The 126th national championship arrives with a field, a venue, and several storylines that are difficult to look away from
The 2026 United States Open Championship begins on 18 June at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York. One hundred and fifty-six players will contest the 126th edition of the national championship over four days on a course that has hosted the major five times and has never shown much interest in being lenient about it. The USGA accepted 10,201 entries for this year’s field — one short of the all-time record — before 62 players earned their places through final qualifying on Monday. (CBS Sports)
Shinnecock Hills: What the Course Requires
Shinnecock sits on the eastern end of Long Island, shaped by open ridgelines and the kind of sea wind that shifts and strengthens throughout the day. The layout uses the natural terrain — firm fairways, fast contoured greens, rough calibrated to punish every stray shot — rather than manufactured hazard. The test is wind-dependent and precision-driven, and the course has no interest in flattering its field. Previous US Open champions at Shinnecock include Raymond Floyd, Corey Pavin, Retief Goosen, and Brooks Koepka. None of them played aggressively into the trouble. They managed their way to the title. (Golf Digest)
Scheffler, the Grand Slam, and the Calendar
Scottie Scheffler arrives as world number one and, following his Masters title, the player who stands two majors short of a career Grand Slam. The timing adds a layer the fixture calendar did not need to manufacture: the final round falls on Sunday 21 June — Father’s Day and Scheffler’s 30th birthday. He is the best player in the world by almost every measurable standard. The question Shinnecock will put to him, as it puts to everyone, is whether that changes anything on a course that has seen reputations arrive and depart without ceremony. (Betsperts Golf)
McIlroy: Masters Champion, Shinnecock Survivor in Progress
Rory McIlroy arrives as reigning Masters champion — a sentence that took twenty-one years to write. His record at Shinnecock is less encouraging: he opened with an 80 in 2018 and missed the cut. The course was not impressed by his reputation that week and gave him nothing in return. His game in 2026 is in considerably better shape than it was eight years ago, and the storyline — Masters champion seeks redemption at the scene of one of his worst major rounds — does not require embellishment. (Golf Magic)
The Rest of the Field Worth Watching
Brooks Koepka is the only player in this year’s field who has won at Shinnecock Hills. That is not a trivial distinction on a course where temperament and course knowledge matter as much as swing mechanics. His ball-striking in 2026 has been strong; the putter has been the variable. Jon Rahm, fresh from a runners-up finish at Valderrama last weekend, arrives with the form to contend in a major. Tommy Fleetwood has unfinished business at this venue — he came within range of the title in 2018 and the memory of it has not faded. Cameron Young, a New York native with two wins already in 2026, is playing the best golf in the field right now and will have the home crowd with him from the first tee. (Golf Channel)
The US Open occupies its own corner of the golf calendar — four days of precision, pressure, and occasional suffering at one of the game’s most demanding venues. While Shinnecock commands the world’s attention this week, the Algarve is mid-season and playing as well as it gets. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and put your own round on the schedule.
