Immense in stature and reputation, Shinnecock Hills is deserving of its label as a cathedral of championship golf.Scottie Scheffler, a world No. 1 steadily growing his legend, will take his first stab at the course as he aims to join the sport’s immortal club of Grand Slam winners. The setting is fit for history, but scores of contenders would like to put that storyline on hold for a year.Here are 10 things to know ahead of the 126th United States Open:1. This is the sixth time Shinnecock Hills has hosted the U.S. Open, the last instance coming eight years ago when Brooks Koepka won his second consecutive title. The venue has a distinguished history of golf brutality. The opening round in 1986 saw 45 players shoot scores of 80 or worse, contributing to a field average of 77.9 for the day. In 1995, the field, on average, made a whopping 1.9 birdies per round for the week.Three times since 1980, a player has started a U.S. Open with a round of 75 or worse and gone on to win. Two of those victories (Raymond Floyd in ’86 and Koepka) came here. Koepka’s winning score was 1 over — the lone instance of a player winning a men’s major with a score worse than par in the last 10 years. Of the 654 times someone has teed up in round one of a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills all-time, only three have finished the week under par.2. Eight years ago, players hit the fairway more than 70 percent of the time here, but those who did miss paid an immense price. For the week, the field averaged 67 feet, 5 inches from the hole on approach shots from the rough, more than 22 feet farther than the season average. Missing the green was brutally penalizing, as well. In 2018, players successfully got up and down from the greenside rough just 23 percent of the time here. For perspective, the season average was 56.8 percent.3. Scheffler enters this week needing only a U.S. Open win to complete the modern career Grand Slam. Of the six men to do it, three needed only one attempt at the final leg. Gene Sarazen won the second-ever Augusta National Invitational Tournament in 1935, besting Craig Wood in a 36-hole playoff. Ben Hogan won the lone Open Championship he ever played at Carnoustie in 1953, then returned via ship to a ticker-tape parade in New York. In 2000, Tiger Woods backed up his masterpiece U.S. Open victory at Pebble Beach with an eight-shot runaway at St Andrews to become the youngest ever grand slam winner.This season, the previously unparalleled superpowers of Scheffler’s iron play have diminished to near-mortal capabilities. Scheffler led the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Last season, that metric was coupled with the best average proximity to the hole on approach shots.And while Scheffler leads the Tour in greens in regulation rate this season, he is well outside the top-100 in average proximity, knocking his strokes gained on approach rank to 16th. From 2022 through 2025, on holes where his drives hit the fairway, Scheffler hit 32.5 percent of his approach shots to 15 feet or closer. This season, that number is down to 21.2 percent — ranking 148th of 152 qualified players.4. That’s not to say Scheffler isn’t still the man to beat. He is a preposterous 124 strokes under par in majors since the beginning of 2020. The only player within 50 shots of Scheffler in that time span is Xander Schauffele (-78).