SOUTHAMPTON, NY – When Scottie Scheffler arrived at Shinnecock Hills for his first round of his ninth US Open early Thursday morning, he had to be thinking, somewhere in his big, imposing head, that he might be four days away from becoming the seventh player to win a career Grand Slam. That perspective is out there in the universe. Not even Scottie Scheffler can block all of them the noise of the world.
But by midday Friday, with his second-round time still more than two hours away, Scheffler was closer to the finish line than the lead in this 126 US Open.
At issue was his first-round score of 72, which left him six shots behind the first-round leader, Wyndham Clark. The issue was surprisingly low scores on the first day, despite the wind conditions. At issue was the weight of golf history. (See: McIlroy, Rory.) At issue was the nature of this US Open at Shinnecock and, quite possibly, the majority of US Opens Scheffler will play for the rest of his career.
“Would it be a dream to win the US Open? Of course,” Scheffler said at a pre-tournament press conference. “But at the end of the day, the Grand Slam has never been a motivating factor for me. I’ve always wanted to be the best version of myself and that’s what got me here.
“When it comes to this golf tournament, I’m going to step on the first ball and remind myself that I’ve done everything I can to play well and now it’s just a matter of going out there and trying to execute and enjoy the competition, versus feeling like you have to win for some reason.”
Scheffler is so profound, in his own simple way. When he’s in the mood to talk, he’s one of the most interesting people in golf. His approach to life is there for all of us to see.
Then came Thursday the 72nd. Not a disaster. Not what he was looking for.
“Today felt like a day where a lot of good shots were going to be punished,” Scheffler said. “You had to hit a good shot if you wanted to avoid punishment.”
Scheffler is a golf expert, so his opinion should surely carry more weight than that of any casual observer. But you could say the opposite was true. With the fairways here often being 40 to 50 yards wide, with (relatively) easy pin positions, and soft, slow greens, the world’s best players didn’t really need to play a long string of great shots to shoot for par or better.
What they needed to do was avoid the big problems off the tee and onto the greens, followed by a mentality of seizing the moment whenever a slow, flat birdie putt from 20 yards and up presented itself. This course is not designed, as Augusta National is every year, to produce golf magic. Scheffler knows all about what Augusta National requires. He has won two green jackets. This is a different exam.
This discussion of the USGA’s setup of the US Open is not a criticism. But it’s a necessary starting point when bringing the national championship to this spectacular course in this spectacular location, and the forecast calls for wind and more wind.
The R&A deals with the same thing every year, whether the Open is at Royal St. George’s in the south of England or Carnoustie in northern Scotland. Scheffler, like Phil Mickelson before him, had no idea British Open golf would be his thing. But when he won last year at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, he actually made it look easy, winning by four. It was nothing like a high-wire act, with all kinds of golfing excitement. What he did do was produce a relentless streak of good shots. His winning score was 17 under par. Seventeen under!
What golf heads say about the people behind the R&A is really true: they don’t care about the scoreboard total. The Open goes to old-line golf courses, tried and true again and again and again. The R&A’s attitude is, whatever happens, happens. It speaks volumes for their collective golf IQ and their confidence as golf administrators.
Scheffler turns 30 on Sunday. He has been intimately involved in golf at a high level for more than half of his young life. Over the course of those years, the USGA has reinvented itself. Its day as the strict ruler over everything you do on the golf course is over. The modern USGA is now golfer friendly and doesn’t worship 280 as a Sunday night score to the degree it has for decades.
Along those same lines, and in its biggest championship, the USGA doesn’t value point-for-point golf like it used to. Trees aren’t even a thing at the US Open anymore. The US Opens and British Opens are more similar than they used to be. Not just here at Shinnecock Hills, where the course looks like a Scottish immigrant. In most US Open venues. Pinehurst no. 2 (talk about the firm terra firma) AND Oakmont (now that there are no trees) and Pebble beach (full name Pebble Beach Golf Links), to name three moorings.
“I always felt like The Open was going to be one of the hardest for me to win because I didn’t have a lot of experience playing in the UK,” Scheffler said the other day. “I haven’t played much internationally at all. Not having experience in links golf, I would have said it would probably be the hardest for me to win.”
And then he won in Portrush last year. By hand.
Will Scheffler win a US Open sometime between now and when does he call it a day? You should think so. But to do that, he’ll have to be out of touch with the old US Open values. The holes are melting. He has won one. That means he can win the next one.
