SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is not easy to understand. After 36 players shot under par the first two days, only two scored on Saturday.
Crowned greens, their slope, those runoff areas, wind – this golf course – it’s all very difficult. This is why players (and players) go on pre-tournament scouting trips or put in long hours in the days leading up to the tournament.
Another way to prepare? They watch TV.
“(The US Open) is the perfect example of why you should watch the broadcast,” said Keith Mitchell, who shot 70 on Saturday, which was good for the third-best round of the day. He is even for the tournament and starts Sunday tied for sixth and seventh behind the 54-hole leader Wyndham Clark. “You can see where the pins are, how the ball reacts when it lands on the green against those pins — because these greens are big, but they’re effectively small. The square footage is deceiving because there’s so much slope and false front. So when you look at the coverage, you can see where guys are landing and you can see where they can land the ball and then you can see where they can land.
“It’s like seeing the test before you have to take it.”
Emiliano Grillo took advantage on Saturday morning. He had a tee time of 10:33, but there were eight pairs (16 players) coming out ahead of him. He saw all the carnage unfold due to the strong greenery and strong winds. Dylan Wu, first baseman, five-bogeyed the first hole and made quadruple bogey.
“There’s a couple of TVs in the locker room; eating in there is like six TVs — it’s hard to miss,” Grillo said. “You want to be aware of what’s going on and how it’s playing to get an idea of ​​what’s going on out there. Obviously when you see the first guy out there make an 8, then the second guy out there, Chris Gotterup, had to back up three, four times on the first green. His ball moved; it was marked, but his ball went like a good 15 before he moved.
“Some of the hole locations — the 2-hole location with the left wind — you kind of know what you’re going to find there, and it’s nice to see it on TV before you go out. That always helps.”
It certainly helped Grillo. He shot 67, which was the low round of the day. Scottie Scheffler had the only other round under par, which was a 69.
Scheffler plans to watch the action on Sunday as well. In addition to the final round of the US Open – and his first chance at trying to complete the career Grand Slam – it is also Father’s Day and his 30th birthday.
it leave with Clark at 2:30 p.m. ET. Scheffler is six back.
“I’m not going to have a lot of downtime,” Scheffler said. “Follow my boy for a bit. Sam (Burns) should be home for a while too, and we’ll have breakfast and hang out. Yeah, watch some golf, see how the course is playing.”
And then try to win a fifth major title.
