Wyndham Clark Calls Saturday’s Finish in Near Darkness ‘Ridiculous’

Clark, who shares the 54-hole lead with Rickie Fowler, said darkening skies were a factor in late-round bogeys from the final pairing.

Saturday at the U.S. Open was tense, thrilling and—in the end—mostly dark. Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark, playing in the final pairing of the day, finished their round with little daylight left. Fowler missed a 3-and-half-foot par putt on that final hole, which was his shortest miss of the week. Clark buried a clutch 6-footer for birdie on 18, but he still sounded off on the conditions after the round.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a little ridiculous that we teed off that late. I would say right around hole 15 and 16 it started getting to where you couldn’t see that well. I mean, I don’t personally understand why we teed off—we played twilight golf,” Clark said. “The last two holes I one hundred percent think my bogey on 17 was because I couldn’t see, and I think Rickie’s bogey on 18 was because he couldn’t see.”

This week’s U.S. Open setup at Los Angeles Country Club features long par-3s and drivable par-4s, which have been a recipe for extended wait-times on tee boxes. Together Fowler and Clark persevered: Fowler shot an even-par 70; Clark shot 69, and they share the lead at 10 under with 18 holes remaining. It’s Clark’s first career 54-hole co-lead at a major, and he had more to say about the Saturday’s late finish.

“I’m not trying to make an excuse, but it definitely was a challenge—17 and 18, I literally couldn’t see I, and we just played off of feel,” he said.

On Sunday Clark and Fowler are set to tee off at 2:30 local time, which is 70 minutes earlier than they began on Saturday.

“It’s kind of tough and it’s crazy to think that we’re doing that on the last two holes of a major when we could have teed off two hours earlier,” Clark added. “Hopefully tomorrow we don’t have that issue.”