Wyndham Clark holds a six stroke lead heading into the final round of the US Open.
The 2023 US Open winner looks set to double his major tally at Shinnecock Hills. He’s looked unshakeable over the first three days, draining a series of testing putts to save par and maintain his advantage at the top of the leaderboard.
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There has been an element of fortune to his performance, however. He’s had the best of the weather on every single day, and even when he’s missed the fairway, he’s often missed by enough to get himself a good lie on the trampled ground.
This fortune continued on the 17th hole on Saturday, when Clark was able to take advantage of a rule which really must be changed.
Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
Wyndham Clark exposed golf rule that needs to change
On the 17th hole during his third round, Clark looked to have made an egregious error which was set to derail his round. He fired his tee shot on the par three so far left it threatened to land on the 18th tee box.
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His ball was buried in the long fescue, in a position so bad that a double would have been a respectable score. Suddenly, his six shot lead threatened to be cut to five or worse.
But in huge stroke of luck, Clark’s ball found itself at the base of a TV camera. That meant that he was allowed free relief from the base of the camera, because it was a temporary structure.
We see this often. Players will fire their ball over the green and into a grandstand so they can get free relief around the green. And it was actually even better than that for Clark.
When he was taking his drops, his ball took a bounce to the right and nestled back next to the camera. That allowed him to pick up his ball, clean it, and place it in a perfect lie. Clark ended up with a far better lie than he would have done anywhere except the green.
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He got it up and down for par, avoiding the disastrous hole that it really should have been.
This rule is in place to ensure the course is being played as it is designed. But it’s actually making the golf course easier for the pros than it would be for the members. If Clark was playing Shinnecock at any other time of year, that ball would have been dead. Instead, he got a perfect lie.
It must change. We should not be rewarding players for hitting shots so bad, they hit a TV camera. If Clark couldn’t play the ball, then he should have to take an unplayable, giving him a one stroke penalty.
Instead, he got a free drop, and remains in firm control of the tournament.
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