“The kid from Colorado,” as an NBC announcer put it, is on a record U.S. Open pace.

After shooting 64 in the first round, Denver’s Wyndham Clark shot 69 Friday to grab the second-round lead. His 133 is the lowest 36-hole score for a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the only course to host the tournament in three centuries.

“I really felt like I could be in double digits (under par),” Clark said. “But you know, the great thing about that is I didn’t feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully, I can bring my A-game on the weekend.”

Clark’s four-shot lead is the largest 36-hole lead at a U.S. Open since Dustin Johnson at Shinnecock in 2018. Johnson went on to finish fourth that year.

Clark started his second round with eight straight pars before making a bogey on the ninth hole. He made three birdies and one bogey on the back nine.

Xander Schauffele, with the best U.S. Open record of anyone without a U.S. Open title over the last 10 years, had a 66 to finish at 137 along with Matt Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open champion who birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 70. Sam Stevens and Tom Kim joined the group four shots back in the afternoon.

This time last year, Clark was in the news for the wrong reasons. He smashed a locker at Oakmont Country Club after missing the cut at the 2025 U.S. Open. He also had an underhanded fling of his driver that smashed an advertising board and snapped off the clubhead at the PGA Championship, a few months before the locker debacle.

He hopes his performance this week can rehab his image with fans after those incidents.

“I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment,” Clark said. “Hopefully I can win those people back.”

Scottie Scheffler still has the career Grand Slam in his sights. He missed only two fairways and hit his last 10 greens for a 68 that left him the group at 140, along with Rory McIlroy (71) who was closing in on Clark until starting the back nine with three straight bogeys.

Both feel they are right in the thick of it, though so much depends on Clark and what the USGA has in mind for a Shinnecock course that only figures to get drier, faster and scarier over the next two days.

“If there’s a course where you feel like you still have a chance if you’re seven back going into the weekend like I am, it’s definitely this one,” McIlroy said.

Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 and ‘24 champion, failed to make the top 60 and has now missed the weekend at all three majors this year. He joined 2017 and ’18 winner Brooks Koepka, 2021 winner Jon Rahm and defending champion J.J. Spaun on the sideline for the weekend.

The 10 players who remained under par was one short of the record for Shinnecock in 2004. That was the year the field averaged 78.7 in the final round.

The Associated Press contributed to this report