U.S. Open: Coronation or collapse are Wyndham Clarks only options
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. There comes a point in every runaway tournament victory when the only story bigger than a player winning would be that player not winning. Unlike, say, football or basketball, you cant run out the clock in golf, and that means theres always the chance, however slight, that even a massive lead can vanish into the late-Sunday-afternoon air.Wyndham Clark leads the U.S. Open by six strokes. This is a substantial lead by any measure; its the third-largest 54-hole lead at a U.S. Open in the modern era, behind Tiger Woods 10 in 2000 and Rory McIlroys 8 in 2011. Both of those leads resulted in victories, and theres a whiff of inevitability about Clark, too, simply because of the way hes worked his way around Shinnecock Hills with a kind of determined precision thats eluded the rest of the field.For Clark, the moment of inevitability came on Shinnecock Hills 614-yard, par-5 16th hole, when he arced a brilliant second shot just over the sloping edge of the green, inches from disaster, and set up the eagle putt that would put him a touchdown ahead of the field. Its the kind of shot that deserves to be remembered, and if it had happened on Sunday or if the fans hadnt already streamed to Shinnecocks exits to catch the train it would have gotten its due from the gallery:That moment right there ensured that Clark will be the story Sunday, win or lose. Coronation or collapse, thats all that remains here at Shinnecock Hills and the 2026 U.S. Open.And heres where we get to the tricky part of this story. With very few exceptions, theres an anticlimactic air about any march to a multi-stroke victory. There arent many players who can inspire the gallery to cheer a runaway win. (There arent many players who could inspire the empty grandstands at Shinnecock, period.)Clark, whos never really been a fan favorite, has a checkered recent history, but hes doing his best to restore some connections with the gallery. Would a runaway win do that? Maybe, maybe not. But theres another possibility here, too.The agonizing element here is that the more compelling story is the more (potentially) heartbreaking one. Clark will start Sunday alongside Scottie Scheffler, whos both celebrating a birthday and chasing a career grand slam. Scheffler will be the overwhelming fan favorite, and any cuts he can make in Clarks lead a birdie on the first, say will send a charge through the gallery. And itll be up to Clark, who will surely be feeling like a man on an island, to hold on or not.Thats what makes golf so fascinating. For every Tiger Woods march to glory, there are a dozen stories of collapse and heartbreak, a lifes dreams crumbling as millions watch. Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters. Jean van de Velde at the 1999 Open Championship. Jordan Spieth at the 2016 Masters. All of them close enough to taste victory, close enough to see the flag on the 18th hole only to squander it all, to watch their hopes vanish like wisps of smoke. Its painful as hell to watch, but you cant deny that its compelling.What awaits Wyndham Clark on Sunday afternoon? A second U.S. Open trophy, an elevation to his generations best? Or one of golfs most momentous collapses, one that will haunt him the rest of his career? Its all waiting out there at Shinnecock, and it will all the way to the final green.
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