\n
He was, in a word, irrepressible \u2014 and that is a very difficult thing to be at a U.S. Open. <\/p>\n
So now, here we are, on Saturday evening, preparing for \u2014 and some of us hoping for \u2014 a Moment. <\/p>\n
The U.S. Open has not truly broken out yet, and Wyndham Clark is the reason why. That\u2019s mighty impressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. \u2014 Here it is: The Moment. The sun is setting on U.S. Open Saturday, the people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-751166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}