SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer and a purist at heart, would prefer the dialogue ahead of this 126th U.S. Open to not be about hydrating greens, slowing their speeds and modifying hole locations to combat violent winds. He’d rather have the freedom to smash the glass and push that big, beautiful, red button, invoking havoc on this national-championship field and forcing these 156 players to do everything in their power not to get blown out to sea.
But when it comes to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, William Flynn’s classic, Long Island sandscape and widely regarded as the U.S. Open’s preeminent cathedral, Bodenhamer would rather not repeat history, again.
His goal this week: Let Shinnecock be Shinnecock.
“We could brutalize this place the next few days if we wanted to,” Bodenhamer said Wednesday morning. “But that’s not what we’re about. We really want it to be fair, and we want it to be what Shinnecock Hills has always been. It will be tough enough.”
Shinnecock’s reputation is certainly complicated.
In one vein, this place is an absolute menace. Of the 654 competitors who have teed it up across five different U.S. Opens at Shinnecock, just three of them have finished the week under par. It’s been so brutal in recent editions that play has either been halted to softened greens or probably should’ve been. Zach Johnson proclaimed during the third round in 2018 that the USGA and then-CEO Mike Davis had “lost the golf course.” Phil Mickelson was so exasperated by conditions that same Saturday that he hit a moving ball on the 13th green.
But at the same time, you’ll hear people wax poetic. Bodenhamer recited a New York Herald quote from 1891 in saying, “The Shinnecock links are almost perfect as they present nearly every kind of natural obstacle the most exacting and fanatical golfer could ever desire. … I don’t think a whole lot has changed.”
Added Rory McIlroy: “If everything is going the way everyone wants it in terms of weather, setup, I think it’s the best championship test in the country. I think it tests all aspects of the game. … It’s a lot of strategy, thoughtfulness.
“But it’s a golf course where it can turn very quickly.”
Bodenhamer is old enough to remember 2004, when Kevin Stadler and J.J. Henry, first off in Sunday’s final round, arrived on the practice green to caddies bouncing golf balls over their heads.
“We were pouring bottles of water on the putting green, and it’s just not going into the grass,” Stadler recalled. “To see that so firm, I couldn’t comprehend it.”
After Stadler and Henry needed a collective dozen strokes to complete the par-3 seventh hole and the following pairing walked off the steep, Redan green having combined for 5 over, the USGA made the call to suspend action and break out the hoses. Fred Ridley, the USGA’s president at the time, called it a “perfect storm of wind, sun and hole locations.”
Fourteen years later, Davis vowed that he’d retire if such chaos reoccurred. And yet, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau went out early, fired 4-under 66s and watched as 30 mph winds dried Shinnecock to the point where the final five groups totaled 67 over. Berger and Finau skyrocketed from a share of 45th, 11 shots back, into Sunday’s final pairing.
“It was probably too tough this afternoon – a tale of two courses,” Davis admitted afterward.
So, when Bodenhamer is handed a forecast that calls for up to nearly 40 mph gusts, he takes notice. Remember 1992 at Pebble Beach, when gale-force winds ballooned the final-round scoring average to 77.3? The USGA chief warns of similar this week, especially on Thursday, when 12 to 14 mph sustained winds will be spotted by gusts of 24 to 36 mph. Then on Saturday, the usual south/southwest wind will switch more out of the north/northwest, increasing the number of spots where the wind direction will work with the pitch of greens instead of against them. There is a pocket from 3 to 5 p.m. local time that day where gusts will again push the high-30s.
“When we start to talk about numbers in the mid-30s, that becomes problematic in a number of ways,” said Bodehamer, who didn’t specifically address infrastructure, though he certainly alluded to such safety concerns, just two weeks after severe weather toppled some scaffolding at the Memorial Tournament.
“I believe the wind will impact our championship unlike many others.”
To combat any potential of conditions crossing the line, the USGA will keep green speeds in the mid-10s on the Stimpmeter, the first time a U.S. Open has been played at slower than 11 since 1995, when Corey Pavin prevailed at Shinnecock. There is also a plan to syringe, or mist, greens between waves on Thursday and Friday; morning tee times for the first two rounds begin 10 minutes earlier to allow superintendent Jon Jennings and his staff to do so. Once the championship hits the weekend, the grounds crew will water the putting surfaces as close to the beginning of play as possible, the hope being that even the most exposed greens will stay moist for the final group.
Traditionally for members, the greens are re-watered around 2 p.m. on dry, windy days.
“When I first heard of it, my first reaction was, that’s stupid, why are they doing that?” McIlroy said. “Then once you actually listen and you’ve let them break it down to you, you’re, like, yeah, that makes sense.”
Added Justin Rose: “You wouldn’t be playing Augusta with 40 mph winds.”
This year’s setup, highlighted by slower greens and wider fairways (almost double the width of what players were presented with in 2004), will resemble more of the 1931 Flynn and less of the crucible that left players battered and fuming. The listed yardage of 7,440 yards isn’t what Flynn ever envisioned, but it is equal to 2018’s card.
In other words, Bodenhamer is done tightening the screws in the quest to keep red numbers at bay.
“It’s not about par is a winning score,” Bodenhamer said. “Maybe it used to be years ago. It is not anymore.”
Count Adam Scott among those glad to see the proverbial wrench retired, at least around these parts. In Scott’s opinion, it’s virtually impossible to set a modern championship up fairly and have par be the winning result.”
“I would say for a very hard golf course, 5 to 10 under is a really good test of golf at the hardest level,” Scott said. “And to achieve that at some courses, if that was the goal, you’re on a knife’s edge.”
This property has been there before, and it probably will approach that line in this championship. One coach predicted a cut of 9 over if the wind blows like it could.
Bodenhamer and the USGA are just determined never to lose Shinnecock again.
