Wyndham Clark has a reputation he wants to shake.

Clark outlasted Rory McIlroy to win the 2023 U.S. Open. But just last year at the same championship, he was banned from Oakmont Country Club after destroying a locker in anger when he missed the cut.

Clark is back on the upswing of navigating a fiendish setup at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. He made a magnificent eagle at No. 16 and posted an even-par 70 Saturday to give himself a six-shot cushion entering the final round of the U.S. Open in Southampton, N.Y.

“It was very up and down, holy smokes,” Clark said after he could be heard criticizing his play more than once on the telecast. “I hit some good shots; I hit some terrible shots. Yeah, I was a little frustrated with myself with some of the execution.”

Coming off a bogey at the previous hole, Clark hit the peak of his round at the par-5 16th. From the fairway, 275 yards from the pin, Clark struck a 3-wood that avoided a greenside bunker and settled 4 feet from the hole for eagle.

That boosted him from 6 under par to 8 under, and even after pushing his par putt at No. 18 past the cup, Clark made himself difficult to catch at 7-under 203.

“I feel like I’m trying to get more consistent. That’s something I’ve always wanted to be, and I think I’m trending in that direction,” Clark said. “Today was very volatile. Hopefully tomorrow it can be definitely a little more low-key, and hopefully I can play some boring golf.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will be Clark’s biggest threat after a back-nine rally got him back into the championship. He made four birdies on the back, including three in a row for the first time at a U.S. Open, and shot 69 to get to 1 under for the week.

Tied with Scheffler for second are Sahith Theegala (70), Sam Stevens (72) and South Korea’s Tom Kim (72).

Scheffler turns 30 on Sunday and would complete the career Grand Slam with a victory. He’ll tee off in the final pairing with Clark.

“We’ve been battling hard for a few days, and I did a good job of keeping myself in the tournament,” Scheffler said. “I’ll need a really nice round tomorrow if I’m going to try and catch Wyndham.”

Scheffler had one of only two sub-70 rounds on a day where the scoring average settled at 73.62, the highest of the week so far. Earlier Saturday, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo shot a 3-under 67 featuring four straight birdies at Nos. 6-9, climbing to even for the championship.

Tied with Grillo at even are Keith Mitchell (70), Sam Burns (71) and Xander Schauffele (73).

Clark began the day with a four-shot lead but saw that cut in half in short order. Stevens birdied the first hole to reach 4 under, and Clark’s approach at No. 1 rolled down the false front of the green, leading to a three-putt bogey.

He got it back with a birdie at No. 5, then scrambled for pars at Nos. 6 and 7.

“The one on 7, I was into the grain, I didn’t hit the best of chips, but it looked like I hit it to 4 feet, which is normally good,” Clark explained. “But that putt was diabolical, and I could three-putt from there, it was so sloped. The fact I made that one was huge.”

At No. 8, Clark was heard on the broadcast apparently calling it the “worst shot of my life” when his approach bounced into a front-right bunker, leading to a bogey. He went birdie-bogey at Nos. 14-15 before the eagle gave him a massive boost.

Scheffler began his day bogey-bogey and parred his way through the rest of the front nine. His patience was rewarded with a straightforward birdie at No. 10 before the shot of the day, a chip-in birdie from 65 feet away at No. 15.

His approach, like many others throughout the round, rolled off the firm green and down a slope. Scheffler pitched his third shot at No. 15 on a tight line and gave an unusually emphatic fist pump and “Let’s go!” when it dropped.

“At that point I’m still over par for the tournament, staring at a pretty tough up-and-down,” he said later. “So to steal a shot there at least is a pretty good feeling.”

He followed that with 12-foot and 13-foot birdie putts to climb to 2 under before bogeying No. 17.

Theegala’s round of 70 featured exactly one bogey and one birdie, the latter coming at No. 18 when his approach sat down 12 inches from the cup.

“I think the first, I don’t know, 9 to 12 holes (on Sunday), I can’t even worry about what Wyndham is doing,” said Theegala, eyeing his first major. “It just requires so much mental energy to play each and every hole out there. …

“The goal is to put yourself in position come back nine on Sunday, and then that’s when you can start leaderboard watching and kind of see what the lead is at.”

–Field Level Media

The Las Vegas Aces are looking to continue their nearly unblemished June against the visiting Golden State Valkyries on Sunday after splitting their two-game road trip this past week.

The Aces (11-4) sustained their lone loss this month in a 96-66 setback against the Dallas Wings on Monday, but they bounced back with an 86-76 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday. That victory secured their position in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Final against the New York Liberty on June 30.

Center A’ja Wilson, the league’s leading scorer at 26.1 points per game, predictably led the Aces with a double-double of 33 points and 10 rebounds in the winning effort, while NaLyssa Smith tallied 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field.

Sunday’s game is the first of a three-game homestand for the Aces, who will then travel to Chicago for a matchup with the Sky on June 28 before departing to New York for the Commissioner’s Cup Final. The Aces have won seven of their last eight games since back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Sparks and Wings dropped them to 5-3 in late May, and the expectation in Las Vegas is that the team will only continue to heat up.

“I don’t play basketball in the offseason, so it kind of takes me time to warm up and kind of get into the flow of playing 5-on-5,” said Wilson, the four-time and reigning league MVP and a seven-time All-Star. “Sometimes, in some years, it takes me seven games. Sometimes it takes me 17 games. Overall, I’m very pleased about how I’m really just trying to get in the flow of things. For me, probably on the defensive end is where I’m really trying to be super hard on myself, only because I know I have to anchor this defense for us.”

The Valkyries (10-6), on the other hand, are looking to bounce back from an 81-75 home loss to the league-best Minnesota Lynx on Friday. Despite the setback, the Valkyries were the first team to really solve the problem that is Rookie of the Year frontrunner Olivia Miles, holding her to season-low seven points on 1-of-10 shooting. Still, the Valkyries had won four games in a row before Friday’s loss and certainly pose a threat to hand the Aces their fifth loss of the season.

Gabby Williams has been the Valkyries’ most important piece on both ends of the floor, averaging a team-high 16.3 points per game while anchoring the team on the defensive end. Janelle Salaun and Veronica Burton have also built on their breakout 2025 campaigns, each improving their scoring averages to over 13 points per game.

“We’re being super intentional on how we’re preparing for Vegas,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “Going into our second year, I think we’re having really good conversations on preparation. We were right there (against Minnesota), a couple possessions away. Not going to hang our hats, we’re not going to point fingers off of this loss, but we’re going to learn from it.”

–Field Level Media

The Dodgers placed right-hander Blake Treinen on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation ahead of Saturday night’s game against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

Los Angeles recalled right-hander Chayce McDermott from Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move.

Treinen, who turns 38 on June 30, is in his sixth season with the Dodgers. He has a 4-1 record and 3.52 ERA in 29 relief appearances this season with 25 strikeouts, 10 walks and one save. The 2018 All-Star has a 49-42 record, 83 saves and a career 2.93 ERA over 560 games (seven starts) with the Washington Nationals (2014-17), Oakland Athletics (2017-19) and Dodgers (2020-22; 2024-26). He has tossed 621 strikeouts against 233 walks.

McDermott, 27, is entering his second major league stint of the season. He made one previous appearance with the Dodgers, tossing one shutout inning with a strikeout May 17 against the Angels. He has an 0-1 career record and 11.85 ERA over six games (two starts) at the major league level, pitching sparingly for the Orioles the prior two seasons.

–Field Level Media