U.S. Open Round 2 recap: Wyndham Clark leads, stars chasing

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Friday belonged to Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion who looked every bit the version that won this title in Los Angeles three years ago.

Clark leads by four strokes entering the third round and will play alongside Matt Fitzpatrick on Saturday afternoon. Xander Schauffele, Sam Stevens, and Tom Kim are all tied with Fitzpatrick at 3-under, Collin Morikawa is at 2-under, and there are a host of big-name chasers at even-par or better.

Before the third round gets rolling, here's a look back at how Friday progressed at Shinnecock Hills. Our on-site reporters were updating this page all day with the biggest news and notes. Read below for a full encapsulation.

8:30 p.m. ET: That's it for play today. A busy but fun one out at Shinnecock Hills.

8:20 p.m.: The cutline has settled at 4-over. For a moment, it looked like Dylan Wu would move it. He needed a birdie at the 18th and gave his birdie chip a run. It ran by, and he nailed the comebacker, satisfying all involved. The group of 4-over, which included Chris Gotterup and Robert MacIntyre, breathed a sigh of relief, and Wu is playing the weekend, too.

8:00 p.m.: The sun has set on this second round and it feels like we've lived multiple lives in these first two days. Shinnecock is not playing as difficult as expected, but it's still delivering carnage in doses and providing drama to keep us plenty entertained. McIlroy's back nine was an absurdist version of golf, without a par until the 16th. He finished at even-par and will be regretting many swings on that back nine. Scottie Scheffler is also there at even-par, which feels remarkable given how out of sync he has looked. The game's two superstars are a distant seven shots back from Wyndham Clark, but only three back of the rest. If Clark sputters, they are both primed to strike.

Elsewhere on the course, Tom Kim has emerged to much surprise. He has been trending recently, but seeing him tied for second is still a shocking development. He's among the group at 3-under and could do wonders to his reputation with a good finish.

5:30 p.m.: It's been a forgettable hour for Rory McIlroy. After missing a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 9 that would have taken him to 4-under and alone in second place, McIlroy has missed in all the wrong places to start his back nine. A bogey on No. 10 was followed by an errant tee shot on the short 11th hole, as McIlroy went over the green en route to another bogey. He made it three straight squares on the scorecard after flying the green on No. 12 and lipping out a par attempt from 20 feet. Suddenly he's back to Even for the tournament, seven shots adrift and needing a spark to rekindle hopes of getting back within reach of the lead.

4:45 p.m.: The youth movement is alive and well at this year's U.S. Open. Amateur Ryder Cowan is already assured of making the cut, sitting at Even after rounds of 68-72. But he likely won't be the only fresh face playing the weekend at Shinnecock Hills, as teen phenom Miles Russell sits at 1-over heading into his final few holes. Jackson Koivun, making his final start as an amateur after a decorated college career, is also on the right side of the projected cut line at 2-over, while Ben James is thinking about more than making the cut. The recent PGA TOUR U No. 1 who contended last week at the RBC Canadian Oepn sits among a tie for seventh at 2-under, five shots off the lead.

4:15 p.m.: While Scottie Scheffler remains stuck in neutral, still over par for the tournament, Rory McIlroy is making a move. The Ulsterman poured in a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 8, his second birdie of the day, to join a logjam of players tied for second at 3-under. That group is still four shots behind Wyndham Clark, but with names like McIlroy, Schauffele and Fitzpatrick, they pack plenty of firepower as the weekend stakes begin to come into focus.

3:30 p.m.: There are improbable birdies, and then there's the magic trick that Harry Higgs pulled off on the treacherous par-3 11th. After sailing over the green with his tee shot, Higgs faced a difficult putt from a collection area that had to crest a steep slope. But he found the target from 75 feet, rolling in a putt that might still be rolling had it not hit the hole. The birdie lifted Higgs into a tie for second place at 3-under, as he's 4-under through 11 holes in his second round and making the biggest move of the afternoon wave. One week after playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, he finds himself firmly in contention in just his second start in a major championship since the 2022 PGA Championship.

2:45 p.m.: Here comes Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 birdied his first hole of the day, the 10th, and we are off with the afternoon wave. Can Scheffler get under par? Can Rory McIlroy threaten Wyndham Clark's lead? Those will be the central storylines to follow the rest of this second round. At a minimum, we've seen the cream start to rise to the top. We've got six major champions in the top 10 as the leaderboard sits right now.

1:30 p.m.: Wyndham Clark ended his second round in style, rolling in a 33-foot birdie putt on the 18th green to close out a second-round 69 and all but assure that he'll take the lead into the weekend in search of his second U.S. Open title. Clark started slowly in the second round but poured in a pair of lengthy birdie putts on the back nine to reach 7-under for the tournament. When he signed his scorecard, Clark was up by four shots over Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele with the afternoon wave about to hit the course.

1:00 p.m.: He may have started slowly, but Xander Schauffele has re-entered the chat. The two-time major winner was 1-over through 23 holes before heating up with five birdies over his final 13 holes. It added up to a second-round 66, taking Schauffele to 3-under at the halfway point. A U.S. Open stalwart, Schauffele has never finished worse than T14 at this event since making his debut with a surprising T5 finish in 2017 at Erin Hills. Among the leaders in SG: Approach as the second round crosses the halfway mark, he'll have a great chance to extend that run of top finishes in this event - if not contend for what would be the third leg of the career Grand Slam for a player who captured both the PGA Championship and The Open in 2024.

12:00 p.m.: The biggest charge up the leaderboard this morning came from two-time major winner Collin Morikawa. Morikawa opened with a 3-over 73 but is back in the mix in a big way, as a birdie on No. 15 took him to 5-under on the round and 2-under overall. Morikawa has now made six birdies in a 13-hole stretch that began at No. 3 and sits among a tie for third, five shots behind Wyndham Clark. Morikawa won earlier this year at Pebble Beach but has battled back injuries since, although his decision to skip the Memorial Tournament earlier this month was because he and his wife recently welcomed the birth of their first child.

11:30 a.m.: These are the U.S. Open conditions we were expecting. The wind is whipping, the greens are fast and the scores are ballooning. Wyndham Clark has impressively remained at 6-under, but almost everyone else is moving backward. Rory McIlroy was hovering around the top-10 earlier today as he sat in the clubhouse at 1-under. He's up to T4 now as those above him are dropping like flies. William Mouw just made double bogey. Matt Fitzpatrick has two bogeys in his last three holes. Dustin Johnson is three-over in his last two holes. Carnage is here.

10:55 a.m.: We're seeing some squirrely short misses now. The wind is starting to kick up, and the greens are firming up, and that's created some delicate and nervy putts. Wyndham Clark missed the shorty at the ninth, Gary Woodland missed one at the 10th and Justin Thomas missed one at the first hole. All made bogey. This wave is starting to feel the brunt of Shinnecock in conditions.

10:40 a.m.: The first mistake from Wyndham Clark comes at the ninth, a three-putt bogey that cuts his lead to two strokes. Clark started steadily this morning but had to battle to save some pars at the sixth and eighth holes, and it catches up to him here. There hasn't been a massive shift on the leaderboard yet, though we've seen some movement among a few of the top stars. Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele both just shot 3-under 32 on their front nines to move to 2-under overall. The wind is stronger than what this wave felt for much of yesterday, but still considerably calmer than what the Thursday morning wave experienced. Right now it's looking like they got the way better side of the draw. Let's see if Clark and others can capitalize and put a low number on the board that the rest of the field will need to chase.

8:30 a.m.: It was just announced that Joaquin Niemann was assessed a two-stroke penalty for throwing his club on the sixth hole of his first round yesterday. Niemann made a septuple bogey, carding an 11 on the par-4. More info here.

8:00 a.m.: The opening round is officially in the books at Shinnecock Hills. A total of 16 players broke par, led by Wyndham Clark who built a two-shot lead with a 6-under 64. There was only one bogey-free scorecard in the opening round, as 2021 U.S. Open champ Jon Rahm carded 16 pars to go with two birdies. No player completed a bogey-free round in 2018, so Rahm's was the first bogey-free effort in a Shinnecock U.S. Open since the second round in 2004.

7:00 a.m.: With pars on each of his first two holes Friday morning, Wyndham Clark officially took first-round leader honors at the U.S. Open.

Clark stormed out to an overnight lead, thanks in large part to a run of two birdies and an eagle from Nos. 3-5 in relatively calm conditions Thursday evening. He had two holes remaining in his opening round when play was halted because of darkness, but he returned at 6:35 a.m. to put the finishing touches on a 6-under 64 that gave him a two-shot cushion over Dustin Johnson. The score matches his opening tally in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club, when he went on to win, but falls one shot short of the Shinnecock course record set by Tommy Fleetwood in 2018.

6:35 a.m.: Here are a few of the marquee pairings for the second round (all times ET).

• 7:45 a.m: Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Bryson DeChambeau
• 7:56 a.m.: Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland, Dustin Johnson
• 8:07 a.m.*: Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas
• 8:29 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Jon Rahm
• 1:40 p.m.*: Brooks Koepka, Chris Gotterup, Cameron Young
• 2:02 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood
• 2:24 p.m.*: Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Mason Howell