{"id":622527,"date":"2026-06-05T11:11:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622527\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:11:36","slug":"rory-mcilroy-calls-out-us-open-officials-ahead-of-shinnecock-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/622527\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy Calls Out US Open Officials Ahead of Shinnecock Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Rory\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy urged US Open officials to prevent green speeds<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy arrived at the Memorial Tournament this week with one eye on Muirfield Village and another on the upcoming U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. The world No. 2 made a scouting trip to the Long Island venue earlier this week and came away impressed by the course setup, while also offering a clear message to officials ahead of golf\u2019s third major championship.<\/p>\n

McIlroy is making his 14th appearance at the Memorial Tournament, one of the few marquee PGA Tour events he has yet to win. At the same time, preparations are already underway for the U.S. Open, where Shinnecock Hills will once again provide one of the sternest tests in championship golf.<\/p>\n

The six-time major champion said the course is already in strong condition, but cautioned against making the greens significantly faster over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy Urges US Open Officials to Control Shinnecock Hills Green Speeds
\n\"Rory<\/p>\n

GettyRory McIlroy of Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

After playing a practice round at Shinnecock Hills, McIlroy said he was encouraged by the current setup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fairways are very generous,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cThey\u2019re more generous than they were in 2018 but the first cut of rough is five inches long.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy noted that the rough provides plenty of punishment for players who miss the fairway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fairways are very, very generous. So if you miss the fairway, I feel like you deserve a bad lie,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His biggest concern centered on the greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greens are rolling around 11, 11.2, something like that and I really don\u2019t think they need to get much faster,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

He believes maintaining the current speed would allow the United States Golf Association to create a challenging but fair championship setup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if they can keep them at that speed they can get them firm and use the hole locations that they want to use without having some of the struggles that they have had the last couple of U.S. Opens,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to me, it\u2019s all about them just maintaining the green speeds really where they are and not getting them too out of hand and I think it will be a great week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comments come with memories still fresh from previous U.S. Opens at Shinnecock Hills, including the 2018 championship when extreme conditions became a major talking point throughout the week.<\/p>\n

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler also visited the course before heading to Ohio and offered a similar assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little surprised at the width of the fairways,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cBut the green complexes there are extremely difficult, and I think that\u2019s where the greatest challenge comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy Focused on Memorial Tournament
\n\"Rory<\/p>\n

GettyRory McIlroy of Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

Before turning his full attention to the U.S. Open, McIlroy hopes to solve a puzzle that has frustrated him throughout his PGA Tour career.<\/p>\n

Despite five top-10 finishes at the Memorial Tournament, he has never won at Muirfield Village.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for being such a long golf course I feel like it takes driver out of my hand a lot, which, you know, I pride myself on that being one of my biggest weapons,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fairways pinch in right around the spots where I would be finishing driver. So it\u2019s frustrated me in a way that I feel like my biggest weapon is in some way neutralized here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tournament host Jack Nicklaus believes patience is the key to success at the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this golf course is a golf course that really requires patience,\u201d Nicklaus said.<\/p>\n

The 18-time major champion also revealed the advice he gave McIlroy before his successful Masters title defense earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put my hands on his shoulders, and I said to him, \u2018No effing double bogeys,\u2019\u201d Nicklaus recalled.<\/p>\n

Nicklaus remains hopeful McIlroy can finally add the Memorial Tournament to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a big Rory fan,\u201d Nicklaus said. \u201cNow he\u2019s only got one thing left on his resume that he really needs to have and that\u2019s to win here.\u201d<\/p>\n

For McIlroy, the week presents a chance to accomplish exactly that while continuing preparations for what promises to be another demanding U.S. Open test at Shinnecock Hills.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDebayan Biswas<\/a> Debayan Biswas is a sports writer at Heavy Sports covering NBA, NFL, Golf, and Soccer. His work has been syndicated on Yahoo Sports, Yardbarker, Flipboard, The Sun News, and The Olympian. Previously, he contributed to Athlon Sports, EssentiallySports, and PFSN. More about Debayan Biswas<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Rory McIlroy urged US Open officials to prevent green speeds Rory McIlroy arrived at the Memorial Tournament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-622527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}