U.S. Open Championship 2026

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Southampton, New York, USA

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Scottie Scheffler

Quick Quotes


Q. Scottie, just wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you thought of the setup today out there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Setup? I don't know.

Q. Was it softer than you expected?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I wish I had a better answer.

Q. That's okay.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I would say the greens were maybe a little softer than I expected, but I think with the wind that was forecasted, you've got to -- you always want to err on the side of caution. I think the last thing that they wanted was having balls blowing off greens. So they might have put a little extra juice on them last night to slow them down.

Most of the greens have all been fine. I think there's a couple greens where there's so much pitch that you get the wind going down the slope, it can roll off pretty easily. I would say it was probably maybe a little softer than I thought. Just I had imagined it would be firm and slow, I guess.

Q. What do you think it says about Shinnecock that they can set it up with a little bit of a softer test but also the scores can still be on the higher side like this?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Any time you get conditions like this, I think the scores are going to be high. I think that's -- it's an interesting golf course. Part of the challenge so far is judging the conditions as well, judging how this course is going to play.

I feel like this course can change pretty rapidly from day to day. I think that's also part of the challenge of the tournament is adjusting to those conditions.

Q. When you hit a shot where you feel like I executed this perfectly but it doesn't quite end up where you wanted it, how do you deal with that mental hurdle out there in a U.S. Open?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I think it's a little easier sometimes in a U.S. Open because it's happening to everybody. Today it felt like a day where a lot of good shots were going to get punished is what it felt like. You had to be hitting a great shot if you wanted to avoid a punishment. I think good would put you in some tough spots.

Overall, yeah, it was a really challenging day. If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2-over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time.

Overall it was a good battle. Get some rest, and we'll see how the course changes over the next day.

Q. How much did you feel the conditions changed during the round, and how much of a challenge did that present?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: We were going out early. When it was foggy, I was trying to get a good judge for how much -- or how much shorter the ball would go with the moisture on it, especially into the wind. After the fog kind of cleared, the ball started drying up. I don't feel like the conditions changed too much. It was just windy.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
168530-1-1878 2026-06-18 20:32:00 GMT

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