Golf Briefing ⛳ | This is The Athletic’s newsletter for the 2026 U.S. Open. Sign up here to receive the Golf Briefing directly in your inbox.Good evening! I’m Hugh Kellenberger, The Athletic’s senior managing editor for golf, coming to you from Shinnecock Hills, where the first round of the U.S. Open blew some competitors out to Montauk and has a surprising number under par.Staff writer Brody Miller will be by in a minute, just as soon as he’s done trying to get the bounce off the road cutting through the 12th fairway. But first, the leaderboard:1. Wyndham Clark -6 (16)
T-2. Jon Rahm (13), Matt Fitzpatrick (16) and five others -2Weathering: Here comes the sun … and the real intrigue?The U.S. Open field survived Thursday, which was always going to be the biggest challenge of the week.The long-range forecast — important because that’s what information the USGA had when it began setting up the golf course for the start of play earlier this week — was for precipitation in the morning, with gusts up to 40 mph all afternoon. Everything became about what the USGA could not do, lest it risk losing the golf course again and having 156 guys in polo shirts demanding someone’s head Ned Stark-style.
