U.S. Open
Course: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (7,440 yards, par 70)
Purse: $21,500,000
Winner: $4,300,000 and 750 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
The U.S. Open is as much a physical test as it is a mental one. It is setup to be extremely unforgiving and test every club in your bag to the highest degree. Shinnecock Hills is perhaps the most extreme example of this that the United States has to offer. The wind is always a huge factor in this area and make an already exacting test that much more difficult. The last over-par winning score at a major championship came back in 2018 when the U.S. Open was last held at Shinnecock. Brooks Koepka prevailed that day at +1 to become the first player since Curtis Strange (1988-89) to win back-to-back U.S. Opens.
The course and the difficult conditions expected this week do seem to be the No. 1 storyline despite the fact that World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has a chance to complete the Career Grand Slam with a victory on Sunday which would fall on both Father's Day and his 30th birthday. Scheffler has been frustratingly close over the last few months to getting back in the win column for the first time since his season-opening win at The American Express. The four-time major champion has finished inside the top 15 in each of his last six starts, with four of those being podium finishes. Knowing everything at stake, Scheffler has likely had Shinnecock circled from the start of the year as the one week he wants to peak. We'll see if he is able to put everything together at this beast of a golf course.
Certainly there is another large contingent of challengers right behind Scheffler. 2026 Masters champion Rory McIlroy has finished inside the top 10 in six of his last seven starts at the U.S. Open. His first major championship came back at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional where he set the all-time championship aggregate scoring record. Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick has both been incredibly strong this season as well. Young won THE PLAYERS and a Signature Event, while Fitzpatrick leads the FedExCup standings behind his three victories. Russell Henley, Tommy Fleetwood, Chris Gotterup and Ludvig Aberg are all seeking a first major championship, while other Top 10 ranked players like Justin Rose, Jon Rahm and J.J. Spaun will be looking for a second U.S. Open title this week.
2026 will mark the sixth time that Shinnecock Hills has hosted the U.S. Open, five of which have come since the start of 1986. The last two editions (2004, 2018) have seen the USGA appear to "lose the golf course" at some point in the championship, but I think given the expected high winds we are projected to see during the tournament, greens will be kept at a very manageable length so we can avoid serious pace of play issues. Shinnecock plays extremely difficult in perfect conditions, so just keeping it playable and fair will do more than test the best players in the world. We should get a little rain as well throughout the tournament which should keep things in check as well.
Recent Champions
2025 - J.J. Spaun (-1) at Oakmont
2024 - Bryson DeChambeau (-6) at Pinehurst No. 2
2023 - Wyndham Clark (-10) at Los Angeles Country Club
2022 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-6) at The Country Club
2021 - Jon Rahm (-6) at Torrey Pines
2020 - Bryson DeChambeau (-6) at Winged Foot
2019 - Gary Woodland (-13) at Pebble Beach
2018 - Brooks Koepka (+1) at Shinnecock Hills
2017 - Brooks Koepka (-16) at Erin Hills
2016 - Dustin Johnson (-4) at Oakmont
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- Bogey Avoidance/Proximity 175-225 Yards/3-Putt Avoidance
Champion's Profile
In all the previous editions of the U.S. Open being hosted at Shinnecock, the rough was brought well in to try and squeeze the best players in the world. The 2026 edition will see the fairway width stay what it is for the membership. Players will have ample room to work the ball in whatever direction they want to off the tee, but missing the fairway will come with a severe penalty. This nasty fescue rough grows up to eight inches and will be nothing more than a hack back out to the fairway if you are way offline with your drive.
The greens are on average 7,500 square feet, which is the third-largest on the PGA Tour, but they effectively play as some of the smallest because of the extreme slopes and firmness. The target for all players should be the middle of the greens and then putt to the edges where the hole locations are. One slight mis-hit or mis-calculation can lead to one of the most difficult next shots you can imagine. All of these greens have severe false edges that will take shots 20-30 yards away from the putting surface down incredibly steep slopes. From there, players need to be extremely creative to be able to give themselves a reasonable chance at saving par. Only Augusta National might rival the amount of importance on approach play and short game this week.
Putting will certainly not be very easy either. Given the amount of effective space you have on these greens to work with, you aren't going to get a lot of putts you are able to be aggressive with. There will be a lot of defensive putting, even from short range. Three-putt avoidance will be critical to preserving the score this week. The greens are a mix of bent and poa, which is actually similar to what players faced last week in Canada. Because they will have to slow the greens down to avoid balls moving in the heavy winds, the poa is likely to make the putting surfaces somewhat bumpy and difficult to keep putts on line. Everyone is going to find it incredibly tough to hole out this week, so the easier you can make it for yourself from tee to green, the better position you should find yourself at by the end of the week.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($13,800)
Scheffler has had some close calls in recent years at the U.S. Open with four top-seven finishes in his last five starts. It's a bit surprising that this is the leg of the slam that he is missing considering how well Scheffler thinks his way around a golf course and is able to stay level headed. He is perfectly setup to attack Shinnecock considering his strengths of hitting fairways, controlling distances and scrambling from short grass. This is a big price to pay, but it feel nearly impossible to fade Scheffler at this kind of difficult test.
Rory McIlroy ($11,900)
To no surprise Scheffler was the top player in my model this week, but McIlroy was a very close second and he was well clear of option No. 3. The six-time major champion has thrived on USGA setups of late with top 10 finishes in six of the last seven years. I could see some DFS players looking past McIlroy this week considering his price, lack of tournaments played the last few months and that he missed the cut at Shinnecock back in 2018. I think McIlroy is much better equipped to attack this type of test now and his improved approach play and short game should shine through.
Matt Fitzpatrick ($11,200)
It's hard to not continue to be impressed by Fitzpatrick's improvements in his game over the years. He has gone from a guy mostly known for putting when he first came on Tour, to arguably one of the most complete players in the game. Fitzpatrick ranks top 20 on Tour this season SG: Approach, GIR percentage, proximity, SG: Around-the-Green and scrambling. The last few years he has seemed to get even better when the conditions are more challenging as they should be this week.
Tommy Fleetwood ($11,000)
After finally breaking through with a win on the PGA Tour at the TOUR Championship last August, many thought Fleetwood would probably have another win by this point. While that hasn't been the case, the Englishman hasn't exactly been far off with seven top-11 finishes in 2026, including last week in Canada. Fleetwood brings a lot of confidence into Shinnecock Hills where he finished runner-up back in 2018 behind a magical 63 in the final round. His exquisite shot making will be rewarded around this course.
The Middle Tier
Russell Henley ($10,600)
Henley actually checked in as the No. 3 player in my model this week. A lot of that has to do with his ability to play difficult golf courses in difficult conditions very strong both approaching the green and around the greens. Henley ranks first on Tour this season in scrambling and second in bogey avoidance, the exact type of grinder we are looking for at a hard U.S. Open venue. Henley is coming off a recent win at Colonial and he was T3 at the Masters earlier this year. He has finished T14-T7-T10 the last three years at the U.S. Open.
Patrick Reed ($9,800)
Reed is all but guaranteed a PGA Tour card next year via Race to Dubai points, so he doesn't really need to play all that much on the DP World Tour, but his schedule of late has certainly been a surprise given how much he has traveled throughout his career. Reed's only competitive starts since early March at the Joburg Open have been at The Masters and the PGA Championship. That said, Reed did finish T12 and T10 in those events with a chance on the weekend, so it's hard to say too much negative. Similar to Henley, Reed is at his best when the conditions get tougher. He has missed just one cut in his U.S. Open career and was solo fourth back at Shinnecock in 2018.
J.J. Spaun ($9,800)
It was somewhat of a surprise to see Spaun win the U.S. Open last year, but one year later if feels like it would be a surprise if he wasn't up there with a chance on the weekend. Spaun has been one of the best iron players on Tour since mid-March and is coming off his best showing in terms of SG: Approach of 2026 last time out at the Memorial. That's part of a stretch of tournaments in which he has finished top 15 in four of his last five starts. Spaun has gained strokes around the greens in all of those events, which is key heading to a course like Shinnecock.
Hideki Matsuyama ($9,700)
Matsuyama probably isn't in ideal form heading into the third major of the year, but the course fit it certainly there. Matsuyama has gotten in trouble mostly of late due to an errant driver, but Shinnecock will present more space to work with off the tee. The course will play down to his strengths of iron play and short game. Matsuyama ranks top 10 in this field in SG: Around, scrambling and proximity around the greens off short grass over the last two years. He is also top 5 in SG: Approach and SG: Around in majors over the last five years. Matsuyama has missed just one cut in 13 career U.S. Open starts with four top-10s and nine top-30s in that span.
The Long Shots
Aaron Rai ($8,800)
Rai's ability to think his way around the golf course proved itself last month at the PGA Championship, and that mindset will be critical at Shinnecock. Rai has the ability to execute the correct golf shot and grind his way to another strong showing at a major championship. He is one of the most accurate players on Tour and is top 20 on Tour in SG: Approach and GIR percentage. Rai has gained the ninth-most strokes on average at majors on approach over the last five years.
Alex Fitzpatrick ($8,800)
Until he gives us a reason to go away, I don't think we have a choice but to stay on the Alex Fitz train. He's coming off his 10th top-20 finish of 2026 last week in Canada. Fitzpatrick continues to hit the ball exceptionally well and is ninth in his field over the last six months in terms of SG: Approach. His ability to grind as well has stood at particularly at other tough recent courses like Muirfield Village (T6) and Quail Hollow (4th). Fitzpatrick has been better than quite a few players who are listed above him on FanDuel.
Cameron Smith ($8,400)
Smith is a bit of a risk these days, but the upside is tough to pass up at this number. He is still one of the best putters and still has one of the best short games in the world. Smith's touch off short grass will stand out on this course, and his ability to roll it cannot be overstated this week. The ball striking has been slowly coming back for the Aussie since working with his new swing coach. We saw that at Aronimink when he gained the third most strokes on approach en route to a T7 finish.
Andrew Putnam ($7,900)
Hopefully by this point I've properly stressed the importance of short game, which is the main reason you see Putnam highlighted here. He ranks second on Tour this season in SG: Around-the-Green and third in scrambling. Putnam also ranked high in some other key metrics for me like GIR percentage in windy conditions (6th), bogey avoidance on difficult golf courses (8th) and SG: Putting on Bent/Poa (14th). Given the difficult of Shinnecock and it being a very tough cut to make, there aren't many options you can trust in the $7K range this week, but Putnam is an exception.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
Just making the cut at the U.S. Open is quite the accomplishment. It is without question the toughest cut to make all season on the PGA Tour. Only the top 60 and ties will make the weekend and it is more often than not the most difficult test of the season. Shinnecock only amps that up even more as maybe the toughest championship course in the country along with winds expected to gust near or above 30 mph in each of the four tournament rounds. That said, because the test is so hard, a missed cut won't hurt you as bad this week because birdies, and even pars at times, will be tough to come by.
There are plenty of build options this week, but will be largely determined on whether or not you think Scheffler is going to win. Taking Scheffler leaves you an average of $9,240 for your last five picks, while going with say a Rory/Fleetwood stack leaves you an average of $9,275 for your last four picks. I tend to lean towards having two $11K options this week instead of pushing all the chips into one basket who is likely going to carry higher ownership anyways.
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