The US Open has arrived (finally!) at Shinnecock Hills — and it’s here to stay
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Emiliano Grillo became the first person to defeat the monster at Shinnecock Hills on Saturday, so everyone was wondering. How he did it. It was as if he had killed a dragon with a blunt sword when no one thought the beast would bleed.
What Grillo spoke about later, however, was much the same fear. Before he fell silent on Saturday, Grillo watched in horror as the broadcast showed the early action. He saw Dylan Wu five-putt and make an 8 on the first hole. He saw the wind blowing Chris Gotterup’s ball onto the green. You’ve seen the US Open audition everyone was expecting come to an end.
So hours later, after Grillo somehow went birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie on Nos. 6-9 and settled for fourth under his third round, he had only one thought: I need to bring this home asap.
On Saturday at the US Open, Shinnecock Hills finally became Shinnecock Hills. Grillo’s three-under 67 was the low round of the day. Only Scottie Scheffler, who shot 69, had another round under par. This happened after 36 players were red in the first two rounds.
Wyndham Clark probably he was shot under the section. He missed a 5-footer on 18 and had to settle for a 70, and at seven under took the lead into Sunday. Four chasers – including Scheffler – are six back at one under. Twenty-one players have held 54-hole majors in six or more, and only one has not won (Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters).
“Scottie is the best player in the world, and he’s going to play really well,” Clark said. “He always does, but it’s nice that I got him six shots. But I’m really going to continue to approach him the same way. If I go out and execute and go through my process and hit the shots I know how to hit, I like my chances.”
But conditions on Sunday are likely to be difficult again.
The USGA played it safe on Thursday and Friday (you don’t want the course to get away from you on Day 1 or 2). Back in 2004, Sunday’s disaster on the 7th green cast a dark shadow over the tournament. In 2018, Phil Mickelson played hockey on the 13th green – his own unique form of protest – and Zach Johnson famously said, “They lost the golf course.” The USGA and, presumably, the host club, won’t want that to be the case again this time.
That, coupled with a strong wind forecast, led to a good setup on Thursday, and Friday was the same. Fifteen players shot under par on Thursday. Twenty one on Friday. But enough is enough, the USGA thought.
Ben Griffin warned everyone on Friday night. He tweeted a text message players received from the USGA: “The course will be prepared for continuous play and the target green speed will be 11.0 on the USGA stimpmeter.”
Boy, did it.
Wu, after opening 8, opened 44. He shot 82. Jon Rahm played a trick sack with his driver. Justin Thomas started bogey, bogey, bogey. Matt Fitzpatrick started bogey, bogey, bogey. Scheffler: bogey, bogey. We could go on.
James Nicholas missed the green on 10 and made 8. Eleven has a pin location that will make you want to stop.
The sun and wind – can do wonders for the US Open setting – dries the greens quickly. Players shoot balls over and outside of them. It was like trying to find something to freeze in an upside down bowl of cereal. So many shots come off the back of the 10th and 11th greens that the uneducated golf fan might think it’s intentional.
“The roads were starting to harden yesterday,” Scheffler said. “Then the greens today started to firm up. You can see in the greens, you’ll see some greens and some very brown greens, so there was a little mystery about how the ball was going to react when it hit the green. But again, that’s just part of the challenge of the US Open is judging the conditions and positioning yourself and hitting high scores.”
It was windy but mostly tenseand it was supposed to be quiet later but it did slowly. Clark hit one into the fescue at 3 and had to close his eyes as the wind blew dirt back into his face. On 8, he missed the green and called it the worst shot of his life.
Sahith Theegala said the short putts were so fragile that with the speed and wind put into you it was almost like 10 feet instead of 5. Keith Mitchell tried to stick his tee on the green to fix the ball mark on 18 and it wouldn’t budge.
“There are a few areas that are just extremely strong,” Mitchell said. “The whole day has changed. Depending on what they do tonight, tomorrow will be bad.”
Ah, tomorrow. Eighteen holes remain. In the last four US Opens held at Shinnecock in the last century, only three players have finished the week under par. After Saturday — when the golf course finally returned — that number is likely to remain low.
But let’s go back to where we started, with our man Grillo. He was asked about winning majors, and winning US Opens — the most difficult of all the majors. His response was long and thoughtful and intelligent and worth reading in its entirety, but his first sentence did a lot of work.
“I mean hardman.”
