Wyndham Clark will have some work to do Friday morning but he is in a really good spot at the U.S. Open.

The Denver native was 6-under par through 16 holes and had a four-shot lead when play was halted due to darkness Thursday during the first round at Shinnecock Hills.

Clark, who took advantage of the afternoon conditions, will go out at 4:35 a.m. Friday and finish his first round. The Valor Christian graduate has been on a hot streak the last couple of months with a win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, a third-place finish at The Memorial and a tie for 11th at the RBC Canadian Open.

“Everything was kind of clicking,” Clark said. “We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall, a good round.”

Being near the top of the leaderboard at a U.S. Open is nothing new for the 32-year-old. Clark won the 2023 event at Los Angeles Country Club. Earlier that year, Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship for his first PGA Tour win.

Clark started on No. 10 and opened with two quick birdies. He went out in 32 to get his name atop the leaderboard. And after missing an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and failing to save par from a bunker on the long par-3 second, he took off.

He hit wedge to 5 feet on No. 3 for birdie, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the next and then from 207 yards with some wind at his back, he hit his second on the par-5 fifth to 3 feet for eagle.

“I would say when I got my tee times on Tuesday, I was like, ‘Oh, could be a tough draw,’” Clark said. “That two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was really nice it laid down. So it definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played.”

There is a big group of players at 2-under behind Clark, including U.S. Open champions Matt Fitzpatrick, Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland and Jon Rahm. Sam Stevens, Max McGreevy and amateur Riley Cowan are also in that group.

Rory McIlroy thought he had made a fine effort to shoot 69 in gusts that topped 30 mph in the middle of the day, when the scoring average was well above 74. The afternoon started tough until the wind kept subsiding, and players began taking aim at flags. The afternoon wave was playing at least a stroke easier than the early starters who faced relentless wind.

“With the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,” McIlroy said. “It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.”

Johnson, in his final year of being exempt from the U.S. Open he won at Oakmont in 2016, ran off four straight birdies and was tied with Clark after 13 holes. But Johnson failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the easy par-5 fifth, where Clark made eagle. And then Johnson three-putted from short range for a double bogey on the sixth to fall four shots behind.

Scottie Scheffler, who needs the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam, battled all day and relied heavily on his short game to salvage a 72. It was his 10th consecutive U.S. Open round without breaking par.

“Overall, yeah, it was a really challenging day,” Scheffler said. “If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2-over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.