AR
U.S. Open practice rounds are notoriously punishing slogs, the treks often stretching past three hours as players brace for golf’s most unforgiving examination. But on Monday at Shinnecock Hills, fans who made the trip — navigating their own gridlock, Hamptons traffic being what it is — arrived to find a course that was, by comparison, almost abandoned.
Most of the field had taken one look at the conditions and retreated to the range.
The culprit was the wind. Or rather, what wind. Shinnecock’s triangular routing, a departure from the traditional links out-and-back layout, already ensures that players must contend with shifting wind directions on nearly every hole. The prevailing flow comes from the south, with a secondary backing from the west, and the course is designed to punish accordingly. But on Monday, the wind arrived from the north, a direction so hostile that members of Shinnecock Hills routinely skip their own golf course when it arrives.
RELATED: U.S. Open 2026 Power Rankings: The entire field ranked at Shinnecock Hills
U.S. Open players, presented with the same evidence, mostly drew the same conclusion.
“The one thing today is I actually didn’t do a practice round,” said Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion. “I came in earlier and did some work. This wind is not the normal wind, so if there’s any day to take a day off, it was today. The normal wind is down off the left on one — this was something different entirely.
“These greens with wind, it’s going to be a real challenge. Whoever is patient is going to be rewarded. You’re going to miss some putts that normally you’d make. You’re just going to have to handle the punches that Shinnecock is going to give you.”
Those who did venture out largely went through the motions. Walking holes, hitting chips, working on putting. Even that carried its own indignities in the gale, as many players saw putts that rolled in ways they won’t the rest of the week.
RELATED: In the most Scottie way, Scottie doesn’t care (much) about the career slam
A handful of the game’s bigger names still committed to a full practice round: Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland and Patrick Cantlay were among those spotted on the course. But they were the exception, a small contingent pressing through conditions most of their peers had already decided weren’t worth the mileage.
The forecast calls for wind the rest of the week, but from the south and west, the directions Shinnecock was built to punish. Monday was merely an early reminder of what that punishment looks like.
Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media
Main Image: Christian Petersen
