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During Father’s Day weekend, the golfing world will once again turn its eyes to the Empire State. Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, in Southampton, will host the 126th U.S. Open. One of Long Island’s finest will continue the illustrious history of the major in New York.

No other state has hosted more U.S. Opens than New York; this year marks the 21st time, with more meetings on the horizon. This week will be its third championship in the last nine years; the only other state with multiple in that span is California (also with three).

The first U.S. Open, back in 1895, was held at Rhode Island’s Newport Country Club over a single day in the fall. The following year, the USGA made its first trip to New York for the second U.S. Open, visiting Shinnecock Hills in Long Island. The club is highly respected amongst the global golf community for its age, beauty, and rich history. It was one of the five founding member clubs of the United States Golf Association and claims to be the oldest formally organized golf club in the country (136 years), with the oldest golf clubhouse in America and the first to admit women.

The next New York stop was Garden City Golf Club in 1902, where the “Old Man” Walter Travis, Jr. finished as the low amateur. Twenty-one years later, the course would host the inaugural New York State Men’s Amateur as Eddie Driggs became the first male amateur to hoist the Ganson Depew Cup.

U.S. Open Championship history in New York would expand significantly over the next hundred years.

Legendary amateur Bobby Jones won his first major during the U.S. Open at New York’s Inwood Country Club in an 18-hole playoff in 1923. After that win, he went on to win twelve more major championships (during that time) in 20 attempts before he retired in 1930, after completing the Grand Slam. Jones won the U.S. Open again during another playoff in 1929 at Winged Foot, this time in 36 holes. The two wins in New York were the only major playoff wins Jones had in his decorated career.

Twenty years later, in 1932, the great Gene Sarazen won his fourth major and second U.S. Open at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Long Island.

In 1968 at Rochester’s famed Oak Hill Country Club, a young, second-year Tour player, Lee Trevino, topped defending champion Jack Nicklaus by four strokes for his first of six major wins. Oak Hill’s east course would go on to host the tournament two more times. The venue has also hosted the NYS Men’s Amateur six times and the Women’s Amateur twice.

Bethpage State Park’s Black Course became the first publicly owned course to ever host the U.S. Open in 2002. The now world-renowned course became a household name after Tiger Woods was victorious that year on the tough track. The USGA returned to the venue in 2009, where Lucas Glover won his lone major. In 2017, the 95th New York State Men’s Amateur Championship made its first visit to the venue that recently hosted the Ryder Cup. 

The last time the tournament was held at Shinnecock was 2018. Brooks Koepka fended off an early seven-under charge (a course-record) from Tommy Fleetwood to claim his second consecutive U.S. Open. Koepka is one of seven golfers to win the event in back-to-back years. His winning score of one-over marks the most recent occasion where the winning score was over par. The notoriously-difficult tournament has seen a winner at over-par 45 times. 

The most recent U.S. Open held in the Empire State was at Winged Foot West Course in 2020. That championship uniquely had no spectators and was held in September due to COVID-19. Bryson DeChambeau, with his own unique style, mashed his way through the golf course finishing at six-under. He won his first major by six strokes and was the only player to finish under par. That margin of victory was the widest since 2014 when Martin Kaymer won by eight. 

Other players who've won at New York venues are Curtis Strange and Cary Middlecoff at Oak Hill, Retief Goosen, Corey Pavin, Raymond Floyd, and James Foulis at Shinnecock, Geoff Oglivy, Fuzzy Zoeller, Hale Irwin, and Billy Casper at Winged Foot, and Laurie Auchterlonie at Garden City Golf Club. 

The Empire State has also hosted five U.S. Women’s Opens, the most recent in 2013 at Sebonack Golf Club, where Inbee Park won her fourth major. In 2036, the tournament will make its first visit to Shinnecock Hills, which will host both the men's and women’s tournaments that year. Only Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2 has been handed the same responsibility.  The following year, the Donald Ross-designed Oak Hill Country Club East Course will welcome many of the top women in the world. 

U.S. Open storylines in New York are often historic, but not always kind.

Greg Norman finished as U.S. Open runner-up twice, first at Winged Foot in a playoff to Zoeller in 1984, and again eleven years later to Pavin on the shores of Shinnecock. Throughout Norman’s incredible professional career, he was never able to capture a U.S. Open victory.

Similarly, Phil Mickelson has won every major except for the U.S. Open, though he’s been close. He has finished runner-up a tournament-record six times, four of those on New York tracks. The most notable was in 2006 at Winged Foot, where he collapsed down the stretch and double-bogeyed the final hole, handing the win to Oglivy. The championship was Mickelson’s to win, and the victory would have bundled him with Woods and Ben Hogan as the only players to win three consecutive majors. A win would also have placed him into a group of six (then five) golfers to claim the four major championships in the Masters Era alongside Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan, Gary Player, Sarazen, and recently Rory McIlroy. 

If the past is any indication of what’s ahead, New Yorkers can look forward to a great U.S. Open this week and more to come in the state. Two New York sites are already scheduled in the next decade, and it would be hard to believe that the pattern will end there.

U.S. Open Championships in New York

Bethpage State Park – 2009, 2002

Winged Foot Golf Club – 2020, 2006, 1984, 1974, 1959, 1929

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club – 2026, 2018, 2004, 1995, 1986, 1896

Oak Hill Country Club – 1989, 1968, 1956

Fresh Meadow Country Club – 1932

Inwood Country Club – 1923

Country Club of Buffalo – 1912

Garden City Golf Club – 1902

Future Sites in New York

Winged Foot Golf Club – 2028

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club – 2036