US Open 2026: Wyndham Clark stands firm as Scotty Scheffler moves through Shinnecock Hills.

US Open, round three leaderboard

Leader: -7 W. Clarke (US); -1 S. Scheffler (USA), S. Tegala (USA), T. Kim (CORE), S. Stevens (USA).

Selected: Rank X Schauffele (US); +1 T Fleetwood (Eng), C Morikawa (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); +2 Fitzpatrick (engineer); +3 R McIlroy (NI), J Parry (Light), A Rai (Light); +4 J Rose (Eng), T Hutton (Eng); +7 R McIntyre (SCO)

In the third round, which saw the challengers rise but eventually fall, Wyndham Clarke stood as the overwhelming favorite to win himself a second US Open title.

Not only did the American fail to break away from the top of the pile, the 32-year-old extended his lead from four to six as he bid to become the first wire-to-wire winner of the event since Martin Keimer in 2014.

Clarke delivered a master class run at Shinnecock Hills before signing for a level-par 70 that would give him a huge advantage heading into Sunday’s final round.

Sahit Tegala, Tom Kim and Sam Stevens are among the odds-on favorites to repeat the win at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.

One shot back and out of contention are all-Americans Sam Burns and Xander Schauffele, with Colin Morikawa and England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick tied.

But what worries Clarke more is the presence of world number one Scheffel, although in 2016

“I feel good. The more I get into these positions, the more comfortable I get,” Clark said.

“Scotty is the best player in the world, and he’s probably going to play really well. He always does, but it’s nice to have a six-shot lead over him.”

“I’m going to continue to approach it the same way. If I go through my process and hit the shots I know I can hit, I like my chances.”