SOUTHAMPTON, New York — Scottie Scheffler’s pursuit of a Grand Slam, Rory McIlroy’s bid for two career goals and a course that — with a proper setup (a big if considering recent history), and with forecasted formidable wind — could prove a quintessential challenge for golf’s ultimate test.
The 126th U.S. Open, like others hosted by Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, may be one for the history books.
The top player storyline surrounds the world No. 1.
Scheffler can join legends with Grand Slam
This U.S. Open marks Scheffler’s first chance to become the seventh man to complete the career Grand Slam — wins at the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and the Open.
The others: McIlroy (completed in 2025), Tiger Woods (2000), Jack Nicklaus (1966), Gary Player (1965), Ben Hogan (1953) and Gene Sarazen (1935).
Scheffler, atop the world rankings since May 2023, won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, then the PGA and the Open in 2025.
He’s come a long way since the last time Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open in 2018, when Scheffler fell nine shots shy of qualifying the same spring he graduated from the University of Texas.
“If you took my career from where I was as a college player, I would have extremely overachieved being in this position,” Scheffler said. “I wasn’t the best college player. I had a decent college career, but by no means was I a can’t-miss type of prospect. The guys that turned pro at the time were better than me.”
Rory McIlroy eyes first U.S. Open win since 2011, two goals
McIlroy completed his Grand Slam at the 2025 Masters, then repeated at Augusta National this past April. But the goal posts keep moving for the active player with the most major titles (six).
McIlroy said in November 2024 that he would like to “go down as the most successful European of all time.”
A seventh major would match Harry Vardon, an Englishman from the turn of the 20th century, for the most by a European.
McIlroy, whose 2011 U.S. Open title came at Congressional, told Fried Egg Golf that he yearns to win a U.S. Open at a traditional venue like Shinnecock, which hosts for a sixth time.
“That was why Pinehurst (runner-up in 2024 after three late bogeys) got me so badly because that was such an opportunity to win a true U.S. Open test, firm greens, baked out,” he said. "(If I won) no one could say that I hadn’t done it that way.”
Shinnecock course conditions face scrutiny after past scenes
There were scenes the last two times Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open.
In the final round in 2004, it became so hard to keep balls from rolling off the seventh green that play was held up to water it in between groups.
Then in the third round in 2018, Phil Mickelson was so frustrated after rolling a putt past the 13th hole that he jogged across the green to hit it again before it stopped, deliberately taking a two-shot penalty. Zach Johnson said that day that Shinnecock was “pretty much shot. ... They’ve lost the golf course.”
This year’s plan is to “syringe” the greens in between the morning and afternoon waves Thursday and Friday — a very light application of water to prevent wilt.
“Think about it as when you go into the grocery store and you go into the produce department and reach for that head of lettuce and that little mist comes on above and hits your hand,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s Chief Championships Officer. “That’s all we’re doing to the putting greens. It doesn’t impact playability. It hydrates the leaf blade. When it evaporates, it keeps it cool enough so we don’t lose the friction on the putting greens.”
Shinnecock winds could be ‘problematic’
The likely more impactful variable is the wind — forecasted gusts into the 30mph range on Thursday and the 20s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“When we start to talk about numbers in the mid-30s, that becomes problematic in a number of ways, golf balls just staying still on the putting green,” Bodenhamer said.
A target is to have green speeds around 10.5 on the Stimpmeter, due to the windy forecast, which Bodenhamer believed would be the slowest greens at a U.S. Open since 1995.
“We could brutalize this place the next few days if we wanted to,” Bodenhamer said. “That’s not what we’re about. We really want it to be fair, and we want it to be what Shinnecock Hills has always been. It will be tough enough.
“We have pulled every lever that we can to make it fair, and I think that’s a message we really want to get out there. Ultimately, we believe the forecast will be accurate. If it isn’t, then it will be what it will be, but we’ve done everything we can not only to provide a tough, but especially a fair test, but to ensure that we’ve given it every opportunity, no guarantees, that we can play golf on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”
Only three players have ever finished a U.S. Open at Shinnecock under par: Retief Goosen and Mickelson in 2004 and Raymond Floyd in 1986.
McIlroy, who shot an opening round 80 in 2018, may have it put it best in his opening media address this week.
“If everything is going the way everyone wants it in terms of weather, setup,” he said, “I think it’s the best championship test in the country.”
