U.S. OPEN
Purse: $21.5M
Winner's Share: $4.3M
FedEx Cup Points: 750 to the Winner
Location: Southampton, N.Y.
Course: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Yardage: 7,440
Par: 70
2025 champion: J.J. Spaun (Oakmont)
Tournament Preview
Scottie Scheffler's odds to win the U.S. Open are nearly 5-1. Rory McIlroy's are almost 10-1. That's a far cry from the roughly 3-1 and 7-1, respectively, they've been pegged at for much of the season.
So what's going on?
Well, Scheffler hasn't won since January and has not been his usual otherworldly self. McIlroy has won just once in nine months, though if you're gonna win just once, Augusta National is a pretty good place to do it.
Their increased odds speak to the feeling that the 126th U.S. Open this week at historic Shinnecock Hills Golf Club could be one of the most wide open majors in years. And when you consider that 13 of the past 17 winners of this tournament have been first-time major winners (true!!), including surprise champion J.J. Spaun last year at Oakmont, it could be a wild and windy week on the eastern end of New York's Long Island.
It's not that Scheffler has been bad. He's still the best golfer in the world not only in the rankings, which encompass two years, but the FedExCup Standings, which are just for this season. As for McIlroy, he's teed it up only eight times on the PGA Tour in 2026, perhaps one of the perks of being a made man in the golf world after completing the career grand slam last year by winning the Masters, and this year becoming only the fourth golfer to ever go back to back at Augusta National.
If Scheffler could emerge this week, he would join McIlroy as the seventh male golfer to notch the career grand slam.
But there are others to consider. Cameron Young has elevated his game significantly this season, winning at THE PLAYERS Championship and tying for third at the Masters to leap to No. 3 in the world rankings. All he did last year at the U.S. Open was tie for fourth. And this week will be a home game of sorts for the native New Yorker.
There's also the usual LIV Golf tandem of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to consider. But it's fair to wonder how the reported impending doom of the breakaway golf circuit is affecting them and all the LIV golfers, not knowing where they will be playing perhaps very soon.
Rahm is coming off a shared runner-up at the PGA Championship, his best major result since leaving the PGA Tour and third top-10 in the past five majors. DeChambeau, however, has gone the other way. The two-time U.S. Open winner missed the cut last year in his title defense and has also crashed and burned in the first two majors this year. Talk of just being a YouTube sensation and making your golf clubs in a 3D printer may not be the blueprint for success at golf's highest levels, after all. Who knew?
Matt Fitzpatrick is ranked fourth in the world behind Scheffler, McIlroy and Young. All he's done this year is win three times, at the Valspar and RBC Heritage and also the Zurich alongside younger brother Alex Fitzpatrick. And he could've won again, instead settling for runner-up to Young at THE PLAYERS. As a reminder, Fitzpatrick has won the U.S. Open before, in 2022 at The Country Club in Massachusetts.
It will be a special week for Adam Scott as he plays in his 100th consecutive major. He last missed one in 2001 or, in other words, before a bunch of high school and college-age players in this field of 156 were even born. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but Scott would need to play 11 and a half more years to catch Jack Nicklaus at 146 in a row. That's absurd.
It would be hard to find more hallowed golf ground than Shinnecock Hills. Built in 1891, it is the oldest incorporated golf club in the United States. It is one of the five founding clubs of the U.S. Golf Association, which dates to 1894. And how about this for some serious wow factor: Shinnecock Hills is the only course to play host to the U.S. Open in three different centuries.
The second Open ever took place there back in 1896 (if you recall, we were the only ones to correctly tab Scotland's James Foulis to win!). Back then, Shinnecock played in the 5,000s, yardage-wise. It played some 2,000 yards longer the last time the Open was there, in 2018 when Brooks Koepka went back to back for his second career major title, winning with a 1-over score.
For this, the sixth U.S. Open played at Shinnecock, it was will be a par-70 at 7,440 yards. Shinnecock is not your traditional U.S. Open track. It's an inland links-style course with wide fairways, with the average expanse of close to 50 yards. And yet not a single golfer could break par eight years ago. The average score was 74.65, nearly five shots over par. Now, three dozen golfers from that tournament will be back to try again.
What they'll find lining those wide fairways is disaster waiting to happen. The rough -- the grass is scarily called "chewing fescue" -- will be set at five inches. Get ready to see plenty of social media posts of golfers dropping their balls and seeing them disappear.
There are seven par-4s of 470 yards or longer, with No. 14 topping out at 520. No. 2 is a par-3 at 252 yards. One of the two par-5s, No. 16, is 614 on the scorecard, with the other not far behind at 592. That would be No. 5.
Further, the 1891 Willie Davis 12-hole design with a 1930s William Flynn redesign and a Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore revamp in the 2010s also features more than 150 bunkers.
The poa greens are "pretty small," according to McIlroy after a recent scouting trip. Not only that, "the green complexes there are extremely difficult," said Scheffler after he visited. The putting surfaces proved diabolical in 2018, to the point that the players, led by Zach Johnson, revolted. The USGA wound up watering No. 7 in between groups on Saturday, and Sunday was a more normal U.S. Open setup: hard but fair. Tommy Fleetwood, who was runner-up to Koepka at 2-over, shot 78 on Saturday and then 63 on Sunday. Who can forget Phil Mickelson's one-man protest, hitting his ball while it was still moving on the 13th green?
To review: There's five-inch chewing fescue rough, there are a gazillion bunkers, there are treacherous greens. But, as they say on late-night infomercials, that's not all! Wind could be the big wild card on this very narrow strip of land sandwiched between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. There were gusts in excess of 30 mph back in 2018. And Shinnecock isn't even directly on the water. It's an inland links course and thus with little water, on just two holes.
Right off the bat, the current forecast is called for winds in excess of 20 mph are Thursday, though diminishing after that. (It's still a long way till the first tee shot -- check back on updated forecasts). Otherwise, high temperatures will be in the 70s all week and there's almost no chance of rain right now.
Shinnecock Hills U.S. Open history: In the five previous Opens played there, Koepka won in 2018, Retief Goosen in 2004, Corey Pavin in 1995, Raymond Floyd in 1986 and the aforementioned Foulis in 1896.
Grand Slam history: With a win, Scheffler would join McIlroy, Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Tiger Woods as the only men to win all four majors. McIlroy, for his part, is looking to be the seventh to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year. The others are Craig Wood (1941), Hogan (1951, 1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), Nicklaus (1972), Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015).
Key Stats to Winning at Shinnecock
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/ Driving Distance/Driving Accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
• Strokes Gained: Putting/3-putt Avoidance
• Approach play 175-200 yards
• Bogey Avoidance
Past Champions
2025 - J.J. Spaun (Oakmont)
2024 - Bryson DeChambeau (Pinehurst No. 2)
2023 - Wyndham Clark (Los Angeles Country Club)
2022 - Matt Fitzpatrick (The Country Club)
2021 - Jon Rahm (Torrey Pines)
2020 - Bryson DeChambeau (Winged Foot)
2019 - Gary Woodland (Pebble Beach)
2018 - Brooks Koepka (Shinnecock)
2017 - Brooks Koepka (Erin Hills)
2016 - Dustin Johnson (Oakmont)
Champion's Profile
Chances are, those in contention on Sunday would have to have done everything at least pretty well, from keeping the ball in the fairway to holding the tiny greens, to scrambling deftly when greens are missed to avoiding 3-putts much more than making birdies.
See, golf is simple when you do all that.
We want to say experience matters, and it always does, but we also noted earlier that 13 of the past 17 U.S. Open winners dating to Lucas Glover in 2009 were first-time major winners. One of those crazy-but-true factoids in sports that make no sense.
A shorter hitter can win this week. A reckless player cannot.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Cameron Young - $10,500 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +2050)
Young showed the world he can close out big tournaments by winning THE PLAYERS. He has repeatedly shown he can handle the moment in big tournaments with a T3 at the Masters in April and a T4 at last year's U.S. Open. He is perhaps the most accurate long driver on Tour -- an important consideration this week. And lastly, this is like a home game for the native New Yorker from nearby Westchester County. The raucous Big Apple crowds will be behind him.
Xander Schauffele - $10,100 (+1700)
Schauffele's major record is phenomenal and doesn't get enough attention. Maybe before he won two of them, that was understandable. But now? In Schauffele's past 17 major starts, he has 10 top-10s (with those two wins) and finished outside the top-18 just once. At Shinnecock in 2018, he tied for sixth. Only two players have finished top-10 this season at THE PLAYERS, Masters and PGA Championship: Young and Schauffele.
$8,000-$8,900
Tyrrell Hatton - $8,700 (+4700)
No LIV golfer has elevated his game after leaving the PGA Tour more than Hatton. He just tied for third at the Masters. He tied for fourth at last year's U.S. Open. He even tied for sixth at the 2018 Open at Shinnecock. That wacky, sometimes petulant player on the course is showing real stability in the most important moments. Hatton also just won the most recent LIV event at Andalucia.
Justin Thomas - $8,300 (+4600)
We don't play Thomas very often in big tournaments. His driving accuracy, while significantly improved this season, is still a huge risk on narrow fairways. And the U.S. Open usually has narrow fairways. But not this one. Even on tighter tracks, Thomas is finding ways to succeed this season -- and that's been after starting late following offseason back surgery. He finished top-10 at both THE PLAYERS and PGA Championship. Thomas is elite around the green, and that could prove vital this week.
Chris Gotterup - $8,200 (+4600)
Gotterup is another guy we like more when the fairways are wider. Even still, in his past four majors, he has two top-10s and two top-25s. One of those was a tie for 23rd at last year's U.S. Open. His two best clubs often are driver and putter -- ranked fifth in driving distance, 35th in SG: Putting -- and that's a good skill set for Shinnecock.
$7,000-$7,900
Wyndham Clark - $7,800 (+3800)
Clark is the hottest player going. He won the Nelson, he was third at the Memorial, he contended in Canada. He appears to be back to where he was in 2023, when he won at Quail Hollow and then the U.S. Open -- remember the wider fairways at Los Angeles Country Club? Besides excelling with driver and putter, Clark is also ranked 10th on Tour in SG: Approach.
Hideki Matsuyama - $7,600 (+6700)
Down here in the mid-$7,000s and lower, we start to change our goals from someone who might be able to win the tournament to good, quality, secure lineup pieces. Matsuyama just might be both. He has made 23 of his past 24 major cuts. He hasn't missed at the U.S. Open in a decade. But there is upside. He has finished top-6 at the Open in two of the past four years. Matsuyama has top-25s in half his PGA Tour starts this season. And for what it's worth, he tied for 16th at Shinnecock in 2018.
Jordan Spieth - $7,100 (+7000)
It's never easy, at least for us, to pull the trigger on Spieth. He can be very good. He can also shoot an 11 on a hole. But he's finished top-20 in the first two majors this season, and top-25 in two last year, including the U.S. Open. We're talking about a guy almost priced in the $6,000s here. Spieth has eight top-25s in 2026. Granted, he has zero top-10s but still.
$6,000-$6,900
Maverick McNealy - $6,800 (+7800)
McNealy at this price really stood out for us. We ranked him in the top-25 of our U.S. Open Power Rankings. He has nine top-25s in 14 starts this season, including T18 at both the Masters and PGA Championship. He was just 10th at the Memorial. McNealy averages almost 310 off the tee while ranking in the top-20 in both SG: Around-the-Green and Putting. That's pretty sweet.
Brian Harman - $6,200 (+21000)
Okay, now we're really in the bargain basement area. Harman is not having a great season -- he wouldn't be in the playoffs if they started today -- but he's a veteran whose been in a gazillion big tournaments and knows how to overcome his distance disadvantage. He's made the cut in nine straight majors. He's made eight straight cuts in U.S. Opens, with top-25s two of the past five years. Harman also tied for 11th at THE PLAYERS.
$5,000-$5,900
Andrew Putnam - $5,900 (+32500)
These two players in the $5,000s are not hearty endorsements. We did not position either of them to make the cut in our U.S. Open Power Rankings. And this is a very hard cut to make -- only 60 and ties out of 156. Putnam is a veteran who can manage the golf course to overcome his distance challenges to give himself a shot at the weekend. Last month, he tied for 55th at the PGA Championship. He's ranked about 50th in both SG: Approach and Putting. He's an elite third in Around-the-Green. And talk about grittiness: Putnam survived a marathon nine-hole, 2-for-1 playoff in the Oregon qualifier just to get here. (Heck, we may have screwed up by not picking Putnam to make the cut.)
Patrick Rodgers - $5,900 (+47000)
Rodgers is having a good season, ranking 50th in the standings. That would mean two playoff events. He's made 15-of-18 cuts and has posted five top-25s. He's made the cut in all five of his U.S. Opens, though this is his first since 2023. He missed the cut in his past three majors -- each of the last three PGA Championships. Rodgers has been around so long he tied for 41st at Shinnecock in 2018.
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