Rory McIlroy stays in U.S. Open contention on windy Shinnecock day

Rory McIlroy kept himself in the chase with a first-round 1-under 69, but the scorecard at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club told only part of the story. The 126th U.S. Open opened with fog, then hardened into a brutal wind test that made every save feel valuable and every mistake expensive across the Southampton, New York, layout.

The championship began with Yale alum and Scarsdale, New York, professional James Nicholas hitting the first tee shot at 6:35 a.m. EDT. The field included 156 competitors, among them 20 amateurs, and Shinnecock Hills was hosting its sixth U.S. Open after earlier championships in 1896, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018 and 2026.

By late morning, the course had already asserted itself as the central character of the week. Play was delayed by fog, high winds were still expected to keep reshaping conditions, and the setup drew immediate scrutiny, particularly around the 11th green. Players had spent the buildup warning that Shinnecock could once again become less a scoreboard race than a test of survival, and the opening round backed that view from the first holes onward.

McIlroy’s start mattered because it showed the kind of game that can endure here. He arrived fresh off completing the career Grand Slam with his Masters victory in April 2025, and a 69 in these conditions kept him within range while others struggled to simply stay level. Scottie Scheffler entered the week still pursuing the career Grand Slam of his own, while J.J. Spaun returned as the defending U.S. Open champion, giving the leaderboard a mix of players carrying different kinds of pressure into the same wind-lashed examination.

The early wave hinted at the shape of the tournament ahead. Ludvig Åberg was among the players who survived the toughest part of the day, and the pattern was already clear: Shinnecock was favoring calm, precise ball-striking and the nerve to avoid big numbers when the wind pushed shots off line. The smaller crowds and traffic around the property only added to the sense that this was not a normal major setup but a difficult, stripped-down examination of who can manage a U.S. Open when the course itself becomes the main opponent.