SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Isn’t it funny how history repeats itself? Eight years after Dustin Johnson entered the weekend at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills with a four-stroke lead, another former champion will look to convert the same advantage at the same golf course in the same championship.

Wyndham Clark hopes for a different fate.

Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, has blitzed this field (and this golf course) across 36 holes, setting a scoring record for a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills with his tally of 7 under. One hand may be reaching for the trophy, but it is best to resist temptation as zero prior 36-hole leaders at Shinnecock Hills proved to be the eventual leader after 72 holes.

It’s one part pressure and one part golf course as Shinnecock Hills has yet to bite back like players know it can. The United States Golf Association has expressed caution all week, and even with some poorly forecasted winds, the lever has not been pulled to the fullest extent.

“I truly believe if the USGA wanted to have some fun and with the wind coming through and firm up the greens,” Xander Schauffele said. “I mean, over-par will win this golf tournament again, sitting at whatever all these guys under par. I do believe this course can be that way.”

More U.S. Open 2026: Complete tee times list for Saturday at Shinnecock Hills

Syringing has been the word of the week up this point, and while humidity may keep moisture in the greens the rest of the way, the USGA still has setup options to give players fits. The plan has always been to build this golf course up as the championship progresses — a crescendo of sorts you could say — and the weekend should put that on full display.

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“I think Brooks [Koepka] was pretty far back going into the weekend in 2018,” Rory McIlroy said. “So, yeah, if there’s a course where you feel like you still have a chance if you’re seven back going into the weekend like I am, it’s definitely this one.”

Let’s get into whether or not those off the pace will be able to make up the difference over these next 36 holes and identify the contenders and pretenders this weekend at Shinnecock Hills.

Contenders vs. Pretenders

T2. Xander Schauffele (-3)

The guy is a cockroach in the best way imaginable. When it hits the fan (which it may this weekend), Schauffele has an uncanny ability to emerge unscathed, crawl around and stay alive. He struck the ball beautifully on Friday hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation, and if that carries into the rest of his championship, he has a fantastic opportunity to snag the third leg of the career grand slam.

Verdict: Contender

T2. Matt Fitzpatrick (-3)

The Englishman has the most wins on the PGA Tour this season and seems to have not played his best golf yet this week. That is dangerous. Fitzpatrick is humming in most aspects of his game, and should the driver start to cooperate a hair more (ranks outside the top 110 in strokes gained off the tee to this point), he will have the full bag in control. While that is in question, what isn’t is Fitzpatrick’s mettle. His mindset was built for the U.S. Open.

“I think being comfortable in the moment is the big thing,” Fitzpatrick said. “I know I’m four behind, but might be one of the last few groups tomorrow. I feel like, A, I’ve obviously been in that situation before, and B, having the game to match. You know, I feel like maybe 2017 if I had managed to find myself in a position like that, I probably wasn’t ready. I didn’t hit it far enough or didn’t hit my irons well enough, whatever it may be. 2022 with the way I was playing, I felt very comfortable to be in that position, and obviously the same today.”

Verdict: Contender

T2. Tom Kim (-3)

Very quietly finished inside the top 10 at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club but hasn’t done much else in this championship. Sprinted up the leaderboard late on Friday amid some difficult conditions, but this Kim is not the Kim that came out of the PGA Tour gates blazing en route to securing records alongside titans of the game. The iron play has been better in 2026, but he is doing the job so far in spite of it.

Verdict: Pretender

T2. Sam Stevens (-3)

Thought it was a really impressive second round, more than just the score of 1 under. Having to sleep with your name on the first page of the leaderboard knowing that your recent play has not been your best and producing a round that keeps you well in this tournament is ballsy stuff. He’s 2 under on the par 3s thus far, which is tough to do, but with so much cream around him, Stevens doesn’t seem like the name that will rise to the top.

Verdict: Pretender

6. Collin Morikawa (-2)

Changed wedges after switching to a different bounce on Monday, and it proved to be a fruitful decision. Morikawa is the second-best ball striker among this list even without his full arsenal at his disposal. The question is whether that catches up to him over the weekend. Couple that with the old adage of it being difficult to follow up a low round with another — Morikawa fired a second-round 65 tying Joaquin Niemann for low honors on Friday — and questions start to form, but I think he has the answers.

“It’s still a little uncomfortable,” Morikawa said. “I’m hitting it a lot better. Last week was huge for me. I felt like I made progress after that. I mean, took a little bit of time off with the baby. You know, I can’t hit every shot that I want to hit. Usually my go-to shot with right-to-left wind with an iron would be to cut something up, know how it’s going to spin, and just play that shot. I can’t quite cut it as much as I want.

“Thankfully the greens are soft enough right now where I don’t have to hit the high spinner, but I’m able to hit enough shots. I think I proved it to myself today that I have enough tools to go out and play well. Thankfully I’m moving a little bit better. So the driver, I’m getting a little bit more distance out of it. I don’t feel like I have to play it too low. But I can’t hit the high bomb that I wish on some holes I could unleash.”

Verdict: Contender

T7. Justin Thomas (-1)

He’s a two-time major champion. He is starting to play much better golf. He was the clubhouse leader for a few hours Sunday at the PGA Championship. Thomas’ short game and creativity are such X factors, but it felt like so much work watching him on Friday. He put his touch on display numerous times and scrambled his butt off from places that have a big X in the yardage book. Ultimately, the rope he is balancing on is going to give out.

Verdict: Pretender

T7. Sam Burns (-1)

Hand up, I have never been much of a Sam Burns guy, but he is starting to turn me. His game is beginning to translate on these more difficult golf courses and although he has not won in years (!), Burns will get to Sunday with a chance. His Sunday performances have not been great — remember what happened last year at Oakmont! — but the fact that he continues to put himself in this position feels like invaluable experience. He is going to put that to good use eventually, and it may be this weekend.

Verdict: Contender

T7.Harry Higgs (-1)

I want nothing more to be wrong. Higgs was the last man in the field, thought about quitting golf and has not finished inside the top 10 on either the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour since last year’s Myrtle Beach Classic. He is playing with house money, and sometimes those players are the most dangerous. He’s got nothing to lose!

Verdict: Pretender

T11. Scottie Scheffler (E)

The mindset for those seven off Clark’s pace is to realize they are only three strokes behind second place. With 36 holes left to play, that deficit is extremely manageable. Scheffler looked very much like the Scheffler on Friday evening as he peppered fairways, peppered greens and was a few burned edges and bad bounces on the bumpy poa annua greens away from putting together a truly special round.

SEATTLE – Hours before a noon kickoff on a picture-perfect summertime day in Seattle, U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino had news to break in the routine team meeting. Christian Pulisic would not be available to start in the team’s 2-0 win over Australia, a calf issue ruling him out of a clash he had worked all week to take part in despite training on his own. It was not a cause for concern, though.

“To play with Pepi today wasn’t a shock,” Folarin Balogun said post-match, of the man who started in place of the injured star. “It wasn’t like a Plan B because CP was out. It didn’t feel like that to me. It just felt like another solution to win the game.”

Pepi’s moment finally comes

Four years after receiving an unwanted phone call from then-coach Gregg Berhalter that he would not be making the trip to Qatar — and then promptly hanging up on him — Pepi was not only on a World Cup team but was poised to make his first start at the tournament, one that took place on home soil. Balogun’s perspective has some credence, too. Pochettino’s starters had been fairly well-defined heading into the World Cup, but if anyone outside of the group was pushing for a spot in the lineup, it was Pepi. The forward kept the vibes high as the U.S. team slumped their way to a lopsided loss to Belgium in March, but pressed and got the assist to Patrick Agyemang’s goal right at the end. He played a big role in the build-up of two goals in their 3-2 win over Senegal last month. If anyone was poised to work his way into that core group, it was Pepi.

The strategy was ultimately a smart one. Australia played with five defenders, and having two strikers to oppose them meant one was there to keep the opponents busy leaving the other one free to do whatever else was needed.

“I felt like we gave them a hard time,” Pepi said. “I felt like it was a difficult game, to be able to get a lot of shots, a lot of spaces in between, so they really closed down the middle, but at the end of the day, we got the win, we got the goals and we did our job…it’s always good to be able to have those two strikers. If a defender is marking me, then the other one is always free, so it’s a good thing that we were able to play like this and it just shows what the team has.”

Pepi allowed the USMNT to show a different side of their attacking prowess, Pochettino doing well in recent weeks to take advantage of the group’s deep pool of talent in those positions. The player had an unglamorous showing, but he did exactly what was needed of him, pressing until he came off in the 74th minute for Sebastian Berhalter as the coach decided to hold things down with a range of defensive substitutions. He seized the opportunity in front of him and looks to be an important option for the U.S. team going forward, especially now that their trip to the knockout rounds is confirmed. It was already clear before the USMNT’s World Cup got started, but even more so after Friday’s win over Australia, they are certainly not a one-note team that unravels when Plan A goes out the window.

“When we start[ed] the game, did you see how Pepi and Balo go to press,” Pochettino said. ” When that happens, the will to go, to do and to make the effort, to try [to] knock them … They don’t play long balls. They play passes, long passes and I think we forced them to play long and because in the way that their players are so good, the way that we worked, putting pressure starting with our two strikers and behind – Weston [McKennie], Sergino [Dest], Malik [Tillman], Tyler [Adams[, Antonee [Robinson[ – I think it was a very good job and made [it] easy for our defensive line to control and after have the capacity to play.”

Freeman shoots to stardom

Pepi was hardly the only one to benefit from the opportunity in front of him. Alex Freeman was also one of the standouts on Friday, especially when realizing the difference a year can make. Freeman had zero caps in June 2025 but now has two World Cup starts under his belt and a goal, the second in Friday’s win in Seattle. Coupled with a wintertime move from Orlando City in MLS to Spain’s Villarreal, Freeman has been on a quick upward trajectory since Pochettino first called him in a year ago.

“I want to give the credit to Orlando the player is doing a fantastic job. The evolution is massive. He’s [such] a humble guy. He has an amazing profile. He wants to learn. He always listens. He’s a player that you really, being with, not only coaching … he’s a lovely guy and an amazing player. For me, [he] has the potential to be one of the best players in his position [in] the world.

“And Oscar Pareja and the coaching staff because when we arrived here and to build our relationship with all the clubs in MLS, I think [about] how important it is now to enjoy the player that we really only saw a few clips [of] but to trust in the player and to give the possibility to come with us,” Pochettino said, referencing Freeman’s former coach at Orlando.”

Freeman has enjoyed the quick transition from little-known MLS prospect to World Cup goalscorer, unfazed by the tasks in front of him.

“I think it’s hard for me to take it all in, but I think it’s good also to go through these challenges at such a fast pace at a young age,” Freeman said. “I feel like for me, it’s just going to make me an even better player to be able to adjust to different atmospheres and be able to adjust to different circumstances, and now that I’m here, it’s just: How can I give 100% and do it for my country and how can I make everyone proud?”

In some ways he takes after his father Antonio, a former NFL player.

“I think for me that’s kind of a full circle family moment,” he said. “I think for me, it just shows how great the family tree is and I think that just shows how he can be great, but I can be great in my own way as well, and I think that just shows how amazing it is to have a dad who’s successful and that can mentor me to be able to be ready for moments like these.”

He remains the poster child for Pochettino’s experimentation process, the coach calling in upwards of 60 players before settling on his 26 members of the World Cup team. Two games in, the tournament has offered validation of many sorts to Pochettino and his processes, something Freeman acknowledged after a celebratory afternoon.

“I think that just shows how [deep] our roster is, how [many] good players we have,” he said.  “On the field, whenever they get a chance and in fact, that just shows for us – never not be ready because you don’t know when your chance is going to get called up and be able to play and Pepi did that today and he was able to contribute in a very, very amazing way today and I think that just shows that [you need to] be ready and be able to contribute any way you can.”