U.S. Open history at Shinnecock Hills: What five previous majors can tell us about 2026

Shinnecock Hills, one of the oldest golf clubs in the United States, is set to host its sixth U.S. Open this week.

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are the favorites to win on Long Island — with J.J. Spaun entering as the defending champion after his win at Oakmont last year.

If they want to lift the famed 18-inch-tall sterling silver cup, they’ll want to learn how past winners were able to survive Shinnecock. Here’s a primer on this storied course’s U.S. Open history.

2018 U.S. Open

Winner: Brooks Koepka (+1)

How it was won: Koepka joined Ben Hogan and Curtis Strange as the only U.S. Open winners to successfully defend their titles. It didn’t come easy though as Tommy Fleetwood shot a 63 on Sunday to put pressure on Koepka who entered the final round knotted in a four-way tie for the lead. Koepka did prevail thanks to a strong front nine to claim the $2,160,000 winner’s prize. His 281 was one shot better than Fleetwood who took advantage of softer playing conditions on Sunday.

Top storylines: Unpredictable bounces, tight lies. That’s the curse players felt they were trudging through when playing on the dry and burnt out turf at Shinnecock eight years ago. Drawing criticism from the field who felt shots were not being rewarded by the hard surface, the USGA responded by making “a very tough test” just a bit easier to navigate over the final 18 holes (see: Fleetwood’s 63).

The controversial playing surface hit its apex during Saturday’s third round when Phil Mickelson swatted a moving ball that was about to roll off the 13th green. It wasn’t the first time Shinnecock’s putting surfaces had drawn the ire of players in the middle of the round.

2004 U.S. Open

Winner: Retief Goosen (-4)

How it was won: Goosen outlasted Mickelson, fellow countryman Ernie Els and Mother Nature in a final round that saw the average score at 78.7, thanks to extreme wind and dry playing conditions that locked up the field (no one finished under par on Sunday). Mickelson, who won at Augusta earlier in the year, was making a bid to become the sixth player ever to win the year’s first two majors. Instead, he wound up three-putting from 5 feet on No. 17, carding a double bogey that would end that quest. Goosen, who was playing with Els in the final pairing, sunk a 12-foot birdie on No. 16 to take a two-stroke lead that he would not relinquish.

Top storylines: It was Goosen’s second U.S. Open crown, having outlasted Mark Brooks in an 18-hole Monday playoff in 2001.

Mickelson recorded his third runner-up finish at the championship in six years. More than two decades later, he’s still in pursuit of the career Grand Slam. The six-time major winner has six runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open.

Perhaps the most controversial moment of the championship was the USGA’s decision to water a few of the greens during play after balls were unable to hold on the putting surfaces. As a result, players teeing off later in the day faced relatively easier playing conditions than the rest of the field; the final five pairings had a scoring average of 75.9, compared to the field’s 78.7.

2026 U.S. Open Previews

U.S. Open 2026: How to watch, TV schedule, stream information for Shinnecock Hills

It’s officially U.S. Open week. Here’s how to watch all of the action from Shinnecock Hills, the men’s third major of the season.

1995 U.S. Open

Winner: Corey Pavin (E)

How it was won: Greg Norman was in a familiar position entering the final round at Shinnecock. The Australian and former world No. 1 had the 54-hole lead nine years prior, and in this 100th anniversary of the U.S. Open, shared the Round 3 lead with Tom Lehman at 1 under. But it was a stressful weekend for Norman, who birdied the opening hole on Saturday’s third round and then went without another until No. 15 on Sunday. As Norman and Lehman faded on the back nine, Pavin climbed the leaderboard thanks to playing the final 10 holes in 3 under, en route to a 68 and a two-stroke win.

Most remember this victory for Pavin’s approach shot on 18th — one of golf’s most famous shots, which ran onto the green and landed within 5 feet of the hole amid Pavin’s raucous celebration.

Top storylines: Other than another Norman collapse on Long Island? Tiger Woods, 19, played in his first U.S. Open as an amateur. He eventually withdrew with a wrist injury during his second round.

Neal Lancaster, meanwhile, set a U.S. Open record with a 29 on the back nine during his final round at Shinnecock. Lancaster (65 on Sunday) finished in fourth place at 4 over, a stroke behind Lehman and two behind the second-place Norman.

1986 U.S. Open

Winner: Raymond Floyd (-1)

How it was won: Like he did at every major that year, Norman held the 54-hole lead. But Sunday proved to be brutal (again) for Norman as he carded a 75 and finished six strokes back of Floyd, good for 12th place. Floyd, for his part, birdied the par-3 11th to create a nine-player tie atop the leaderboard. Floyd was one of 10 to hold the lead or a share of it on Sunday. He started three shots back of Norman but completed a bogey-free final round to win by two strokes over runners-up Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins, for his only U.S. Open title.

Top storylines: Shinnecock debuted as a 4,423-yard course in the 19th century, which established it as the shortest tournament host in U.S. Open history. When the USGA returned the event to Long Island 90 years later, the course had been lengthened to almost 7,000 yards and proved a worthy test to the field. First-round play was besieged by heavy rain and wind, making low scores a premium.

Sunday proved slightly more favorable than the previous three rounds as the then-course record was set once in the morning by Mark Calcavecchia (66) and then reset by Beck and Wadkins later in the round (each carded a 65).

Floyd became the U.S. Open’s oldest winner at 43 years and 284 days old, a record that didn’t stand very long: Hale Irwin won at age 45 in 1990. Floyd’s win also came two months after Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at age 46.

1896 U.S. Open

Winner: James Foulis

How it was won: Foulis took home the — get this — $150 grand prize by defeating England’s Horace Rawlins by three strokes. The Scotsman, who finished third at the inaugural championship the year prior, would never win another major, but he did thwart Rawlins’ bid for a repeat title.

Top storylines: Players attempted to petition for John Shippen and Oscar Bunn’s exclusion from the field before play began. The petition was denied, allowing the African American Shippen and the Native American Bunn to compete at Shinnecock. And that they did: Shippen tied for sixth, plagued by an 11 on the 13th hole that sunk his hopes of winning.