US Open 2018: Inexperience at Shinnecock could lead to high winning score

One of the toughest golf courses in America, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, will host the US Open. Due to the relative inexperience of the field at the course, don’t expect low scores this week.

According to Golf Digest, three of the top 20 toughest golf courses in America are in New York. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club ranks No. 12 on that list, and is the third toughest in the state behind Winged Foot (ninth) and the Black Course at Bethpage State Park (fifth).

This will be the fifth time in the history of the U.S. Open (fourth in the modern era) that the event will be held at Shinnecock Hills GC, and it will be the 12th time it will be held at one of those three venues. It will be exciting, but don’t expect a low scoring affair this week. In fact, come Father’s Day, expect the final score to be close to — if not over — 280 (the total par for the week). There’s a huge reason for this — a lack of experience from the field.

Thursday will begin with a 156-player field. However, according to Mark Herrmann of Newsday, only 18 players out of the 156 were there in 2004. Even for them it’ll be different, because of all the changes to the course.

Even though the equipment has also changed, don’t expect the challenging course to yield low scores. It’s not about distance at Shinnecock, because as anyone who has played golf on Long Island will attest, the rough is a pain to get out of and scramble for par.

In the three US Opens played in this century on the famed Long Island course, the scores to par are as follows:
1986: Raymond Floyd, -1
1995: Corey Pavin, E
2004: Ratief Goosen, -4

Next: Complete List of U.S. Open Winners

Don’t expect it to be much different this week. It will be fun to watch, especially if you like watching pros look like us for a little while.