Clark holds six stroke lead heading into U.S. Open final round

Wyndham Clark will take a six‑stroke lead into the final round of the U.S. Open, strengthening his bid to become a two‑time champion and the first wire‑to‑wire winner of the championship since Martin Kaymer in 2014.

Clark, who sits at seven-under-par, carded a level par 70 on day three at Shinnecok Hills that saw him increase his overnight lead by two shots to tie the fourth‑largest 54‑hole lead in U.S. Open history.

It was a round marked by as many moments of brilliance as it was frustration, but a solid performance around the greens crucially allowed him to separate himself on a day where Shinnecock tested every player.

"It was very up and down, holy smokes," Clark said afterwards.

"I hit some good shots; I hit some terrible shots. Yeah, I was a little frustrated with myself with some of the execution.

"You know, at the end of the day, I improved my lead, which is awesome, and I shot even par on a very tough golf course.

"Yeah, the more I'm getting away from -- when I've finished, I'm getting more and more okay with some of the mistakes I made. But yeah, overall, good day."

The 2023 champion began his day with a three-putt bogey and his overnight lead cut briefly to two strokes, but he quickly regained composure and an excellent approach with his second to the par-five fifth saw him record his first birdie of the day .

Having scrambled par at seven, a mistake from the fairway at the eighth found him out of position and unable to scramble a par, but his lead remained unchallenged despite making the turn one-over for his round.

The back nine was slightly more dramatic after making birdie on the 14th, instantly dropping a stroke at 15 before once again finding the green in two on the par five 16th and seeing in the putt for eagle.

He then book-ended his day with another three-putt bogey at the 18th, but it was several par saves that he highlighted as the key to his score on Saturday.

"I mean, the one on 7, I was into the grain, I didn't hit the best of chips, but it looked like I hit it to 4 feet, which is normally good. But that putt was diabolical, and I could three-putt from there, it was so sloped. The fact I made that one was huge.

"Then the one on kind of 10 and 11, those ones were -- I was in jail and hit really good shots and then made the putts. Those are kind of the three that stand out to me."

The 2023 champion credited his mindset and ability to adapt on Saturday after the course became much firmer and challenging, something he is hoping to carry into the final round.

"I mean, my mindset was good. Just a couple of -- the course changed so much. It was very soft and easier to be more aggressive. The fairways got rock hard, so I was spinning my irons a little bit more, and I had some squirt to the right. The greens were bouncing a ton.

"That little adjustment, maybe I didn't make as quick as I would have liked. But knowing tomorrow it's going to be like that, I can prepare for it.

"But yeah, if I can go out there and try to hit a lot of fairways, it would be a dream to hit 18 greens. That would be -- that's kind of my goal is to just get as many looks as I can with how I'm putting, and hopefully I'm hoisting the trophy tomorrow."

He will play his final round Sunday with World Number One Scottie Scheffler, who will celebrate his 30th birthday as he seeks to follow in Rory McIlroy's footsteps and complete the Grand Slam with a U.S. Open victory.

Scheffler was one of just two players on Saturday at Shinnecock to card an under par round, and currently sits tied second with Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala, and Sam Stevens.

Speaking of his final round pairing, Clark admitted it was nice to have a six stroke cushion on the world's best player but insisted he wouldn't be protecting a number

“Scottie is the best player in the world,” Clark said. “It’s nice to have a six‑shot lead on him.

“I’m not thinking about my lead. If I go out and execute and go through my process, I like my chances.”