{"id":682678,"date":"2026-06-03T22:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/682678\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:36:10","slug":"mcilroy-scheffler-detoured-to-shinnecock-on-their-way-to-memorial-heres-their-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/682678\/","title":{"rendered":"McIlroy, Scheffler detoured to Shinnecock on their way to Memorial \u2014 here’s their assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The top two players in the world want to win the Memorial, but they\u2019re also looking ahead to the challenge of Shinnecock Hills and the 126th U.S. Open<\/a> in two weeks.<\/p>\n

Both Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy visited Shinnecock in the days leading up to this week\u2019s signature event at Jack\u2019s Place<\/a>. Both walked away with the same conclusion from their visit to Southampton, New York: generous fairways, lethal rough, and fast greens.<\/p>\n

That assessment of the rough and greens is typical of a U.S. Open, but the wide fairways seemed to spark interest for two of the favorites heading into the third major of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had heard some rumors about how difficult the greens were,\u201d Scheffler said of his first-ever visit to the course on Monday. \u201cI was a little surprised at the width of the fairways, but the green complexes there are extremely difficult, and I think that\u2019s where the greatest challenge comes from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rough, also, was a really good penalty, I think, for the width,\u201d added Scheffler, who seeks to complete the Career Grand Slam <\/a>at Shinnecock. \u201cOnce you start missing fairways out there, you have no chance. But the fairways are generous enough to where it provides you some opportunity and that way it\u2019s just that the green complexes are extraordinarily difficult, and so they can put the pins wherever they want and make the scores as high as they could possibly want \u2018em to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy missed the cut the last time Shinnecock hosted in 2018. That year, Brooks Koepka won his second straight U.S. Open title, besting Tommy Fleetwood by one stroke. Koepka\u2019s winning score? A 1-over 281.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fairways are very generous,\u201d McIlroy said of his scouting trip, where he played 18. \u201cThey\u2019re more generous than they were in 2018, but the first cut of rough is 5 inches long. So it\u2019s like the first cut is maybe three paces wide and then it gets into the fescue… The fairways are very, very generous. So if you miss the fairway, I feel like you deserve a bad lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Image<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.<\/p>\n

The current weather forecast for Southampton goes right up to the start of the tournament. Only one rainy day is predicted between now and then, but McIlroy doesn\u2019t think the greens need to be any faster than they were on his scouting trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greens are rolling around 11, 11.2 [on the Stimpmeter], something like that,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cAnd I really don\u2019t think they need to get much faster. 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 U.S. Opens.<\/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. If it\u2019s set up the right way, I think it\u2019s one of the best championship tests in the country. I mean, it\u2019s an amazing golf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"2026<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

How to watch all of the action from the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the men\u2019s third major of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The top two players in the world want to win the Memorial, but they\u2019re also looking ahead to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-682678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}