[Photo: Warren Little]
It is inarguable that Shinnecock Hills has identified both quality play and premier golfers during the first two rounds of the 126th US Open. Perusing the leaderboard on Friday evening in New York, there are five major champions among the top 10 scorers heading into the weekend. Sam Stevens and Harry Higgs are the only players in that group to not have won on the PGA Tour, and the other eight have a combined 52 wins, including eight majors.
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That’s got to be satisfying to the USGA, which was under so much pressure to present a setup that tested every element without becoming tricked up. The potential is there for a fantastic weekend.
Unfortunately for some of the best in the world, they weren’t ready for the exam.
Among those who missed the cut that came at four-over-par were three US Open winners from this decade – last year’s winner J.J. Spaun (eight-over), Bryson DeChambeau (five-over) and Jon Rahm (six-over). Also sent packing were four other major champions in their 30s – Brooks Koepka (10-over), Shane Lowry (six-over), Cameron Smith (six-over) and Patrick Reed (five-over).
There were a couple of sentimental misses. Adam Scott was playing in his 100th straight major, but was ejected by shooting eight-over, and Rickie Fowler’s streak of starts without a major win reached 59 with him shooting five-over.
Other notable names to be clipped by Shinnecock: Viktor Hovland (five-over), Billy Horschel (five-over), Patrick Cantlay (six-over), Min Woo Lee (six-over), Padraig Harrington (11-over) and Graeme McDowell (12-over).
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The miss by Rahm was probably the most surprising. He entered the week as one of the pre-championship favourites, with two wins on LIV Golf this year and a T-2 in May’s PGA Championship. But the two-time major winner went from a strong 68 on Thursday to an awful 78 on Friday. Rahm made only one birdie in the second round and shot six-over in a five-hole stretch on the back nine.
Spaun has shown that last year’s win at Oakmont was no fluke, with a win and three top-10s this year. But he opened his defence with a 77 and, despite making an eagle, couldn’t overcome five bogeys on day two.
Koepka has shown continued promise since returning to the PGA Tour this season from LIV, but the five-time major winner shot 73-77 while making only four birdies.
DeChambeau, meantime, has now missed the first three major cuts in a season for the first time in his career. It seemed like a self-fulfilling prophecy after he’d speculated in a Flushing It Golf interview that he might miss all four cuts in the 2026 majors. DeChambeau battled to the end. He nearly overcame back-to-back double-bogeys early in the round by having a 13-foot birdie attempt at 18 to make the cut on the number. But DeChambeau missed and was sent home.
