U.S. Open 2026: What to know from Round 3 at Shinnecock Hills

Wyndham Clark, fist-bumping caddie David Pelekoudas, eagled the 16th hole on the way to an even-par 70. Mike Mulholland / Getty Images

Shinnecock Hills threw everything it had Saturday at one of the game’s hottest players. At every turn, Wyndham Clark seemed to have an answer.

Here are the top numbers and notes to know from Round 3 of the 126th U.S. Open.

1. Thanks to a relentless day of scrapping for pars, Clark will carry a six-stroke lead into the final round at Shinnecock in Southampton, N.Y. Clark hit just half of his greens in regulation but got up and down seven times in posting a third-round 70. His 54-hole score of 7 under is the best in the six U.S. Opens contested at this historic venue.

On the eight-hole stretch from the sixth through the 13th holes, Clark faced six par putts ranging from 5 to 14 feet. He made all six of them, the most impressive coming at 13 after he left a bunker shot short. His resilience revealed itself again three holes later: After finally missing a short par putt at 15, Clark hit an approach from 275 yards to 4 feet, 4 inches. For context, the average proximity to the hole for the field this week on approach shots from 250 to 275 yards is more than 68 1/2 feet per attempt.

The 2023 U.S. Open champion has been excellent through the majority of his bag. Through three rounds, he ranks No. 2 in the field in strokes gained tee to green and No. 3 in strokes gained putting. He has scrambled at a 13-for-17 clip, the best of any player in the field entering Sunday.

2. Clark’s six-shot lead is the largest through 54 holes at the U.S. Open since Rory McIlroy led by eight strokes in 2011. Since the inaugural Masters in 1934, this marks the 14th time a player has entered the final round of a major leading by six shots or more. Twelve of the previous 13 players won, the exception being Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters.

Clark is the sixth player in U.S. Open history to lead by multiple strokes after each of the first three rounds. Each of the previous five went on to win, four by seven strokes or more. Since the first Masters, Clark is the 10th player to lead any of the four majors by multiple strokes after each of the first three rounds. Seven of nine went on to win, the exceptions being Harry Cooper at the 1936 Masters and the aforementioned Norman.

3. With a win Sunday, Clark would become the third player to win a U.S. Open in California and New York, joining Billy Casper and Tiger Woods. Casper won the 1959 Open at Winged Foot and then at Olympic Club seven years later. Woods won in historic fashion in 2000 at Pebble Beach, then two years later at Bethpage Black (and in 2008 at Torrey Pines, for good measure). Wyndham could become the third player since 2000 to win the U.S. Open twice in a four-Open span, joining Woods and Retief Goosen, who won his second at Shinnecock in 2004.

There have been only eight wire-to-wire (with no ties after any round) U.S. Open victories, the last coming from Martin Kaymer at Pinehurst in 2014. Woods’ victory in 2002 is the lone instance of it happening in New York.

4. When Norman blew the six-shot lead 30 years ago at Augusta National, he did so as the world’s top-ranked player. Clark will try to avoid joining Norman while playing alongside the world No. 1. Scottie Scheffler carded a third-round 69, one of just two rounds under par by the field Saturday (Emiliano Grillo went out in 67 earlier in the day). Clark and Scheffler will share a 2:30 pm. ET tee time Sunday.

Scheffler entered the week as inarguably the biggest player-centric storyline, playing the U.S. Open for the first time needing only this leg to complete the career grand slam. Three of the six men to complete the slam did so in their first shot at the final leg, just as Scheffler is undertaking. In each of Scheffler’s four major wins, he was the outright 54-hole leader.

5. There are two instances in U.S. Open history of a player coming from six back entering the final round to win, and both are among the most storied Sundays in history. In 1960, Arnold Palmer was seven behind Mike Souchak to begin the final round, with Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player among those between him and the leader. Palmer drove the par-4 opening hole’s green, birdied six of his first seven and wound up beating Nicklaus — then an amateur — by two.

In 1973, Johnny Miller authored one of the greatest performances in history, taming mighty Oakmont with a 63, then the lowest round in a major championship. Miller began that day six behind a quartet of co-leaders, one of whom was Palmer.

Sunday is Scheffler’s 30th birthday and Father’s Day to boot. He still has a chance, however slim it might seem, to author a legendary chapter in U.S. Open lore.

6. Save some birthday cake for the second-to-last group, too. Tom Kim will turn 24 Sunday, starting in the same spot as Scheffler: tied for second, six behind Clark. Kim scuffled with six bogeys Saturday, more scores worse than par than he had in the first two rounds this week combined (four). Still, Kim is in the best 54-hole position of his major championship career, the previous being a tie for ninth on two occasions.

Only two players who began the third round under par shot even par or better Saturday: Clark (70) and Sahith Theegala (70), who is also tied for second heading into the final round. Theegala hit 14 greens in regulation, one shy of J.T. Poston’s field high. If not for brutal opening-round putting, Theegala might have been in the final group with Clark. In Round 1, the 28-year-old Californian lost nearly four strokes to the field on the greens. In the two rounds since, he has picked up more than two shots putting. Theegala’s best career major finish is ninth at the 2023 Masters.

The fourth in the group at 1 under is Sam Stevens, who made the turn at 4 under for the championship before beginning the back nine with three bogeys. Stevens is looking for his first top-20 finish at a major.