The 126th US Open Championship begins Thursday morning at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, and the storyline dominating the week is whether Scottie Scheffler can complete the career Grand Slam on one of golf’s most demanding stages.
After Rory McIlroy’s Masters win and Aaron Rai’s breakthrough at the PGA Championship, this year’s major season has already delivered drama. Shinnecock has a history of adding more.
The Scheffler Grand Slam Chase
Scottie Scheffler enters the week as the betting favorite and the sport’s dominant force, needing only a US Open title to join an exclusive club that includes Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen. He has won everywhere else on golf’s biggest stages, and the weight of that unfinished business will follow every shot he hits this week.
Scheffler tees off at 8:14 a.m. ET in a marquee Thursday grouping alongside defending champion JJ Spaun and 2025 US Amateur winner Mason Howell. The pairing is deliberate: the world’s best player, the defending champion, and the top amateur, together on the first tee of a course that ESPN’s tournament preview described as one where precision matters more than power.
The challenge for Scheffler is that Shinnecock Hills is not a course that rewards the aggressive, power-first approach that has made him the game’s most feared competitor. The layout demands shot shaping, distance control, and a patience that Grand Slam pressure actively undermines. The USGA’s setup will push fairways narrow and greens fast, creating the kind of attritional golf where a single wayward tee shot can turn a birdie hole into a double bogey.
McIlroy’s Major Momentum
Rory McIlroy arrives at Shinnecock with his own compelling narrative. His Masters victory in April ended an 11-year major drought and reignited a career arc that many had assumed had peaked. Now he has the chance to win back-to-back majors for the first time, playing alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg in another must-watch Thursday grouping.
McIlroy won the US Open at Congressional in 2011, so he knows what it takes to win this championship. He also knows what Shinnecock can do to a player who loses concentration for even a few holes. The course’s exposed position on the eastern tip of Long Island means wind is not just a factor but a character in the tournament, shifting direction and intensity throughout the day in ways that reward experienced links-style players.
Why Shinnecock Matters
Shinnecock Hills is one of golf’s original five founding clubs and has hosted the US Open five previous times, most recently in 2018 when Brooks Koepka won in conditions so punishing that the USGA publicly apologized for the Saturday pin positions that made the 13th green nearly unplayable. The course’s reputation for exposing weaknesses and rewarding complete games is why the USGA keeps coming back: Shinnecock produces champions, not survivors.
The 156-player field includes a reunified talent pool that would have been unthinkable two years ago. LIV Golf players are fully eligible, meaning the strongest field in the sport is assembled in one place for the week. That depth makes the path to the championship significantly harder: there are no easy draws, no soft pairings, and no rounds where you can coast.
The Betting and Broadcast Picture
Scheffler leads the betting board at roughly 5-1, with McIlroy close behind. The presence of players like Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and a resurgent Tiger Woods in the field means the leaderboard could look completely different by Thursday evening.
For sports fans tracking the week’s events, the US Open runs Thursday through Sunday, with coverage on NBC and Peacock. First-round tee times begin at 6:35 a.m. ET with a two-tee start, meaning the full field will be on course by early afternoon.
The last time Shinnecock hosted the US Open, it produced one of the most controversial Saturdays in tournament history. The USGA has promised a fairer setup this time. Whether the course cooperates is another question entirely, and that uncertainty is exactly what makes this the most anticipated US Open in years.