The top two players in the world have been on scouting trips to Shinnecock Hills with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy giving their opinions on what it will take to win the US Open.
World No.1 Scheffler will head to Shinnecock Hills chasing history, as victory at the US Open will see him joing McIlroy to become the seventh man to win the career Grand Slam.
Back-to-back Masters champion McIlroy also played the US Open venue on the same day as Scheffler – on Monday – before heading to Muirfield Village for The Memorial Tournament.
And both men came away with the same impression – that Shinnecock Hills may have some generous fairways, but thanks to how tough the greens are, if you miss a fairway “you have no chance.”
McIlroy warns about Shinnecock green speeds
McIlroy made several prep trips to Augusta National before winning his second Green Jacket in a row, and he’s also been to Long Island to take a look at what test Shinnecock will provide.
“If it’s set up the right way, I think it’s one of the best championship tests in the country,” was McIlroy’s overall verdict. “I mean, it’s an amazing golf course.
“The fairways are very generous. They’re more generous than they were in 2018. 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.
“So if you miss the fairway even by a yard… but you shouldn’t. The fairways are very, very generous. So if you miss the fairway, I feel like you deserve a bad lie.”
The USGA was accused of losing control of the course in both the 2004 and 2018 US Opens at Shinnecock with greens becoming unplayable – and McIlroy warned again about the putting surfaces not being allowed to get too quick.
“We played on Monday. The greens are rolling around 11, 11.2, something like that. And I really don’t think they need to get much faster,” said McIlroy.
“I think if they can keep them at that green speed, they can get them firm, and they can use the hole locations that they want to use without having some of the struggles that they have had the last couple of US Opens.
“So to me, it’s all about them just maintaining the green speeds really where they are and not…
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