I love US Open week, especially when it’s at a venue like Shinnecock Hills. If the winds blows like it’s forecasted too it could be a really special week of golf, that’s if the USGA doesn’t bottle the set-up. I might be expecting too much out of them.
Anyways below are my 5 weekly storylines for the 2026 US Open.
Scheffler Slam?
Without question, this will be the most talked about storyline this week, and for good reason. When Scheffler tees off on Thursday, attempt #1 at the Grand Slam officially begins. It’s a talking point that has been mentioned frequently ever since he tapped in his putt on 18 at Royal Portrush to win The Open back in July.
As we know, Rory McIlroy, the latest golfer to join the rare Grand Slam list, did so on his 11th attempt, by far the longest of anyone who has won the Grand Slam.
Tiger, who is thought of as an anomaly in the sport, has been a name that more and more people try to compare when discussing Scottie Scheffler. Woods only took one attempt to win the Grand Slam. Can Scottie follow suit?
He hasn’t won on Tour since his first event this year at the American Express, and this actually marks one of his longest winning droughts on Tour since his first win in 2022. Poor play hasn’t been the issue though, he has three solo runner-up finishes since that win along with a bunch of other high results. He simply just hasn’t been able to get across the finish line.
On paper, the US Open sounds like the Major that perfectly resembles his game, yet it’s the only one he’s yet to win. He came close in 2022 and 2023, but the last two years he’s gotten off to poor starts and struggled with his game during US Open Week. Since his first major win in 2022, the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst (T41) was his second-worst finish at a major and last year although he ended up finishing T7 , he backdoored that finish and was never really a threat to win it.
Will he get back to the success he found at the 2022 and 2023 US Opens this year, or will it be more similar to what we’ve witnessed the last couple of years?
First time Major Winners has been recipe for success lately at the US Open
When looking back at the recent past champions of the US Open, a common trend has been first-time major winners. If you want to get even more specific, a lot of them are still only one-time major winners.
2025: J.J. Spaun
2024: Bryson DeChambeau
2023: Wyndham Clark
2022: Matt Fitzpatrick
2021: Jon Rahm
2020: Bryson DeChambeau
2019: Gary Woodland
2018: Brooks Koepka
2017: Brooks Koepka
2016: Dustin Johnson
When analyzing this list, besides Bryson and Brooks, who have both won the championship twice in this timespan, all are either one-time major winners or, at the time of their US Open win, it was their first major. The second part is true for Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka.
What I take from this is that over the last decade, this championship has seemingly favored players yet to win a major championship. I wanted to compare this to the last 10 playings of the other Major Championships.
Masters: 4/10 were first-time Major Champions
PGA: 4/10 were first-time Major Champions
Open: 5/10 were first-time Major Champions
US Open 8/10… were first time Major Champions
We definitely see that recently, even compared to the other Majors, the US Open favors first-time winners by far the most. That leads me to my next question: who’s the most likely first-time winner this week?
There are plenty of names that could be in the mix. Look at last year, I’m not sure one person picked J.J. Spaun entering the week, but the names that will come up a lot this week are Cam Young, Chris Gotterup, Viktor Hovland, Sam Burns, Tommy Fleetwood, and others. Can one of them join the Major Champion circle?
Or will it be a bit more of surprise winner like Spaun last year, or Aaron Rai recently at the PGA. Perhaps the likes of Maverick Mcnealy, Ryan Gerard or Kurt Kitayama?
We shall see. Personally I’m hoping for a big name winner this time around.
Star Studded field of Amateurs at Shinnecock
The amateur discussion is always a fun nugget to follow at Major Championships in golf, especially at the Opens. Not saying we don’t see future stars every year, but I don’t know, this year just feels a little more worth monitoring.
It’s another way to say I think there are a lot of future stars and potentially future Major Champions in this field. Some qualified via winning amateur events or awards, while some qualified via golf’s longest day, but one way or another they’ve found their way here.
In particular, the ones I’m intrigued by and excited to monitor are Jackson Koivun out of Auburn, who has been labeled as the next big thing in golf and will be turning pro and joining the PGA Tour after the week.
Preston Stout, who just won the NCAA individual stroke play championship and will become World Amateur #1 next week when Koivun turns pro.
Miles Russell, only 17 but has been regarded as the #1 junior player for quite some time and already has some hefty expectations for his future. I feel like “generational talent” isn’t a term used in golf as often as it is in other sports, but you could probably add that tag to Russell.
Mason Howell, still only 18 years old, but this will already be his second US Open after qualifying on golf’s longest day last year for Oakmont. He later went on to become the third-youngest player to win the US Amateur in late summer, earning him a spot in this field. Winning the US Am also booked himself a pairing alongside Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun, as is tradition for the US Am champ to be paired with the defending US Open and Open champions.
Other notable amateurs to keep an eye on are the 21 and 20-year-olds out of Oklahoma State, Eric Lee and Ethan Fang, along with US Amateur runner-up Jackson Herrington out of Tennessee.
There are plenty of others in the field as well who will be looking to make a name for themselves, similar to how Neal Shipley did in 2024 at the Masters and US Open.
The Low-Am battle this week should be a fun one.
Can Rory add an iconic US Open Venue to his Resume
Rory won the 2011 US Open at a rain-soaked, soft Congressional Country Club. The conditions and style of play it rewarded did not emulate what you would typically define as US Open standards.
This isn’t to take anything away from his US Open victory, but he’s even recently said himself that he would love to win on a traditional, firm, and fast US Open setup. It’s well documented how much the Majors mean to him over other events these days, but they mean even more when they’re being played at iconic and historic venues like Shinnecock Hills rather than some other Major Venues such as Quail Hollow or PGA Frisco.
A win this week would do a lot for Rory. Firstly, it would add another gem to the venues he’s won at. Secondly, it would get him to seven major championships, passing Phil Mickelson and moving him into seventh for most majors won all time. Thirdly, he would knock off the third leg of completing the Grand Slam a second time, if that’s something that intrigues you.
It feels like since the 2020s came around, Rory has been on the cusp of winning his second US Open and has been locked in every year. Everyone remembers the heartbreak at Pinehurst in 2024, but it was equally as painful in 2023 when he couldn’t find a single birdie after the first hole on Sunday at LACC and ended up losing by one to Wyndham Clark.
He missed the cut in 2018 after firing an opening-round 80, but eight years later he’s a much different and evolved golfer who has more of a diverse skill set to display and show off to Shinnecock. It’s about time he wins another US Open.
Will the USGA get the Set Up Right?
“Setup” might be said 1,000 more times during US Open week than at any other golf tournament. A common theme at any US Open is the discussion of “how will the USGA set up the course?” But more notably, as they’ve been known to do, the discussion drifts more toward “Will the USGA butcher the setup?”
That question is even more prominent at Shinnecock after the last two times it hosted in 2018 and 2004 because, especially in 2004, the USGA lost the golf course. They also had their share of problems on Saturday in 2018.
Everyone remembers Zach Johnson’s interview in 2018 where he stated, “Unfortunately they’ve lost the golf course.”
Shinnecock is specifically difficult because of the frequent high winds, and due to those winds and the soil type, the course dries out much quicker than other venues the US Open goes to, which has led to them loosing the greens during play. Hopefully, this time around, the USGA can get the Shinnecock setup right and have the course build up to the point of flirting with crossing the line on Sunday. It will be pretty inexcusable if they mess Shinnecock up again.
