Shinnecock Hills is known for its challenging conditions, and Saturday's strong winds quickly showed why. PGA Tour winner Chris Gotterup struggled early, while questions emerged about how close the course was getting to unplayable conditions.

On Friday night, the USGA sent out a text to the field, letting them know to expect faster greens for Saturday's third round. The wind on Saturday was expected to be stronger than it had been all week. Gotterup would face the worst of it.

Playing in the second group on Saturday, Gotterup watched his ball begin to move as he prepared to mark a bogey putt amid 20-35 mph wind gusts.

The winds were forecast to be the strongest in the early morning, and that showed. The 26-year-old took almost a minute to secure the 3-foot putt. However, he wasn't the only one struggling with the windy conditions.

2026 National champion Jackson Koivun's bag fell over due to the breeze while he was practicing on the range, though his clubs remained safe. Dylan Wu also struggled in the conditions, five-putting the first green amid the strong winds.

The USGA has brought out the tiny flags and is ready with the hose as the third round unfolds. After measuring 10.5 on the Stimpmeter through the first two days, the greens were expected to reach around 11 on Saturday.

USGA CEO Mike Whan also had his say on the windy conditions on Saturday morning.

Mike Whan on the tough conditions at Shinnecock Hills

Moving Day began with extremely windy conditions that affected the early groups, prompting Whan to stress the importance of keeping the course challenging without making it unplayable.

“This is by far the windiest morning that I’ve walked out, and I’ve been here a long time. We gotta get through today, one more really tough wind day. Listen, I know everybody wants it as tough as you can make it. At the same time, we want to play golf. We don’t want to get to a point where we can’t play golf because balls won’t stay on the green,” USGA CEO Mike Whan said on “Live From” Saturday morning.

The last time the U.S. Open was held at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, conditions worsened on Saturday morning, just like this time.

Despite the Friday rain, the course had dried out due to the strong gusts of wind on Saturday morning. As a result, the greens had turned a muted brown.

As of the third round of the 126th U.S. Open, the rest of the day is yet to unfold, but the U.S. Open will certainly justify its label as “Golf's toughest test.”

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav