Shinnecock Hills Golf Club’s history is almost as long as the history of golf in North America. One of five founding clubs in the United States Golf Association, the fabled course on the Long Island coast of New York has held 10 USGA events, including five U.S. Opens. The tournament returns to Shinnecock this week, and given recent history, the course itself might generate headlines alongside the players.

Who to watch

Scottie Scheffler

He has seven Top 10 finishes, is ranked No.1 in the world, and has a win to his credit, but some think Scheffler is having a bad year. Here’s betting many would trade their season for Scheffler’s year, but by his standards it hasn’t measured up. Two weeks ago, at Muirfield, Scheffler found himself blaming caddy Ted Scott for an errant shot—something very unlike the usually calm superstar. Scheffler hasn’t won the U.S. Open—but he does have four Top 10 appearances, and even in a down year, it is hard to discount him this week.

Rory McIlroy

A past winner, McIlroy has six straight Top 10 finishes, including consecutive runner-up finishes the last two years. He missed the cut the last time the tournament was at Shinnecock, and he was 15 when it was played at the course in 2004. This is probably his last opportunity to tame the Long Island beast, and it will surprise no one if he’s knocking on the door come Sunday.

Dark horse

Brooks Koepka

Let’s be honest, LIV Golf did no favours for Koepka. Now having returned to the PGA Tour, Koepka has tremendous experience at Shinnecock Hills, having won there in 2018, part of consecutive U.S. Open victories. He’s been solid since his return to the PGA Tour and has a tremendous record of success in major championships. Could we see a return to form this week?

The challenge of Shinnecock

A classic design crafted by William Flynn, with later alterations by Dick Wilson and most recently Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Shinnecock has garnered its fair share of attention—some of it negative—while hosting the last two U.S. Opens. In 2004, when the U.S. Open returned for the first time in nine years, the USGA were hard hit with criticism over the course setup, especially the fast and firm greens that were unrelenting. With decent scores through the first two rounds, the USGA double cut and rolled the greens for the third round and watched scores soar. No player broke par in the final round, and few could hold a tee shot on the par-3 7^th, a Redan green that had to be watered between tee shots. There were only two scores under par for the tournament. Fourteen years later, more criticism of the course was leveled over its extreme difficulty when Koepka won the tournament with a score of 1-over par. Some will recall this is the tournament where Phil Mickelson, who was outraged by the speed and firmness of the greens, picked up a rolling ball on the 13^th hole, and Tiger Woods said the USGA lost control of the golf course.

Will the USGA learn its lesson? McIlroy urged the organization not to push the greens and keep speeds reasonable after playing a practice round heading into the tournament.

Canucks in New York

There’s four Canadians expected in the field, including the top-ranked player, Listowel’s Corey Conners, alongside Abbotsford, BC’s Nick Taylor, and a former Golf Town employee Ben Silverman from Toronto, who captured a spot through qualifying. Mississauga, Ont,’s Sudarshan Yellamaraju gained entry as one of the highest-ranked players on the FedExCup list not otherwise qualified for the tournament. Finally, there’s still a chance British Columbia’s Adam Svensson makes an appearance. Svensson, who tried to qualify at Toronto’s Lambton Golf and Country Club, found himself in a playoff for a qualifying spot. After finding himself out of the playoff, Svensson could have qualified for an alternate position, a spot that almost always gets into the U.S. Open. Instead, he picked up the coin that marked his ball, handing the spot to competitor Matt Wallace, making Svensson the second alternate.