Wyndham Clark's 3-under-par 67 earned him sole possession of the lead about halfway through the second round of the U.S. Open on Friday at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Clark posted one of the lowest scores of the morning wave and headed to the clubhouse at 9-under 131. First-round co-leaders Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele had yet to tee off as part of the afternoon wave; Fowler and Schauffele shot record-setting 8-under 62s Thursday.
Harris English shot a 4-under 66 that carried him up to fourth place at 7 under, with Dustin Johnson (70 Friday), Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (1 under through 16 holes) and Australian Min Woo Lee (65 Friday) just behind at 6 under.
Clark has risen to No. 32 in the Official World Golf Ranking after his first career PGA Tour win last month, the Wells Fargo Championship. He opened with a 64 Thursday but was overshadowed by Fowler's and Schauffele's rounds of 62.
The 29-year-old said he learned that week that his "can do it" and confidence were huge factors in his game.
"This is roughly the same field we played (against) in the Wells tournament, so I feel comfortable where I'm at and hope I keep going in the weekend," Clark said on the TV broadcast.
Clark set out on the back nine at LACC and took the solo lead for the first time when he made his third birdie of the day, a 45-foot uphill putt at the par-4 16th.
"I've been misreading this putt all week when we've been practicing it, so I told my caddie, I said, ‘You're reading it. I'm not even looking,'" Clark said. "He said (one) foot out. That's why I'm laughing here, because I had no idea where it was going."
It was all pars from there until a 9-footer for par slipped by at the par-3 fourth, but Clark got that stroke back at his penultimate hole, the par-5 eighth.
English played the back nine 1-over with no birdies to start his round, but he caught fire on the front. Of his five birdies, three came at par-4s, including a 79 1/2-footer at No. 5.
He noted the conditions were a bit tougher after Thursday saw the lowest field scoring average for a first round in U.S. Open history (71.39), atypical of the often grueling championship.
"I like how they're not setting it up to force us to a score," English said. "It's just kind of setting it up as it is, and whatever you shoot, you shoot. I think the players are really liking the setup."
Johnson made a quadruple bogey 8 at the second hole that saw him travel from a fairway bunker to out of bounds in a barranca. He shot over the green before getting on in six and two-putting.
The two-time major champ recovered with five birdies and just one bogey the rest of the day to finish right back where he started at 6 under.
Defending champion Matthew Fitzpatrick of England made a hole-in-one at the short par-3 15th, the third of the week after Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and Sam Burns aced it Thursday. Fitzpatrick shot 70 and is 1 over through two rounds.
Besides Fowler and Schauffele, other notables teeing off in the afternoon wave include World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (3 under through first round), Bryson DeChambeau (3 under), Max Homa (2 under), Jon Rahm of Spain (1 under), Viktor Hovland of Norway (1 under) and Collin Morikawa (1 over).
The top 60 players and ties will make the 36-hole cut. At 4:30 ET, the projected cut line was 1 over par and subject to change.
More must-reads: