USGA CEO Mike Whan Called Wyndham Clark’s Winning Score at the U.S. Open Two Months Ago

Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open at 4-under par. That's the exact number Mike Whan said two months ago. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

USGA CEO Mike Whan and I were standing in the dining room of Winged Foot Golf Club. It was exactly two months to the day before Wyndham Clark made the winning putt in the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Somehow, Whan predicted the winning score exactly on that April day in Mamaroneck, N.Y. 

“If the wind doesn’t blow at Shinnecock, 14-under is going to win, and that’ll be just fine,” Whan said. “And if the wind blows hard, then four-under is going to win and that’ll be just fine, too.”

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There was plenty of wind at Shinnecock and Clark’s final score was four-under par. When the wind died on Friday, Clark got it to seven-under, and -14 certainly seemed in play. Then the course firmed up, the wind kicked up, and Clark came back to the field. 

Next I’ll ask Whan for the winning Powerball numbers. 

As much as this was a coronation for Clark, now a two-time U.S. Open champion, the USGA deserves its flowers too, specifically USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. They handled imprecise wind and weather reports perfectly, getting 156 players through the course twice with an easier setup in the first two rounds, then allowing the course to firm up and crescendo on the weekend. 

That’s no easy task, especially at this course. 

Shinnecock Hills is known as one of the toughest tests in golf. In six U.S. Opens there, 814 players have competed and a total of six players have finished under par. No one has finished better than four-under. That didn't change this year.

The USGA, under previous CEO Mike Davis, made keeping the winning score par or higher the top priority. When Shinnecock Hills hosted the 2004 and 2018 U.S. Opens, they tried to accomplish that goal by running the greens faster than they’re intended and putting pins in places the club’s groundskeeper would never use. 

It made Shinnecock borderline unplayable. Zach Johnson called out the USGA for losing the course in 2018.  

The same thing could have happened this year. The course was dry enough to push the greens to whatever speed Bodenhamer pleased. The wind gusted up to 40 MPH and hovered in the mid-teens most of the week. They could have put the pins wherever they wanted. 

They chose restraint. Whan said they would back in April. 

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“We have had a philosophy over the last five or six years that we play golf courses the way the designer envisioned it,” Whan said. “We aren’t showing up with trucks of fescue. We aren’t narrowing fairways 40 yards. So I think it will be more of the Shinnecock that everybody knows. More than ever before for the U.S. Open.”

Instead of tightening the fairways, as Davis did previously, they extended them. Instead of increasing green speeds to start the week, they slowed them down to a 10 on the stimpmeter, even injecting the greens with water to ensure they wouldn't get too fast. Instead of putting pins in inaccessible locations members haven’t seen before, they put them in tame locations. At least to start. 

Getting 156 players of various ages and playing levels (remember, amateurs are a big part of this tournament) through a course this hard in two days before the cut is a massive challenge. Throw in the 50 MPH wind gusts forecasted for Thursday and you have a recipe for potential disaster. No one at the USGA wants the second round completing on Saturday. 

The wind didn’t materialize to that degree. It didn’t matter. The course was hard enough as it was. The cut score was 4-over. Only 15 players were under par after round 1. Eight players were under par after round 2. By the end of round 3, only five players were under par. The number was down to three when Clark secured the win.

“I said this to my team this year: ‘Of course we want to make this the toughest test for these guys. We want this to be one of the toughest tests both mentally and physically,’” What said. “‘But at the same time, we want this to be pure golf, and whatever wins, wins.’” 

Since Brooks Koepka won that brutal 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock at 2-over par, the winning score has been under par every U.S. Open since. The average winning score has been 6.86 under par in that time. The ethos of the USGA has clearly changed under Whan. 

“I’m looking forward to playing Shiinecock the way it was originally designed and the way it was originally envisioned and not trying to apply a U.S. Open version of Shinnecock,” Whan told me that day. “If the wind blows, you still get Shinnecock in all its glory.”

Seriously, what are the Powerball numbers Mike?

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