Wyndham Clark joins elite company with his second U.S. Open title, becoming the 24th player in tournament history to lift the trophy at least two times. Even more impressive, he became just the eighth U.S. Open winner to go wire-to-wire with the outright lead after every round at Shinnecock—joining Martin Kaymer (2014), Rory McIlroy (2011), Tiger Woods (2000, 2001), Tony Jacklin (1970), Ben Hogan (1953), Jim Barnes (1921) and Walter Hagen (1914).

RELATED: U.S. Open 2026: The antihero wins another U.S. Open

The 32-year-old is a complicated figure, but you might not know everything about him. Below are a few important details about the 2026 U.S. Open champion.

Wyndham was smitten immediately—asking his mom to buy him a second bucket.

He says his first real golf memory was his holed tee shot with a driver from 125 yards. The shot earned the 6-year-old a PlayStation, which his father promised him he could have if he made an eagle (he had never mad a birdie up to that point).

PGA Tour

Said Clark in a 2019 piece in Golf Digest: “That’s when I really fell in love with golf. I’d be there from sunup to sundown.”

More than half of Clark’s teammates at Valor Christian in Highlands Ranch, Colo., went on to play Division I sports.

Clark's father in a competition in 1971. (Credit: Getty Images)

Denver Post

His career was cut short due to injuries. “My dad never talked much about his tennis career,” Clark said. “I know there were injuries and disappointment—but he said I had a gift that would be wasted if I didn’t put in the work.

According to a 2014 profile in Golfweek, Wyndham recalled how sometimes she would “innocently namedrop while telling a story about, say, playing backgammon with Bill Cosby.”

He was contending at the Western Amateur when his aunt called him to deliver the news that his mother’s health had turned for the worse. He withdrew to be with his mother, who died 20 hours later.

“Withdrawing to fly home to Colorado was the best decision I ever made,” he told Golf Digest in 2019.

“When I returned to Oklahoma State University that fall, I continued to play solid golf, tried to stay strong, but that spring the grief boiled over,” he said. “It hit me that I couldn’t call my mom anymore. Life off the course became hard, and I figured, Why have an outlet that adds to my emotional frustration?”

Kevin C. Cox

"I didn't coach him," Oregon men’s golf coach Casey Martin says. "Wyndham knew more about golf than me. His talent was off the charts, and the only issue was getting him to recognize that.”

Clark says he was drawn to Martin in which he thought would translate to his emotional state: “[He] had gone through so much adversity with his leg in his playing career, I thought he’d be a good mentor in resilience.”

David Cannon

"Immediately it was clear John had a way with Wyndham, always teasing without being heavy,” Martin told Golf Digest's Max Adler. “John would say stuff like, 'I need a psychology degree if I'm going to deal with Wyndham,' and the whole team would laugh together."

Ellis turned down offers from top-20 players to stay with Clark even through some rough patches. But the duo split earlier in 2026. Clark's new caddie, David Pelekoudas, has caddied for Taylor Moore, Sam Ryder, Brian Campbell and Beau Hossler, among other players.

Of course, he went on a big-time run in 2023, winning a signature event at Quail Hollow then following it up with his first U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. After his 2026 U.S. Open win, he's now made over $38 million in on-course earnings.

Golfweek's Adam Schupak spoke with long-time Oakmont club pro Bob Ford, who serves as the first-tee announcer at the U.S. Open. Ford told Schupak: “You may have heard a lot of stories. I will give you the facts. Wyndham has done everything that was asked of him by both the USGA and Oakmont together. The lockers are fixed and he did pay for them.”

Clark has addressed the situation a few times since Oakmont and discussed the situation during the week at Shinnecock.

"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. I'm hoping I can win back the fans that I had or some new fans because it was a terrible incident."

RELATED: U.S. Open 2026: Police kick out fans for taunting Wyndham Clark on a day full of abuse from spectators

@espn#masters#golf#wyndhamclark♬ original sound - ESPN

Julie Elion (right) has worked with a number of major champions, including Phil Mickelson back in 2012.

Scott Halleran

Jimmy Walker, 2016 PGA champion, also credited Elion for his breakthrough major victory, and Elion has worked with Phil Mickelson, among other major winners.

RELATED: Meet Julie Elion, the secret weapon behind Jimmy Walker's major victory

“He’s got so many tools in his toolbox,” Rob Mougey, Clark’s agent, told Golfweek. “He’s embraced the mental side of the game. He’s all in with her and it’s a significant reason for the success he’s had this year.”

Instruction Wyndham Clark's common sense golf swing approach can teach us a lot

A lot of credit goes to his putter, which he used to gain over 12 strokes/putting in his win at TPC Craig Ranch. He switched to the putter, a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset mallet, at the Masters this year.

RELATED: U.S. Open 2026: The clubs Wyndham Clark used to win at Shinnecock Hills

It was never going to be easy. A sizable 54-hole lead may seem inevitable, but this is the U.S. Open and this is Shinnecock. When Wyndham Clark teed off at 2:30 p.m. local time he was six shots ahead of the field. By 4:45, he was walking to the back nine just one shot ahead.

The following two hours had plenty of drama yet two shots saved Wyndham Clark and ensured he would leave, once again, with the U.S. Open trophy.

As Clark walked over the bridge from the ninth green to the 10th tee at Shinnecock, he would have been hard-pressed not to notice the giant leaderboard on his left. His name was still on top, at four under par, but Sam Burns was three under for his day and the tournament. The lead was just a single shot.

As I wrote last night, the 10th hole would play a pivotal role in deciding the champion. Thankfully for me, Clark proved that.

With the pin position in the front of the green, just eight paces on, the challenge of the hole became very different from what they had faced in the opening three rounds. The firm, perched putting surface has a severe run-off both short and long of the green. When the pin is toward the back, players are generally happy to push their drives farther down the hole and attempt to skip a wedge shot back toward it.

However, for most of the field, Sunday’s pin position required a different approach. While roughly 75 percent of players pushed their tee shot down the fairway during the preceding rounds, only 18-of-72 players on Sunday chose that route. Clark was one.

“I think in years past people have laid up farther back," he said. “We talked about it. I said, 'as long as we can hold the green, I would rather be 60 yards than 160 yards to try to hit it to 30 feet.'”

The headcover came off, a sawed-off “bunt” swing followed and Clark’s ball landed 267 yards in the middle of the fairway and ran out another 80 yards. Having missed six of nine greens on the front nine, his second shot felt pivotal. After watching Scottie Scheffler hit his approach from 106 yards to 16 feet, the cameras switched to Clark.

From a tight lie, 61 yards from the hole, the 32-year-old landed his lob wedge 62 yards, skipping forward and then spinning back, coming to rest just four feet from the hole. The second closest approach of anyone in the final round.

Backspin for the win.One of the best shots we've seen at 10 the entire week. pic.twitter.com/dSEVE3po67

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 21, 2026

“I clipped it perfect,” he told media after the round. “By no means did I think I could hit it as close as I did. That was definitely one of the better shots of the day.”

And he wasn’t lying. His approach gained +0.6 on the field, making it statistically the best approach shot he hit on Sunday.

He holed the putt, high-fived his caddie and regained a two-shot lead. His first birdie of the round.

Yet, the job wasn’t done yet.

Clark would drop a shot on the 13th hole and by the time he arrived on the tee at the par-5 16th, he would have been aware that Burns’ birdie putt had missed on the 18th but his compatriot was again within one shot of his lead.

A double-crossed tee shot left Clark in, what Jim “Bones” Mackay would describe on the broadcast, a “horrendous” lie. With 319 yards left to the hole, Clark hacked out, barely covering the bunker on the left side of the fairway, and hit a pitching wedge to the back edge of the green, 24 feet from the hole.

The PGA Tour average on putts from 20 to 25 feet is around 12 percent. On the 16th green on Sunday, that number dropped to below 10 percent. But this was Wyndham Clark, second in the field in strokes gained/putting.

He read it breaking downhill, right-to-left and watched as the ball slowed but continued on line, finally dropping in the left edge of the hole. A birdie. A two-shot lead. And a giant fist-pump.

The putt on 16 was the best shot Clark hit on Sunday. It gained +0.93 shots on the field and helped gain him another U.S. Open title. For the week, he faced six putts from 20 to 25 feet, and made half of them. Again, the average on the PGA Tour is 12 percent.

WYNDHAM CLARK! HUGE!An unlikely birdie after his tee shot found the fescue. pic.twitter.com/RLO84XIltX

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 21, 2026

All the shots Clark hit at Shinnecock added up to a one-shot victory. However, it was two specific shots on Sunday that truly earned him status as a two-time major champion.

Keith Mitchell didn’t win the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, but he’s walking away with one of the more memorable even-par weeks in history.

The man affectionately known as “Casmere Keith” for his smooth fashion sense, Mitchell shot a 41 in his first nine holes of the tournament, but came back with the seventh 29 in U.S. Open history shoot a remarkable even-par 70. That turned out to be Mitchell’s number for the week, as he went on to score three more 70s to become the first player ever in U.S. Open to record even par in each of the four rounds.

That is an incredible achievement, both because of the brutish nature of Shinnecock and the fact that thousands of rounds have been posted in the 126 years of the national championship.

Going into the week, Mitchell, 34, had never finished better than 20th in a major, and he’d only made the cut in half of his starts (7 of 14) in the big four. He had to reach only his third U.S. Open this year through 36-hole Final Qualifying.

On Sunday, he ended up being in contention going into the back nine but made bogeys at 10 and 17 to shoot his fourth 70 and ultimately finish T-4 at 280, four strokes back of winner Wyndham Clark. The finish automatically qualifies Mitchell for next year’s U.S. Open at Pebble. Beach.

“I might have not won, but I felt like I achieved a lot more than potentially I thought I was going to after about two hours into the [first]] round,” Mitchell said on Sunday. “… I think I won the week after that start.”

For the tournament, Mitchell’s rounds got more consistent with each day. In round 1, he had four birdies and bogeys each to go with one eagle and one double bogey. In round 2, it was four birdies and four bogeys; round 3, three and three; and round 4, two and two.

As much as Clark was lauded for his putting, Mitchell led the field for the week on the greens, gaining 1.77 strokes.

On Saturday, he said, “This week I'm making some putts for par. I've tended to play better on harder golf courses for some reason … you have to be very disciplined, and I feel like I've done that this week, and my putter has been performing better than usual.”

With his only tour win coming in the 2019 Honda Classic, Mitchell has consistently made cuts in 16 starts this year and posted two top-six finishes. His world ranking at No. 100 figures to rise nicely after this week.

“I would say the confidence in my physical ability had always been there, but the last three days the confidence in my ability to perform has gone up a little bit,” Mitchell said. “My best finish in a major by far, might be the best finish of the year, actually, and it's at this kind of place.

“I've never necessarily believed that I was … I don't know, if it's good enough, but was able to accomplish something this big, and for me right now, a T-4 is a win in my book.”

There will be one more memory of Mitchell this week. It was the video of him finishing his round on Thursday, a bewildered look on his face and his hair flying in the wind.

“It's the most accurate meme of all time,” he said. “I felt exactly how I looked.”

Wyndham Clark overcame nerves, negative vibes from an inhospitable New York crowd, and the unrelenting demands of Shinnecock Hills to complete a wire-to-wire victory and claim his second U.S. Open title Sunday in Southampton, N.Y.

Despite some of the lightest breezes of the week, Clark struggled all day to hold his game together amid the gallery raining Bronx cheers upon him for every poor shot he struck while pulling for Clark's playing partner, Scottie Scheffler, celebrating his 30th birthday and vying to complete the career Grand Slam. A final-round three-over 73 enabled Clark to finish one stroke ahead of a charging Sam Burns. Clark, 32, finished at four-under 276 to become the ninth player to win the national title in wire-to-wire fashion and the first since Martin Kaymer in 2014.

"It's surreal," Clark said in adding to his 2023 victory at Los Angeles Country Club. "I played some ugly golf the last two days but my putter and short game kept me in it. Honestly, it comes down to believing good things are going to happen."

In his sixth U.S. Open start, Clark became the 24th player to win multiple U.S. Open titles. He captured his fifth career PGA Tour title and second this year. He received $4.5 million, more than twice the $2.16-million reward Brooks Koepka took home in 2018 at Shinnecock. Clark was projected to rise from 34th to eighth in the world rankings.

Burns, who held the 54-hole lead a year ago at Oakmont before struggling to a closing 78 in abysmal conditions after a downpour, was attempting to join Arnold Palmer for the largest final-round comeback in the championship. Palmer trailed by seven strokes in the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver.

Twice the Louisiana native climbed within a stroke of Clark, the second time after drilling an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-5 16th hole. He had terrific chances to tie on the final two holes, but he weakly pushed a 10-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th and then burned the edge from 17 feet on 18. Burns flipped his putter when the ball stayed out and was seen still agonizing over the putt as he entered the scoring trailer. He groaned as he tilted his head back in his hands and closed his eyes.

Burns carded a 67 to offer the only threat to Clark, who looked nothing like the player who could do no wrong after opening with a 64 and increasing his lead each day to forge a six-shot advantage through three rounds. Clark entered Sunday tied for the fourth-largest lead in U.S. Open history and was the 22nd player to lead a major by six or more shots through 54 holes. He avoided joining Greg Norman, who lost a six-shot lead in the 1996 Masters to Nick Faldo, in failing to protect a lead that sizable.

Warren Little

After recording 10 birdies and two eagles in the first three rounds, Clark converted just two on a sunny afternoon on Long Island. But the second one was massive, a 25-footer from the back of the green at the par-5 16th after he had pulled a tee shot into the high fescue left of the fairway. He muscled out his second shot, then wedged somewhat indifferently. But the putter that had saved him throughout the week bailed him out again. When the ball trickled in the cup, Clark pumped a fist and actually received his first encouraging and enthusiastic cheers of the day.

He later acknowledged his black-hat status with the crowd. "New York didn't really like me. I love you guys, but I get it," Clark said, drawing more fan reaction. "Some of it is self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret. Hopefully, I can win you guys over next week. But I get it; they were rooting for Scottie. The [career] Grand Slam has only happened a few times. He's going to get it. He's the best player in the world. But today is my day."

A Denver native who recently, by coincidence, joined Cherry Hills and whose game has been given a boost by the club’s director of instruction, Pat Coyner, still made it interesting. A three-putt bogey at the par-3 17th—his fifth bogey of the round after only seven the previous three days—again left him one stroke ahead of Burns.

Par at the last enabled him to tie Retief Goosen’s four-under score for the lowest winning aggregate total at Shinnecock. But even that was a struggle after he missed the fairway and could only gouge an approach well below the hole. But he cozied a 52-footer within inches left of the cup and let out a yell and a fist pump after tapping in.

He shared hugs and kisses with his girlfriend Emily Tanner and a host of friends who rushed out on the 18th green. When he turned around, Clark spotted his father Randall, who had arrived from Denver on a red-eye flight to surprise his son. “Oh, my God,” Wyndham exclaimed before a long embrace with his dad, who was sobbing.

“I’m so proud of you,” the elder Clark said to his son through tears.

After his unfortunate behavior last year at Oakmont, the low point to a difficult year, and then the battle with himself and the crowd on a pressure-packed afternoon, those five words from his dad on Father’s Day might have been the best reward of all.

Thankfully, Xander Schauffele picked off his first two majors in 2024, shedding the "always the bridesmaid..." label. Otherwise, this preposterous streak he kept alive at the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock would be a punchline as opposed to what it actually is - a wildly impressive statistic.

Schauffele looked poised to win major No. 3 on Friday, when he shot 66 to thrust himself into contention. He went backwards on Saturday, though, and put himself in danger of ending his streak of top-15 finishes in the U.S. Open. 

That streak—nine straight—was in imminent danger late on Sunday, too. Schauffele was three over after 14 holes, three over for the championship. Had he parred out, he would have tied for 17th, but a clutch birdie at the 15th, and three pars to follow, gave him a final-round 72 to finish at two over, tied for 11th. 

Schauffele does not play for T-11s, or top 15s, but his T-11 result gave him 10 consecutive finishes inside the top 15 in this championship. For those keeping score, Schauffele has only played in this championship 10 times. In other words, he's never not finished in the top 15 in what's considered the most difficult championship on the schedule. Not when he was a PGA Tour rookie at Erin Hills in 2017, and not nearly 10 years later as a 32-year-old veteran. 

As the U.S. Open's official Twitter account pointed out afterward, this puts him in some seriously elite company:

You ever hear of any of those guys?

Kidding aside, that is an incredible list to be on, and given how Schauffele never seems to have a bad season, no one would be surprised to see him make a run at Nicklaus and Hogan's streak of 12. Next stop: Pebble Beach, where Schauffele tied for third the last time the U.S. Open was held there. Shocker. 

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Holding the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, Wyndham Clark was asked about his reputation for playing volatile golf, with rollercoaster rounds the norm. “Today was very volatile,” he said. “Hopefully tomorrow it can be definitely a little more low-key, and hopefully I can play some boring golf.”

The last part of that comment didn’t age well.

Clark, who held a six-shot lead entering the round, saw it shrivel to one and found the fescue off the tee at the par-5 16th. After a fabulous recovery allowed him to hit 8-iron into the green, Clark rolled in the 24-footer for birdie (his fifth make from 20-plus feet on the week) to give him the breathing room he needed to claim his second U.S. Open title.

His putter is a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset mallet, a club he put in play at the Masters, after going through multiple putters in the first few months of the season. Clark’s putter has several strips of lead tape on the bottom of the sole to counterbalance the weight of the long, oversize Superstroke Revl Mid F/C grip. The 38-inch putter has 3 degrees of loft, a 20-degree lie angle and an estimated head weight of 400 grams, extremely heavy given most putters are in the 340- to 360-gram range. For the week Clark ranked second in strokes gained/putting.

Off the tee, Clark ranked 14th in strokes gained with his 10.5-degree TaylorMade Qi4D with a Project X Titan Yellow 60TX shaft, but it was Clark’s work with his wedges that saved him time and again. Not only did he rank 12th in strokes gained/around the green, but he knocked his Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks 60-degree lob wedge from 60 yards to four feet at the par-4 10th to steady his round on a hole that gave others fits.

Of course, you can’t win the U.S. Open without the proper golf ball and Clark knows that.

“I'm a low spin player, I have a lot of speed, but I don't spin the ball very much,” Clark said. “And the Pro V1x, especially with my irons and driver, spins at the numbers that I want. Also, I think it's great around the greens. I’ve always been looking for spin. And this Pro V1x gives me exactly what I need. … I need the spin to help keep the ball in the air, to be able to control it better around the greens. And that's the most important thing for me. And especially out on tour, you need to be able to have the ball to stop very quick, and that's what this ball does.”

A three-putt bogey on 17 made the 18th interesting, but two putts from 52 feet cemented the victory. What else would you expect from a man that plays volatile golf to the end.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: PIN G440 Max, 15 degrees

Irons (3-5): Titleist T200; (6-9): Titleist T100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM11 (44, 50, 54 degrees); Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60 degrees)

Putter: Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset

As if playing in the U.S. Open for the first time—and making it to the weekend—wasn't enough, 17-year-old Miles Russell somehow made his dad Joe's Father's Day Sunday even better as he made his way up the 72nd fairway at Shinnecock.

No, he didn't make a crazy final-round charge or hole out from 191 yards. He did something way, way cooler. 

Russell, who began going to the driving range with his pops at age two (it's paying off), struck his final approach shot into the 18th for the week and gave his dad the surprise gift of a lifetime. Prior to the round, Russell reached out to USGA rules officials to ask if his old man could carry his bag to the 18th green and swap out with his caddie and swing coach, Ramon Bescansa. His request was granted. 

The good stuff: 

We have no idea how Joe kept it together here. 

Incredibly, the young lefty shot an even-par 70 on Sunday, his lowest round of the week. In his first major championship at 17(!), he made the cut, finished seven over, and will likely secure a result inside the top 50. Russell beat the likes of Jordan Spieth, Russell Henley and Hideki Matsuyama, and that's just the guys who made the cut. What a special ending to a special week. 

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — On Tuesday, Adam Scott visited the interview room at the U.S. Open as he prepared to play in his 100th consecutive major start. After a few questions on the milestone accomplishment, I asked him if there is a shot at Shinnecock Hills that is unique to championship golf.

“There are quite a lot of shots here,” he said. “I don't know if it's the most iconic shot, but the second shot into 10 I think is fascinating.”

With 18 holes remaining to crown a champion, I’m beginning to see why he chose that shot.

Named Eastward Ho, the 10th is 415 yards and arguably the most iconic hole that William Flynn designed here. A blind tee shot masks a split-tiered fairway with a high, short left side and a long, low right side. They both lead to the base of a 40-foot hill, atop of which sits the green.

The tee shot is relatively straight forward; layers aim over the left side of the right fairway bunker and anything on that line that carries more than 215 yards will make its way down the hill, leaving an approach of 50 to 100 yards.

That is where the fun really starts. And also where the U.S. Open could be won or lost.

The perched green runs off both long and short. The elevation of the approach means shots skip farther and spin less than typical wedge shots. That's a fact Rory McIlroy found out on both Friday and Saturday, thinning his second shot in Round 2 over the green and failing to get enough spin on his approach during Round 3. Both shots finished in the swale beyond the green. Both shots resulted in bogey.

Warren Little

“It's mostly a wedge,” Scott said on Tuesday. “It's not often that we get scared with a wedge.”

And scared is the right word.

Playing behind McIlroy on Saturday, Keith Mitchell hit a driver, landing 353 yards down the fairway, briefly rolling toward the green, before settling 53 yards from the hole. I overheard him telling the other caddie in his group that he wasn’t trying to hit the green, only get on the upslope to help him stop the second shot.

It didn’t work.

Like McIlroy’s, Mitchell’s approach skipped past the hole, tried to grab but released over the green coming to rest 35 yards beyond the flag. And like McIlroy, he wasn’t able to save par.

Overall for the week, the 10th hole ranks as the third hardest hole. The field has played it in 125 over par, with 37 percent of players making bogey or worse. This despite the fact it’s the fourth shortest par-4 at Shinnecock and has played downwind every day.

One man who managed to survive it on Saturday was tournament leader Wyndham Clark. His long iron off the tee landed at 249 yards but ran more than 100 yards down the fairway. He, too, was also unable to stop his wedge approach shot on the green and faced a similar third shot to Mitchell and McIlroy, albeit from a few yards closer.

Then came some magic.

As John Boderhamer, the USGA chief championships officer, said earlier in the week “they have choices.” He was referring to the run off areas at Shinnecock and the short grass around the greens. “Sometimes players don't like choices, but we're giving them a multiple choice examination this week,” Bodenhamer said.

Clark aced the exam. Unlike the high route that Mitchell and McIlroy chose, Clark bumped his wedge shot into the upslope on the green, popping it on top and rolling out to five feet. He, of course, rolled in the putt.

We got you. pic.twitter.com/RuCsMiJCh3

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 20, 2026

If Clark lands the chip one yard shorter, it could come back to his feet. One yard farther and it risks revisiting the shallow he hit his second shot from. A brave shot, executed to perfection.

On Sunday, the greens will be faster and the putting surface will be firmer. The challenge will remain the same. Whoever wins will have to survive the “scary” examination the 10th hole at Shinnecock presents.

Wyndham Clark is on the precipice of winning his second U.S. Open in four years, and shockingly it is his putting leading the way. Clark has built his six-stroke lead at Shinnecock Hills via the flat stick, leading the field in strokes gained/putting through 54 holes.

Clark needed to be steady on the greens during Saturday’s third round, and a stretch of impressive par-save putts illustrate the importance. Seven-footers fell at Nos. 6 and 9. A five-footer on 10. A six-footer on 11 and a 14-footer at 13. None gimmes on shinny’s slippery putting surfaces. Miss them all and it’s a one-shot lead, not half-a-dozen.

Mind you, Clark wasn’t always so proficient on the greens. Earlier this year he was languishing 132nd in strokes gained/putting, giving away shots in six of eight starts, as he worked his way through an assortment of putters. Finally, at the Masters, Clark switched to a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset mallet putter that clicked.

Clark’s putter has several strips of lead tape on the bottom that virtually cover the sole to counterbalance the weight of his long, oversize Superstroke Revl Mid F/C grip. The 38-inch putter has 3 degrees of loft, a 20-degree lie angle and an estimated head weight of 400 grams.

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Quickly, Clark saw improvement, both in strokes gained and in his overall finishes. The peak came at last month’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, where Clark made 13 putts of 10 feet or more for the week en route to claiming his fourth PGA Tour title. He was first in strokes gained-putting, picking up 12.565 shots on the field, first in feet of putts made at 112 per round, including 158 feet in the final round, and first in putts per green in regulation.

Not to be confused with zero-torque putters, onset putters, such as the Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue mallet that Clark used are designed with the shaft near the center line of the putter head, behind the top rail and ahead of the CG. That provides golfers with a full-face view of the ball at address and encourages more of a pulling motion instead of a push-like stroke, which Ping feels is more consistent.

This theory was first employed by Ping founder Karsten Solheim, who often used a wheelbarrow analogy to make his point. He described how much easier and more stable it was to pull a wheelbarrow over a curb instead of pushing it over the curb.

“My grandfather was a firm believer in the role CG position plays in the performance of a putter,” said Ping president and CEO John K. Solheim. “We continue to apply that philosophy today in all our putter designs. Ensuring the proper CG placement relative to the shaft axis is critical to performance. Pulling the CG provides more stability through the stroke and helps keep putts online.”

Speaking of Ping, the company might have pulled off the endorsement deal of the year, signing Clark on Monday of this week to a putter-only contract.

“Since switching to the Ping Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Onset putter in April, I’ve seen significant improvement in my putting and I credit the new putter for helping me get back in the winner’s circle,” Clark said. “The white finish first got my attention and when I started rolling putts with it, it set up easily and gave me immediate confidence. I’d never used a putter with onset before, so it was a new look for me that really matches my eye. The onset combined with the top-rail dot simplifies alignment and my consistency has improved. I’m sinking more long putts than ever.”

And maybe more major championships, too.

U.S. Open 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions

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Here’s the record prize money payout for each golfer at the U.S. Open

Video: Every hole at Shinnecock Hills

Why can't the USGA get Shinnecock Hills right? Our interactive guide explains

What’s a ‘good’ shot at Shinnecock? The difference between our editos and tour average

Breaking down Scottie Scheffler’s chances to complete the career Grand Slam

Every chip shot you’ll see at Shinnecock Hills, explained

Sunday at Shinnecock Hills promises to be a day to remember as a winner will be decided at the 2026 U.S. Open. Just who it will be, of course, remained up in the air until the last few holes late Saturday to close the third round.

Can Wyndham Clark put the finishing touches on his second Open? It certainly looks that way right now as the 2023 champ holds a six-shot lead over a host of players. Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala, Sam Stevens and Tom Kim are all in the group tied for second place, but again, they're six shots back. Scheffler, of course, would capture the career Grand Slam if he could win and Clark happens to fold.

Still, you just never know what can happen with all the pressure on the line late Sunday.

A reminder that Raymond Floyd beat Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins by two in 1986, Corey Pavin topped Greg Norman by two in 1995, Retief Goosen beat Phil Mickelson by two in 2004 and Brooks Koepka clipped Tommy Fleetwood by one just eight years ago. Point is, there are big names all over the place by the time the final putt drops at a U.S. Open at Shinnecock. Will this Sunday stay true to fom?

Sunday’s final-round starting times have not yet been announced but it is expected that the final twosome will go off around 2:30 p.m. with NBC signing off its TV coverage at 7 p.m. That time is much earlier than Saturday's final round to leave room for a playoff if necessary.

Here is a list of the pairings for Sunday. Check back here soon and we will update with tee times once they've been released.

Dylan Wu, James Nicholas

Peter Uihlein, Russell Henley

Patrick Rodgers, Eric Lee (a)

Neal Shipley, Hideki Matsuyama

Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Nico Echavarria

Caleb Surratt, Ben James

Jackson Van Paris, Spencer Tibbits

Kurt Kitayama, Max Greyserman

Marek Fleming (a), Jacob Bridgeman

Johnny Keefer, Ludvig Aberg

Ryan Fox, Angel Hidalgo

Miles Russell (a), Jackson Koivun (a)

Robert MacIntyre, Chris Gotterup

Harry Higgs, Andrew Putnam

Michael Brennan, Jordan Spieth

Bud Cauley, Ben Kohles

Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann

Laurie Canter, Justin Thomas

William Mouw, Niklas Norgaard

Max McGreevy, Justin Rose

Ben Griffin, Tyrrell Hatton

Pierceson Coody, Dustin Johnson

Ryo Hisatsune, Gary Woodland

Akshay Bhatia, Rory McIlroy

Maverick McNealy, Brian Harman

Zac Blair, Aaron Rai

John Parry, J.T. Poston

Sungjae Im, Michael Kim

Ryder Cowan (a), Alex Fitzpatrick

Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley

Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa

Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele

Sam Burns, Keith Mitchell

Emiliano Grillo, Sam Stevens

Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala

Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — One is barely old enough to drive a car. The other is just old enough to drink alcohol. Neither were born when Retief Goosen won here in 2004. But on Saturday at the 2026 U.S. Open, amateurs Miles Russell and Jackson Koivun shared a tee time during the third round at Shinnecock Hills.

They were standing on side of the tee box on the opening hole (Russell is a left-hander so positions on the left), as I watched them getting ready to take on the wind of Saturday morning and couldn’t believe just how young the pair were. Russell, the No. 1 ranked junior golfer in the world, is 17, Koivun, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, his elder at 21. Combined, they are the same age as Jason Day (38).

But this is the U.S. Open and both made the cut for the weekend at three over par. If there were nerves, they don’t show. Koivun dropped his ball down on the first tee, no tee, and hit a crisp 3-wood down the middle of the fairway.

With pro bags, college scorecard holders and high school faces, the pair strolled together on the front nine at Shinnecock, not talking a lot and already conducting themselves like professionals. Koivun is set to make his pro debut later this month, and has a PGA Tour card locked up through 2027.

His super power? Ask anyone that watched him play at Auburn the last three years and they’ll tell you it’s his putter. He showed it off early, holing a 20-footer for birdie on the fourth. However, 210-yard bunker shots are tricky, even for All-Americans. The 21-year-old topped his second shot on the sixth hole, barely trickling into a hazard and finishing the hole with a double bogey.

As both players stood on the tee at the infamous seventh hole, a lady in the crowd commented on Russell (only a junior in high school), gushing as she said, “he’s so cute.” The redan par 3 probably didn’t look as attractive to Russell, his shot landing in the middle of the green but released out some 50 feet from the hole.

The confidence of youth was on show on the ninth hole. Russell’s approach from the rough was barely a scorecard-width from the edge of the green, 60 feet from the pin. The members watching from the clubhouse no doubt expected the 17-year-old to do what they would, pull putter and pray your ball comes to rest near the hole. But this is a golfer many tab as a future superstar. Out came the sand wedge, a crisp strike followed but checked up, and Russell wasn’t able to save par. Maybe when the U.S. Open returns here in 2036, Russell, then 27, will opt for a different approach.

I left the pair to battle the elements on the back nine but did so knowing I’d no doubt see them again soon. Perhaps paired together at a Ryder Cup.

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Why can't the USGA get Shinnecock Hills right? Our interactive guide explains

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Breaking down Scottie Scheffler’s chances to complete the career Grand Slam

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Joaquin Niemann is grateful that he’ll be playing on the weekend at the 2026 U.S. Open, an outcome that seemed highly unlikely given what transpired during his first round at Shinnecock Hills.

When the 27-year-old Argentine signed for an eight-over 78 Friday morning, his opening 18 holes having spill over a day after play was called for darkness Thursday, it included a two-shot penalty that the USGA assessed him for throwing a club during the round, an act that was deemed to be “serious misconduct” of the Rules of Golf.

Niemann was quickly back on the course for his second round, in which he proceeded to make seven birdies and post a five-under 65 to get him to a three-over total that put him one shot inside the cutline.

“I’m not proud of it,” Niemann said on Friday afternoon of the incident that got him penalized, “but yeah, I mean, sometimes, you know, all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated, and that was me there.”

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According to the USGA, Niemann was penalized for throwing a club on the sixth hole (his 15th hole of the first round). It was shortly before play was called for darkness on Thursday, and Niemann had hit two drives out of bounds on the hole. His fifth shot off the tee then found the fescue.

Niemann then asked a rules official about getting relief from what he believed were fire ants near his ball. A rules official denied his request. Niemann then hit his sixth shot with a sand wedge into the fairway.

According to a report by The Athletic, a U.S. Open volunteer on the scene said that Niemann was upset and “kicked the flag that had been marking the ball, kicked the grass, and chucked his club at least 50 yards.” Tour cast shows then that Niemann played a sixth shot into the fairway and then lists penalty for his seventh and eighth shots.

“I saw a lot of ants there, and I was just asking the referee if they were fire ants, and like, he say, no. To be honest, I was pretty … I wasn't angry asking him. I was pretty normal, pretty chill, because I knew I needed to keep going and try to shoot the less possible.

“After that shot, I hit it, I lay up, and the whole frustration went inside me. I think they blew the horn already. I'm not sure if they did or not, but after I hit that shot, yeah, I was … like all the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn't resist to throw it away.”

Niemann said he looked around and that no people were around where he threw the club.

Niemann didn’t finish the hole until Friday morning, which is when he learned about the two-stroke penalty. In the brief time between when he finished the first round and started his second, Niemann reportedly was in tears over the penalty.

After the second round, Niemann and several members of his team met with USGA officials to see if there was any way of overturning the penalty. According to the USGA, there is no formal appeal for this ruling and while sometimes second opinions are allowed, in this instance the ruling was made by all the key decision makers.

“That was a misbehave from my part,” Niemann said. “I felt like a little bit extra penalized with two-shot penalty, but I think it is what it is. I think I'm going to learn from it. It definitely kind of helped me a little bit to have a better round today.”

MORE GOLF DIGEST U.S. OPEN COVERAGE

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Power Rankings: Every player in the U.S. Open field, ranked

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — For the last three years, and even after the chaos and volatility we saw at Shinnecock on Friday, it's tempting to view Dustin Johnson as a figure of the past. Figures of the past live on in stories, and everyone who has spent time around Dustin Johnson, even if it's only peripherally or for a short time, has a favorite DJ story. Here's mine:

It was 2014, I wanted to profile him for a book I was working on, and his agent David Winkle arranged for me to walk with him for an hour on Wednesday at the Colonial pro-am. He surprised me the entire time—he was engaging and thoughtful, occasionally crass but never dismissive the way I thought he might be. At one point, he barked at his brother and caddie AJ, who was still relatively new on his bag and resting under the shade of a pecan tree, to get him the yardage. The moment I'll never forget, though, came when one of the pro-am players came by with a yellow flag.

"Is this kosher?" he asked, holding the flag out for Johnson to sign. Johnson signed it without much acknowledgement, but it apparently wasn't good enough for the man.

"Will you sign it, 'To Steve'?" he asked.

Johnson took the flag back, looked at it—everything he does happens at his own slow rhythm—and wrote the words "All the best" above his signature.

I found this very funny, though I suppressed it, but you could see the man's heart sink. The dilemma passed over his face, and he mustered up the courage to ask again.

"But can you sign it 'To Steve'?"

DJ, now slightly annoyed, took the flag back again. He took a long look and then made up his mind.

"Well, they already got their name here," he said, laying a large finger on the flag.

I peeked over—he was pointing at the signature of another player, who had written "To Steve."

The man looked at him, wondering if this was some kind of joke, but DJ just stared back with those dead eyes. The man, of course, cracked first.

"Yeah," he said. "That's awesome."

And he walked away with a story that I'm sure he never told.

*****

Warren Little

On Friday at Shinnecock, Johnson's name appeared on the leaderboard in second place. He's 41 years old for the next three days, and this was a return to form that was hard to see coming unless you paid close attention to his last two outings on LIV—fourth in Korea, T-5 in Andalucia. He did the bulk of his damage late on Thursday, with four straight birdies to start his back nine (Shinnecock's front), then came back Friday morning to make two more birdies to finish his first round. There wasn't much break before he teed off for Round 2, and he stayed even through 10 holes. At four under, he was the nearest chaser to his white-hot playing partner Wyndham Clark.

We barely had time to process this renaissance, though, before the ship took water. A double at 11, two more bogeys at 12 and 13, and then the true disaster: A quad at 15 that included one bunker-to-bunker gaffe, a chunked follow-up that stayed in the sand, and a skulled bunker shot that ran off the green. Shinnecock is the kind of course where you can hit three shots from two different bunkers on the same hole, and though he recovered to make birdie on 16 and make the cut, he had dropped from solo second to T-53, from a single shot off the lead to ten, and it felt like his moment had passed.

Even so ...

... in some ways he was the most interesting man on the course. Even now, past his prime and perhaps pat his interest in playing elite golf, there's an aura around DJ that very few other plays can match. It's his size and power, his obvious athleticism, that grim Clint Eastwood demeanor, and the slow, almost predatory way he moves. There's a sense that he's pure id, which is a polite way of acknowledging the perception that he's not very smart. I don't agree with that, although his interviews can be painfully dull and he doesn't seem to take great pleasure in ruminating, or sometimes even talking. But those qualities almost make his brand stronger, and when you combine that with a celebrity wife, a couple majors, and the pure alpha energy, he's a perpetually fascinating figure for galleries. I dare you to look away.

He's one of those apostates whose reputation has been hurt the least by going to LIV, probably because unlike a Graeme McDowell or Jon Rahm, you never expected him to care about (or even consider) any of the ethical problems with the Saudi regime, and so you could never accuse him of playing the hypocrite. But the move still took a toll; he put together a decent year of major performances after the defection, including two top-10s, but in his last 11 tries, he's missed six cuts and never finished inside the top 20. He hasn't even won on LIV in two years, and it all prompted a chicken-or-egg style question:

Did he sign with LIV because he stopped caring about golf, or did he stop caring about golf because he signed with LIV?

That may be too glib, too nonspecific, but either way, you can't call it—whatever it is—any kind of tragedy. He's in the late stages of his career, he won two majors, he has a lot of money, and if anyone seems capable of contentment after the hurricane of a dynamic career, it's him.

But this all sounds very conclusive, very fatalistic, and after his round, Johnson didn't sound like someone who thought of himself in the past tense. Around 20 reporters gathered around him by the flash area—a testament to his ongoing appeal—and he seemed mostly at ease despite his 77.

Christian Petersen

" I felt like I played really solid today," he said. "Hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in."

Recapping his own around, it was mostly a story of a punishing wind and a few unfortunate rocks.

"The first one on 15," he remembered, "the rock got in between the face and kicked it. I mean, it went five yards further left than it should have ... it came out and hooked. And then the next one, it hit a rock and it popped it straight up, and so it came out shorter. And then on the third one, I hit a rock and it went into the ball."

"Sounds like a lot of rocks," one reporter observed.

"Yeah," he said, "it's tough.  It' the ones that you can't see. Obviously the big ones that are sitting on top of you, you can move them, but I had where I could see them but they were in the sand."

On his recent form, he spoke about returning to the original lofts on his clubs just before Korea, where he just had an instinct to bend them back. But while he spoke about the present, the most interesting elements of his biography came to mind; the pedigree that included a grandfather drafted by the Lakers and a father who starred in high school football; the teenage hustler who won money against grown men at his club in Columbia, S.C., after he finished his shift on the maintenance crew; the dark turn when he became involved on the fringes of a theft and murder investigation; the rebirth under a "hardass" coach at Coastal Carolina; the quick rise on the PGA Tour; the heartbreaks at majors until the breakthrough at Oakmont, followed five years later by the COVID Masters; the wild rumors, the wild suspension, the wild marriage, and the disappearing act that took the wild away.

There's more salt with the pepper in his beard these days, but nothing else about him feels particularly old or lost, and his natural talent is still obvious at a glance. Nevertheless, the events of the last few years have made DJ seem like golf's forgotten man. He made us remember him again on Friday, even if it didn't last very long, and all things considered, it was a good memory, and maybe even a poignant one—a reminder of the small pleasures we've lost in the torrents of history that still sweep a divided sport through its most turbulent decade.

DJ, take us back.

MORE GOLF DIGEST U.S. OPEN COVERAGE

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