'If You Have the Right Attitude, It’s Kind Of Fun': Reflections from a Classic U.S. Open Saturday at Shinnecock

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y.—Shinnecock finally Shinnecock’d. For most of the third round of the 126th U.S. Open, the wind blew, golf balls bounced and trickled and players’ nerves frayed. It was an almighty test and glorious theater. Alas, the wind slackened in the early evening, with the leaders just reaching the back nine thanks to tee times that went as late as 3:35 p.m. The breeze is supposed to be benign on Sunday. Who wins and loses will rightfully be the story. But before all of that plays out, let’s pause to appreciate how much fun it was when we finally got a little peek at how diabolical Shinnecock Hills can be.

The first players teed off on Saturday at 9 a.m. Winds we blowing a steady 30 miles per hour and gusts touched 40. “I’m staying with some some people on the water in Quogue and when we woke up this morning there were whitecaps on the little bay out back,” says Michael Brennan. “They said it blows like this maybe a couple of times a year.” It wasn’t until 10:47 a.m., when there were 10 groups on the golf course, that the first birdie was recorded. On the first hole, dead into the fan, Dustin Johnson hit a 9-iron from 108 yards. His 9 usually goes 165. On the parallel 9th hole, with that same wind at his back, he chose a sand wedge from 175 yards, to a steeply uphill green, and left his ball pin high. Pierceson Coody is not a big hitter like DJ but on the 10th hole he “smoothed” a gap wedge from 165 yards out. “If you have the right attitude, it’s kind of fun to play different shots in conditions like these,” says Johnson, who shot a one-over par 71.

Knowing the winds were coming, the USGA put a lot of water on the golf course between the second and third rounds. “It’s still fairly soft but they had to do it,” Johnson says. Balls were oscillating on the greens and on a couple of occasions Jordan Spieth turned into Carl Lewis in his haste to mark a ball on the precipice of being blown down a slope. To compensate for the more benign greens, the USGA used back flags on many of the holes that played into the wind, stretching Shinnecock to its maximum. Tyrrell Hatton described some of the pin placements as “smelly.”

He was particularly exasperated about the back flag on number two. If he played enough borrow on his birdie putt it would have raced down a slope off the back of the green. Instead he played what he called a “layup putt” that expired 20 feet short. “You look like an idiot,” he says, but a three-putt bogey is better than a double after putting off the green. It took Brennan five tries to get the ball in the hole from 45 yards out on the 9th hole but he says, “I think the setup is awesome. You have to hit really good shots—if you do, you are rewarded. If you don’t, you are punished pretty severely. That’s what you want at a U.S. Open.”

The leaders caught a break with less wind but had to tangle with course that had been baking in the sun; the brown patches that began to appear on the greens late in the day were red meat for the sickos who want the players to suffer. “I know everyone wants to see our balls roll off the greens and for crazy stuff to happen, but luckily the USGA didn’t push it that far,” says Coody. “The course is still fair.”

Still, the putting got more challenging as the day wore on, as the poa annua grass on the greens began to wilt in the heat. “They haven’t been rolling them or cutting them tight because of the wind,” says Coody. “These are the bumpiest greens we’ve played on all year. Your ball takes a little hop and the wind will blow it just enough to knock it out of the hole. That’s tough.”

The purpose of the U.S. Open is to push players to the breaking point—physically, mentally, spiritually. We finally got a glimpse of that on Saturday. It turned many players into philosophers. “Par is really relative,” mused Coody. “Every shot is so demanding, every hole. You have to fall back on the whole cliche of, I’m just going to do my best on every shot and see where that leaves me and then try again. Par is kind of out the window.”

We shall see what the USGA cooks up for the final round. Doubtful it can match Saturday’s zany fun.