About the only thing that could slow down Wyndham Clark during the first round of the U.S. Open was a stoppage of play.
But he did plenty enough to help set a tone Thursday at Southampton, N.Y.
Clark shot 6-under par through 16 holes to lead in the suspended opening round.
Clark, the tournament’s 2023 champion, is up by four strokes at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, where play was halted because of darkness. Earlier, the competition was off schedule following a morning suspension of play.
Sam Stevens, Max McGreevy, and amateur Ryder Cowan finished with 2-under 68s, while Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Spain’s Jon Rahm are all at 2 under with holes to play to complete the opening round.
Clark will have to return early Friday to complete the round and then begin his second round.
“Eat as fast as possible, sleep as hard as possible, and get out here and hopefully keep playing good,” Clark said.
Clark went birdie-birdie-eagle across a three-hole stretch after making the turn. He began on the backside.
Cowan was a major storyline for much of the day. The 21-year-old from Edmond, Okla., held the late-afternoon lead and made it through 10 holes before his first bogey.
“I hit it good all day, put myself in good positions throughout the day,” Cowan said. “But overall, I was proud of how I played, how I came back after bogeys.”
Cowan, who completed his junior year at the University of Oklahoma this spring, took notice of his name atop the leaderboard.
“I definitely looked at that leaderboard, and I saw it up there,” he said.
Johnson was a co-leader in the early evening, but a double-bogey on his 15th hole of the day (No. 6) sent him tumbling on the leaderboard.
Stevens shot 68 to hold the lead among golfers in the round’s early wave. Two-time reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy was in first place for a portion of the afternoon before bogeys on the final two holes.
Stevens began the round with a double-bogey on the 10th hole but recovered and had a seven-hole stretch bridging the backside and frontside at 4 under.
“I got off to kind of a weird start with the double on 10,” Stevens said. “We had the delay. Teed off and didn’t get to hit my second shot for 2 1/2 hours or whatever it was.”
McIlroy, who’s from Northern Ireland, began on the backside and then got rolling on the frontside, boosted by an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole. He fell back with bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9, the latter coming after a greenside chip left a par putt that he was unable to convert.
“Anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” McIlroy said. “It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it.”
McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who was in McIlroy’s playing group, also shot 69. Aberg went without a birdie for the final eight holes.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 72, dinged by a double-bogey on No. 8. Also, Australia’s Adam Scott shot 73 as he began his 100th consecutive major.
“Any time you get conditions like this, I think the scores are going to be high,” Scheffler said. “It’s an interesting golf course. Part of the challenge so far is judging the conditions as well, judging how this course is going to play.”
Sam Burns, who was a contender in recent weeks on the PGA Tour, posted birdies on two of the first four holes. He ended up at 71 for the day. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell birdied the first two holes and didn’t maintain that, finishing at 76.
With only 18 golfers starting their rounds, play was halted due to fog and wind. By that time, there had been seven bogeys and no birdies recorded.
–Field Level Media
