US Open officials out to avoid issues that plagued Shinnecock Hills past

The ghosts of the 2018 U.S.Open at Shinnecock Hills — the last time the event was held on the east end of Long Island — still seem to be around the course a little less than 10 years later. Those ghosts, for the uninitiated, are those of Zach Johnson telling Sky Sports during the 2018 tournament that officials had “lost the golf course” and saying a “championship that comes down to sheer luck, that’s not right.” Or Phil Mickelson being so frustrated that same year by the slick greens that on hole 13, he ran after his own ball to putt it while the ball was still moving, so that it wouldn’t roll off the green. Or in 2004, when officials had to halt play in the middle of a round to water the seventh green because the golf balls wouldn’t stay on. United States Golf Association officials are not looking for a repeat of all that when the field tees off early Thursday morning. “I have great respect for this cathedral of the game and about these great players,” USGA chief championship officer John Bodenhamer said Wednesday in Southampton.

“Really, when you think about it, it should be about this magnificent cathedral and these great players, and that’s what we want the story to be.”Still, talk all week leading up to Thursday’s first round has been about the course conditions and the efforts to keep situations from 2004 and 2018 from happening again in 2026.Bodenhamer outlined an extensive plan to manage the course, which included a tactic to “syringe” the grass with water on Thursday and Friday in between the morning and afternoon waves. Tee times were pushed 10 minutes earlier than they normally would be in order to accommodate the needed course maintenance. The process, according to Bodenhamer, is akin to what would be seen in a grocery store when they spray vegetables with a mist of water.

The plan is necessary due to the unique nature of the course, which tends to dry quickly due to the sun exposure and the high winds from the n...