Clark leads as darkness descends on Shinnecock Hills

For all of the greenbacks offered in modern professional golf, there is something which remains greater than monetary reward: that of being part of history. That is what is within touching distance for world number one Scottie Scheffler as the American gets his first shot at completing the career Grand Slam at this year’s US Open .

When Scheffler marched to his claret jug success in the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush last July, ticking the third of four major boxes, it pressed the countdown to this very moment. It turned Scheffler into a history-chaser, just over a year since Rory McIlroy became the sixth player to join the exclusive club by winning the 2025 Masters.

It’s no gimme for Scheffler, though. After all, McIlroy took 11 years to complete his end of the bargain in finally getting his hands on a green jacket. Others through time have failed, among them Arnold Palmer, who never won a Wanamaker Trophy at the PGA; Lee Trevino, who never managed to win the Masters; Tom Watson, who couldn’t for the life of him win the PGA Championship; while Sam Snead’s trophy cabinet was missing a US Open, even though he finished runner-up on four occasions.

So, gaining entry to that club – comprised of McIlroy, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – is hard, achieved by a select few. That might in some way explain why Scheffler has sought to downplay the achievement if it were to be accomplished on this prime piece of Long Island property where traditionally players have been put through the wringer to secure victory.

Where McIlroy took time to comprehend the act of finally achieving a lifetime’s goal, having reached his Everest, Scheffler’s attitude, rightly or wrongly, would seem quite polarised. Perhaps the age gap, Scheffler at 29 being eight years younger than McIlroy, provides the answer for the divergence.

As Scheffler put it of his particular point of view: “I think sometimes that’s a little bit of the fallacy in our sport is like, if I win the US Open, then I’m going to be satisfied. I’ve won all the tournaments, and my career is essentially over, and I’ve accomplished everything I could want to accomplish. But I think the goalposts are always just moved further and further.”

Scottie Scheffler plays a shot on the 12th hole during the final round of The American Express 2026 at Pete Dye Stadium Course on January 25, 2026 in La Quinta, California. Photograph: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

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First things first, of course. Winning is far from a given. And Scheffler’s bid for glory at the US Open comes in a season where he has won just once so far, in the American Express back in January, so that the player who dominated last season, winning both the PGA and The Open along with four regular PGA Tour events, doesn’t carry the same presence of invincibility.

The first two majors of the year have been won by Europeans, McIlroy at the Masters and Aaron Rai at the US PGA, and the examination presented by Shinnecock Hills – with the prospect of strong winds – is again set to test the patience as much as the shot-making of those with sights on the trophy.

“It may look like a links course. I don’t think it really plays like one,” said Scheffler, adding: “In all of these shots here, there’s a lot of false fronts on the greens, and it’s not really easy to run it up. On this golf course, the challenge is you still have to play a lot of shots into the air and then control your spin in the wind as well.”

McIlroy, for sure, is one of those with sights set on adding to his major CV, moving onwards with his own future goals. His only US Open win came at Congressional in 2011 in wet, soft conditions, the polar opposite to what will play out here.

“I love that I’ve won a US Open, but in my mind it wasn’t in typical US Open conditions, it sort of played more like a PGA than a US Open,” said McIlroy, who has two runner-up finishes since then – at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023 and Pinehurst in 2024 – and is certainly aiming to improve on his last appearance here in 2018, when he missed the cut.

Rory McIlroy plays his shot from the fifth tee during a practice round prior to the 126th US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 16, 2026 in Southampton, New York. Photograph: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

He added: “I definitely feel like I’m a much better US Open player than the last time we were here ... so I feel like if I go out there and execute my game plan, I’ll have a good chance.”

Shane Lowry , too, missed the cut here in 2018, while Pádraig Harrington wasn’t in the field, and Graeme McDowell – a winner in 2010 and playing in his first US Open since 2020 – was another to miss the cut back then, in a year when Brooks Koepka went back-to-back in winning the championship.

And while the course itself will present a stern examination, so too the forecast weather conditions – with south/south-westerly winds antici…