The US Open is right around the corner, the major that prides itself on being the hardest test in golf.
At last year’s US Open, played at Oakmont Country Club, only one player finished under par, as JJ Spaun drained a long putt on the 72nd hole to finish one under for the tournament. And in 2026, the tournament comes to perhaps the hardest venue of them all.
Shinnecock’s difficulty has bordered on the farcical the last two times the US Open has been played at the historic venue. It was so challenging in 2018 that the USGA had to apologize for the conditions.
In fact, over the last 100 years, the US Open has been played at Shinnecock Hills four times, and only three players have finished under par.
The three players who have finished under par at Shinnecock Hills
Not a single player finished under par at Shinnecock last time the venue hosted a US Open in 2018. Brooks Koepka won the tournament at one over par, and Justin Rose finished in the top 10 at seven over.
So you have to go all the way back to 2004 to find a player who finished under par at a US Open at Shinnecock. Retief Goosen, who won the event 22 years ago, and Phil Mickelson. Goosen won at four under, and Mickelson finished two shots back.
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The only other player was the 1986 US Open winner, Raymond Floyd, who snuck in an even par tournament at one under par at Shinnecock.
Out of the 520 different players to have teed off at this venue in the last 100 years, only those three have been in the red after 72 holes. But expect a few more names to be added to that list this week.
Why Rory McIlroy thinks Shinnecock will be easier this year
Rory McIlroy thinks that Shinnecock won’t be quite as brutal this year as it has been in years past. He’s been playing the course in recent weeks and said that the organisers are likely to make it slightly easier to prevent the US Open from becoming a farce as it was in 2018.
Speaking to Fried Egg Golf, he said, “I think Shinnecock is very wind-dependent. I think that first day at Shinnecock in 2018, I remember every tee shot when it was that left-to-right wind, I could not start the ball far enough left. I kept missing it in the right rough.
“I think you will see a slightly gentler Shinnecock this time around, because the USGA don’t want to lose it. Obviously, the club and the membership don’t want to lose it either.
“I would expect the winning score to be a little more in the red numbers than not, but it’s an amazing golf course because the playing corridors are wide with wide fairways, the greens are pretty small, they can tuck the pins away and you do have to think about angles.
“I think about the eighth hole which is a really short par four but if you have the pin on the right side of the green and you hit it up the right side of the fairway it’s not a nice wedge shot, but if you hit it up the left side, you are hitting straight up the grain and it becomes easier, not just from a landing standpoint but visually.
“There are a lot of things like that at Shinnecock that you have to think about. Also, the greens are an incredible set of greens, but if you get them too fast, they become silly, so the tournament setup guys have to be careful of how fast they get them and where they are putting hole locations.”
The USGA certainly don’t want to be making any apologies this year, so maybe we’ll have a few finishers under par to add to the list by the end of the event.
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