SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is not easy to figure out. After 36 players shot under par the first two days, only two did on Saturday.
The crowned greens, their slope, those runoff areas, the wind — this golf course — it’s all very difficult. That’s why players (and caddies) take pre-tournament scouting trips or put in long hours in the days leading up to the tournament.
Another way they prep? They watch TV.
“[The U.S. 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’s even for the tournament and starts Sunday tied for sixth and seven behind 54-hole leader Wyndham Clark. “You can see where the pins are, how the ball is reacting when it lands on the green to those pins — because these greens are big but they’re effectively small. The square footages are deceiving because there’s so many slopes and false fronts. So when you watch the coverage, you can see where the guys are landing the ball and you can see where it rolls out to and then you can see if they can get up and down from short side or not.
“It’s kind of like seeing the test before you actually have to take it.”
Emiliano Grillo took advantage on Saturday morning. He had a 10:33 a.m. tee time but had eight pairings (16 players) going off in front of him. He saw all the carnage unfolding due to the firm greens and strong winds. Dylan Wu, the first player out, five-putted the first hole and made quadruple bogey.
“There’s a couple TVs in the locker room; dining there’s like six TVs — it’s hard to miss it,” Grillo said. “You want to be aware of what’s going on and how it’s playing to kind of have an idea of what’s happening out there. Obviously when you see the first guy out there makes 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 moved, and it went like a good 12, 15 feet before they grabbed it.
“Some of the hole locations — hole location on 2 with the wind off the left — you kind of know what you’re going to find out there, and it’s kind of nice seeing that on TV before going 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 69.
Scheffler plans to watch the action on Sunday too. Besides the final round of the U.S. Open — and his first chance at trying to complete the career Grand Slam — it’s also Father’s Day and his 30th birthday.
He tees off alongside Clark at 2:30 p.m. ET. Scheffler is six back.
“I’m not really going to have too much downtime,” Scheffler said. “Chase around my son for a bit. Sam [Burns] should be at the house for a while as well, and we’ll have breakfast and hang out. Yeah, watch a little golf, see how the course is playing.”
And then try to win a fifth major title.
