The 2026 U.S. Open begins Thursday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, marking the course’s sixth time hosting the championship and its first since 2018.
Scottie Scheffler enters as the heavy favorite, with the world No. 1 chasing the career Grand Slam in his first opportunity to complete it. Scheffler won the PGA Championship and The Open Championship in 2025 and needs only a U.S. Open title to join Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, and Ben Hogan as the seventh player to accomplish the feat. Sunday’s final round falls on Father’s Day — and Scheffler’s 30th birthday.
McIlroy, who completed his own career Grand Slam by winning the 2025 Masters, enters as a top contender after capturing a second consecutive Masters title earlier this year. McIlroy missed the cut at Shinnecock in 2018 after opening with an 80. Jon Rahm is also among the favorites after a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship last month. Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Xander Schauffele round out the top tier of the field.
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Shinnecock Hills is one of the five founding clubs of the USGA, established in 1891. The course plays to a par of 70 at 7,434 yards and sits on the rolling maritime terrain of Long Island’s South Fork, where exposed dunes, fescue rough, and turtleback greens define the layout. Wind off the Atlantic is the dominant factor every round. The USGA confirmed it will play the fairways at their full width, averaging more than 40 yards across — wider than previous Opens at the venue.
No hole better captures Shinnecock’s demands than the par-3 11th. Playing anywhere from 110 to 155 yards, the green sits 40 feet above the tee, slopes from back to front, and offers nowhere to miss. Lee Trevino called it the shortest par 5 in the world. In the 2018 final round, Koepka’s tee shot ran over the green and down the bank. He chipped into a bunker, blasted out, and made the bogey putt to keep his lead. “I think that was like making a birdie, maybe even making an eagle,” Koepka said. “Because it could have been a big momentum shift there. To make bogey there was pretty incredible and I think kind of the reason why we won.”
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“It’s a great golf course,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “I think if everything goes the way everyone wants it, in terms of weather, setup — I think it’s the best championship test in the country. It tests all aspects of the game. Driving, iron play — you need to have your wits about you around the greens. It’s a lot of strategy, thoughtfulness.” “We’ve seen what’s happened here the last two U.S. Opens,” McIlroy said. “It doesn’t need to get that fast to play incredibly difficult and challenging.”
“I don’t particularly like playing birdie-fests,” Fitzpatrick said Monday. “This golf course, when it is really tough like that, I enjoy that challenge because you have to do your homework and you have to hit good shots.”
In the four U.S. Opens held at Shinnecock since 1986, only three players have finished under par: Raymond Floyd in 1986, and Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson in 2004. When the championship last visited in 2018, Brooks Koepka won at 1-over par, one stroke ahead of Tommy Fleetwood.
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Coverage begins Thursday on USA Network at 6:30 a.m. ET, with NBC and Peacock picking up weekend rounds.
