Winners and – With the U.S. Open returning to Shinnecock Hills in Southampton for the first time since 2018, the favorites carry heavy baggage—while players like Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick have momentum that feels like it could finally break through. Scottie Scheffle
Scottie Scheffler is heading into Shinnecock Hills with a made cut mentality—grind through, stay in it, survive the chaos. But at the 2026 U.S. Open, survival won’t be enough.
The championship moves to Shinnecock Hills in Southampton. New York. for the first time since 2018. when Brooks Koepka left the rest of the field looking lost. This year, though, the field doesn’t feel settled. The world No. 1 is chasing a career Grand Slam on his 30th birthday. the back-to-back Masters champion cannot find his swing. and the hottest player on the PGA Tour is a 26-year-old that “nobody is really talking about.”.
And that’s exactly why this week feels unpredictable—because the U.S. Open has a way of making fools out of favorites. The last four champions arrived as afterthoughts and left as legends.
Last year, J.J. Spaun birdied his final two holes to win his first major at Oakmont. Now the spotlight shifts to a course that has always demanded precision, especially with Shinnecock’s wide fairways and a premium on ball-striking.
The golfers riding hot streaks into the first tee, and the ones searching for spark, add up to a week where the biggest question isn’t who is talented—it’s who looks most comfortable when the round turns.
Ludvig Åberg has been the best player on Tour all spring, but the attention hasn’t matched the production. He has six top-10 finishes in seven starts and is second on the Tour in total strokes gained. At 26 years old. he has never won a major—and the season’s momentum is the kind that suggests change could be close. His game fits Shinnecock’s setup. with wide fairways that suit the way he plays and the ball-striking he brings off the tee.
Matt Fitzpatrick is the kind of name that doesn’t always get mentioned enough. but he carries something more concrete: he has been here before and he knows how to win this specific tournament. The 2022 U.S. Open champion also arrives with momentum—three wins in 2026 through 12 starts. including back-to-back victories at the RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic. His iron play has taken a step forward this year. and Shinnecock will demand it from the first tee to the last hole.
Tommy Fleetwood’s story at Shinnecock has always been a little painful. In 2018 he shot the course-record 63, yet still didn’t win because Brooks Koepka was immovable. That round has followed him ever since as the best score in the history of this course with nothing to show for it. Now there’s momentum again. Fleetwood has two quality finishes in his past three starts. including a top four at the Memorial. and his game is trending in the right direction at the right time.
Scottie Scheffler’s place in the discussion is harder to ignore. Nobody manages a major championship week better, and nobody has more riding on this one. He has four top-seven finishes in his past five U.S. Opens—yet he has never won this major. The approach play and putting he showed at the Memorial last week won’t automatically carry over to Shinnecock. so he needs to be sharper. Still. the timing is impossible to miss: this is the week he gets a shot at the career Grand Slam on Sunday. on his 30th birthday.
For Rory McIlroy, the tension is different. He won back-to-back Masters, but he has played just two tournaments since claiming his latest title. A driver issue cost him at the PGA Championship, and he didn’t look major-championship ready there. He also missed the cut at Shinnecock the last time the U.S. Open hosted it in 2018. All of that is baggage he’ll have to set aside—because none of it matters if his driver and putter show up this weekend. When they do, nobody beats him. The question heading into Thursday is whether this is finally that week.
The players who could fade this week aren’t short on talent. Xander Schauffele, for example, won two majors in 2024 and has only one win since. That most recent win came at the Baycurrent Classic in October 2025. The form that once made him a must-pick at every major—just two years ago—has quietly gone missing. He’s still dangerously talented, but he is not the same player who looked unbeatable two summers ago.
Bryson DeChambeau enters as a two-time U.S. Open champion and a betting favorite. He won this tournament at Winged Foot in 2020 and at Pinehurst in 2024. and those results showed the version of him that has felt nearly unbeatable in this kind of format. But the week’s uncomfortable facts sit in the recent record: he missed the cut at the PGA Championship last month. He also hasn’t strung together sustained play that typically wins U.S. Opens. The odds point one way; the results point another.
For the golfers in this field, Shinnecock Hills doesn’t forgive drift. Wide fairways can help—but only if the ball-striking arrives when it matters. Underneath all the profiles, the U.S. Open is still the same test it’s always been: precision under pressure. with momentum that can disappear between the front nine and the back.
As the 2026 championship begins at Shinnecock Hills. the winners heading in carry either a steady rise or the kind of experience that fits the course. The losers carry recent gaps—stretches where confidence has frayed or form hasn’t held. And for Scheffler. with the Grand Slam target sitting right on Sunday and his 30th birthday hanging over the week. the stakes are as personal as they are historic.
2026 U.S. Open Shinnecock Hills Scottie Scheffler Ludvig Aberg Matt Fitzpatrick Tommy Fleetwood Rory McIlroy Xander Schauffele Bryson DeChambeau PGA Tour major championships