Wyndham Clark is back in contention at the top of the leaderboard at the 2026 U.S. Open, and he is doing it with the memory of his only major title still fresh. The 32-year-old, who won the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, now has a chance to add a second major in a setting that has already rewarded him once before.
That search has brought renewed attention because Clark’s major record has never followed a straight line. He turned professional in 2017, but before his breakthrough he had never finished better than 75th in a major championship. His 2023 win changed that in dramatic fashion: he finished 10-under-par with a final-round 70 and held off Rory McIlroy for his first major victory in June 2023.
Clark’s U.S. Open history makes the present run more striking. He made his debut in 2021 and missed the cut, then missed the cut again in 2022. After winning in 2023, he tied for 56th at the 2024 U.S. Open and missed the cut again in 2025. That mix of triumph and frustration is why his position at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club matters now. He is not trying to prove he can win once. He is trying to show that the 2023 U.S. Open was the start of something larger.
Outside that one championship, Clark’s major résumé has been uneven, though there are signs of steadier form. He tied for fourth at the 2025 Open Championship at -11, six strokes behind Scottie Scheffler, and his 2023 breakout season also included a Ryder Cup appearance for the United States. He has four PGA Tour wins, and as of June 2026 he is ranked 34th in the Official World Golf Ranking, having climbed as high as third in 2024 while currently sitting between Nicolai Hojgaard and Min Woo Lee.
The question now is simple enough. If Clark is going to turn this U.S. Open position into a second major title, he has to do it at a course where his history does not guarantee anything and where his recent results show how quickly a major can turn. For a player who once seemed defined by missed cuts, the rest of this championship is about whether he can make the 2023 result look like the beginning of a pattern, not the exception.
