By Amy Tennery
SOUTHAMPTON, New York, June 21 (Reuters) – Wyndham Clark will look to claim his second U.S. Open title at Shinnecock Hills on Sunday, after building an extraordinary six-stroke lead through the first three rounds at the challenging Southampton course.
The 2023 winner was seven under par through 54 holes and will hope to keep up the momentum when he tees off at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) with U.S. compatriot and world number one Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler, playing on his 30th birthday, was in a four-way tie in second spot on the leaderboard at one under par, as he bids for a career Grand Slam after winning last year’s PGA Championship and British Open.
He was tied for second with South Korea’s Tom Kim and Americans Sahith Theegala and Sam Stevens.
Clark has history on his side as he tees off at windy Shinnecock: of the 21 players who have led by six shots or more heading into the final round of a major, all but one have gone on to win.
The U.S. Open is known as the toughest test in golf and Shinnecock Hills upheld that reputation as some of golf’s best struggled with the conditions on Saturday.
Back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy (73) dropped out of contention with five bogeys on the back nine to sit three over for the tournament, alongside PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai (72).
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Southamton, New York; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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