Southampton (United States) (AFP) – World number one Scottie Scheffler will try to become the seventh golfer to complete the career Grand Slam by winning the 126th US Open, which starts Thursday at Shinnecock Hills. The American, a four-time major champion and 20-time PGA Tour winner, could achieve the feat on his 30th birthday, June 21.
“Winning the career Grand Slam, I think that’s something any golfer would dream of,” Scheffler said last year. “But at the end of the day I’m just trying to get the most out of myself.” Scheffler would join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and world number two Rory McIlroy in having won each major at least once. Scheffler won the 2022 and 2024 Masters green jackets and last year’s PGA Championship and British Open, setting the stage for his first chance at completing the Slam in his ninth US Open start.
Related news
“I would love to be able to win the US Open,” Scheffler said. “It’s a tournament that I love. I love my country, I would love to be able to win my national open. I’m excited to go to Shinnecock this year and hopefully get it done.” Scheffler, whose best US Open finish was shared second in 2022, first saw Shinnecock June 1 when he made a special visit for a practice round.
“I had heard some rumors about how difficult the greens were,” he said. “I was a little surprised at the width of the fairways, but the green complexes are extremely difficult and I think that’s where the greatest challenge comes from. The rough, also, was a really good penalty for the width. Once you start missing fairways out there, you have no chance. But the fairways are generous enough to where it provides you some opportunity. They can put the pins wherever they want and make the scores as high as they could possibly want them to be.”
Scheffler said he would be working on tee shots and approaches ahead of US Open week. “It’s one of those courses where there’s a ton of space out there, but the areas you have to hit into are quite small,” Scheffler said. “Looking at tee balls where some of them are somewhat blind and you’re kind of hitting over higher fescue type grass. The greens are going to play really small, especially if they get firm. It should be really challenging week.”
His top rival figures to be McIlroy, a six-time major winner from Northern Ireland who took his second consecutive Masters in April. McIlroy also played a practice round June 1 at the Long Island layout.
– Fast, no ‘struggles’ –
McIlroy, 37, missed the cut in 2018, the last time the US Open was played at Shinnecock, but was the US Open runner-up in 2023 and 2024. “Shinnecock looks good,” McIlroy said. “Fairways are very generous. But the first cut of rough is five inches long. So it’s like the first cut is maybe three paces wide and then it gets into the fescue…if you miss the fairway, I feel like you deserve a bad lie.”
McIlroy, whose only US Open win came in 2011, said expanded greens will help avoid past playability issues with greens at Shinnecock. “The greens…I really don’t think they need to get much faster. They can get them firm and use the hole locations they want without having some of the struggles they’ve had the last couple of US Opens,” he said. Players complained the US Golf Association “lost the course” in 2004 and 2018 at Shinnecock, when they needed to water greens between groups to try and keep them playable as balls rolled off sloped putting surfaces.
“It’s all about them just maintaining the green speeds really where they are and not getting them too out of hand, and I think it’ll be a great week,” McIlroy said. “If it’s set up the right way, I think it’s one of the best championship tests in the country. It’s an amazing golf course.”
© 2024 AFP
