SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Wyndham Clark keeps leaving his mark on Shinnecock Hills, completing the lowest first round in a U.S. Open on this course Friday morning and setting a 36-hole standard in the early afternoon to build a four-shot lead over the early starters.With so much chaos around him, Clark played a steady hand — a far cry from where he was at the U.S. Open last year when he missed the cut and smashed up a locker at storied Oakmont.His last act was a 35-foot putt down the slope on the 18th green that dropped for a 1-under 69. That put him at 7-under 133, one shot better than Phil Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama at the halfway point in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills.And he thinks he could be better.“I really felt like I could be in double digits (under par),” Clark said. “But you know, the great thing about that is I didn’t feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully, I can bring my A-game on the weekend.”
Xander Schauffele, with the best U.S. Open record of anyone without a U.S. Open title over the last 10 years, had a 66 to finish at 137 along with Matt Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open champion who birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 70.
