Shinnecock Hills Golf Club may not be as ruthless as it has been at past U.S. Opens, but it still showed plenty of fangs this week and has troubled some of the world’s top players.
A tie within the top 60 will qualify for this weekend’s U.S. Open, but a final score of 4-over or higher will be needed this week. After playing the first round, few would have expected Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to be players who could miss their tee time this weekend, but both of LIV Golf’s top stars had rough Fridays that led to their early exits from Southampton, New York.
It was an early start for DeChambeau, who finished the first round at 1 under at 6:35 a.m. ET, and quickly turned one back on the ninth and final hole for an opening-round 70. The second round got off to an unlucky start with back-to-back double bogeys on the third and fourth holes. His hopes of competing for a third U.S. Open title quickly disappeared, and he ended up spending another Friday battling the cut line.
Similar to the Masters and PGA Championship, DeChambeau was unable to build any positive momentum in the second round and ultimately slowed down, shooting a 5-over 75. DeChambeau had three birdies in the round, two of which were sandwiched between bogeys or double bogeys, and every time he took a step forward he immediately took another step back. DeChambeau, who won his third consecutive major championship and his fourth in the past five starts, missed the cut and will head to Royal Birkdale at risk of going 4-0 for the 2026 major weekend.
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He’ll have enough allies, including fellow LIV member Jon Rahm, to leave Shinnecock Hills dissatisfied. The Spaniard was the only player in the first round without a bogey, returning Friday morning with five consecutive pars and arriving at the clubhouse with a 2-under 68. Although he didn’t make his first bogey of the tournament until the 22nd hole, stumbling on the first nine at 37 and turning at even par overall, there was little reason to believe Rahr was on the verge of the cut line.
But midway through Rahm’s back nine, disaster struck. Frustrated by missed putts and poor shot quality, he recorded four bogeys and a double in five holes from 12th to 16th, and was sent off for not only being out of range but also outside the cut line. Rahm couldn’t pull himself out on the back nine, and his tournament was over when he doubled on the par-5 16th.
After a rough Masters, he seemed to be back to his old self, turning things around with a runner-up finish at the PGA. A first-round score of 68 only reinforced that feeling, but he unleashed all that hard work on the back nine Friday afternoon, shooting a 78. As he goes from being one of the most consistent players on the course to taking an early morning flight home in record time, he will reflect on missed opportunities and wonder how things went wrong so quickly.
Notable players who missed out on the 2026 US Open
- Bryson DeChambeau (+5)
- Viktor Hovland (+5)
- Rickie Fowler (+5)
- Harris English (+5)
- Jon Rahm (+6)
- Shane Lowry (+6)
- Patrick Cantlay (+6)
- Kim Si Woo (+6)
- Sepp Straka (+7)
- JJ Spahn (+8)
- Adam Scott (+8)
- Brooks Koepka (+10)
In addition to DeChambeau and Rahm, there were a number of other notable players due to early exits. Brooks Koepka also had a good start on Thursday, but everything went wrong as he shot a 73, but on Friday he shot a 77 and had nothing going, missing another mile. The 2018 Shinnecock Hills champion withdrew from last week’s Canadian Open with a mysterious nerve issue, and though he had said he was back to full fitness, he quickly ran out of energy and withdrew this week.
Defending champion JJ Spahn suffered a heartbreaking loss in the opening game and, although he played solidly on Friday, it wasn’t good enough to qualify for the weekend. Viktor Hovland finally got some momentum going after a strong performance in Canada, but he struggled again on Thursday and was unable to advance past the second round. Misery loves company, and that’s not hard to find after 36 holes in U.S. Open conditions at Sinek Hills. But on a week when scoring could have been possible, all of these players will feel like missed opportunities.
