Collin Morikawa has given Wyndham Clark something more awkward than a leaderboard full of distant names: a proven major champion moving the right way at Shinnecock Hills.
Clark remains the man everyone is chasing at the U.S. Open after rounds of 64 and 69 left him at seven under par, four clear of the best completed totals when the Friday picture sharpened. That part of the championship has already been established. The new development is what has formed behind him.
Morikawa’s second-round 65 moved him to two under, while Xander Schauffele’s 66 took him to three under alongside Matt Fitzpatrick, who signed for 70 after his opening 67. Rory McIlroy was also at two under through the early part of his second round, close enough to matter and experienced enough to make the weekend feel less like a procession.
Morikawa Changes The Tone Of The Chase
The number beside Morikawa’s name matters, but the identity matters just as much. A 65 at Shinnecock is not a polite nudge. It is the kind of round that forces a leader to look twice at the board, especially on a course where comfort can disappear inside one bad bounce, one heavy lie, or one impatient swing.
Morikawa began the day well off Clark’s pace after an opening 73. By the time he was finished, he had moved from the outskirts of the tournament into the group of players with enough pedigree to make Saturday uncomfortable. Two major titles buy a player a different kind of attention. So does the shape of his game, because when Morikawa is controlling his irons, a demanding U.S. Open venue starts to look like a place where he can apply pressure without needing chaos.
That is why this chase now has a stronger spine than it did earlier in the day. ReadGolf has already looked at how Clark turned Shinnecock into a weekend chase. Morikawa’s move gives that chase a more serious name in the mirrors.
Schauffele And Fitzpatrick Keep The Pressure Honest
Schauffele’s 66 may be just as important to the texture of the championship. He has become one of the most reliable U.S. Open performers of his generation, and he is now close enough that Clark cannot treat the field as a distant inconvenience.
Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, has been in this exact emotional neighbourhood before. He knows what it feels like to win the U.S. Open when the golf is attritional and the margins are small. His level-par 70 was not spectacular, but at Shinnecock it did not need to be. It kept him at three under and in the first line of serious pursuit.
The temptation with a four-shot lead is to talk as though the championship has already narrowed to one man. Shinnecock argues against that. So does the quality of the names stacking up behind Clark. Schauffele, Fitzpatrick, Morikawa and McIlroy are not the kind of players who need the leader to fall apart completely. They need a door left ajar.
McIlroy Still Has A Weekend Window
McIlroy’s position is still live rather than complete, but the scoreboard around him gives his Friday a clear value. At two under through five holes of his second round, he was not chasing applause so much as position. Staying close enough before the weekend is the whole job when the leader has created early separation.
His opening 69 was already a useful answer to a course that has not always treated him kindly. Now the task is to keep the round from drifting into the kind of soft damage that Shinnecock quietly inflicts. ReadGolf’s earlier look at McIlroy’s Friday U.S. Open window still applies: he does not have to win the tournament on Friday, but he cannot let Clark vanish completely.
Scottie Scheffler is fighting a different fight. The world No. 1 was at two over through four holes of his second round, inside the cut line but a long way from where his career Grand Slam bid wanted to be. That makes Saturday, if he gets there in decent shape, less about front-running and more about rescue. It is a sharp change from the pre-tournament expectation explored in ReadGolf’s piece on Scheffler’s altered U.S. Open chase.
Cut Day Is Taking Big Names With It
The other half of Friday is the damage. Bryson DeChambeau signed for 75 and sat at five over, outside the projected cut of three over. Jon Rahm’s 78 left him at six over. Dustin Johnson, who had briefly moved within one of Clark earlier in the day, finished at three over after a 77 and was left staring at the cut line rather than the lead.
That is the brutal split-screen of a U.S. Open Friday. At the top, Clark is trying to protect a historic start from a cluster of major winners. Below him, players with the CVs to shape the weekend are scrambling simply to remain part of it.
The championship still belongs to Clark for now. But Morikawa’s 65, Schauffele’s 66 and the presence of Fitzpatrick and McIlroy have changed the feel of the next two days. Shinnecock has its leader. It also has the first proper outline of a chase.
