DUBLIN, Ohio -- Scottie Scheffler will try to win the Memorial for the third straight time this week, but the world's No. 1 golfer made a quick stop at another course where he'll try to make history later this month.
Scheffler made his first visit Monday to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, which will host the 126th U.S. Open from June 18-21.
Scheffler would become the seventh golfer to complete the career Grand Slam if he adds a U.S. Open title to his two Masters victories and PGA Championship and Open Championship wins that he picked up last year.
"That was my first time on property," Scheffler said Wednesday during a news conference at Muirfield Village Golf Club. "It was kind of what I expected. I had heard some rumors about how difficult the greens were. I was a little surprised at the width of the fairways, but the green complexes there are extremely difficult, and I think that's where the greatest challenge comes from."
Scheffler will again be among the favorites to win the U.S. Open. He finished in the top 10 in four of his past five starts in the tournament, including a tie for second at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 2022.
"The rough, also, was a really good penalty, I think for the width," Scheffler said of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. "Once you start missing fairways out there, you have no chance. But the fairways are generous enough to where it provides you some opportunity, and that way it's just that the green complexes are extraordinarily difficult, and so they can put the pins wherever they want and make the scores as high as they could possibly want them to be."
The last time Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open was in 2018, when Brooks Koepka's winning score was 1-over par.
The United States Golf Association was criticized by golfers for letting course conditions get away from it, including the speed of the burnt-out greens. Phil Mickelson infamously hit his moving ball out of frustration on the 13th green and made a 10 on the par 4 after being assessed a two-stroke penalty.
Rory McIlroy, who completed the career Grand Slam in 2024 by winning the first of back-to-back Masters, also played Shinnecock on Monday. He agreed with Scheffler that the fairways are generous, but said the rough is quite penal.
"They're more generous than they were in 2018, but the first cut of rough is five inches long," McIlroy said. "So, it's like the first cut is maybe three paces wide and then it gets into the fescue. So if you miss the fairway even by a yard, you're going to [be penalized] but you shouldn't [miss].
"The fairways are very, very generous. So if you miss the fairway, I feel like you deserve a bad lie."
Shinnecock's greens were still green and rolling about 11.2 on a stimpmeter on Monday, according to McIlroy.
"I really don't think they need to get much faster," he said. "I think if they can keep them at that green speed, they can get them firm, and they can use the hole locations that they want to use without having some of the struggles that they have had the last couple of U.S. Opens.
"So to me, it's all about them just maintaining the green speeds really where they are and not getting them too out of hand, and I think it will be a great week. If it's set up the right way, I think it's one of the best championship tests in the country. I mean, it's an amazing golf course."
This week, Scheffler can become the first golfer since Tiger Woods (1999-2001) to win the Memorial three straight times.
Scheffler hasn't won since his first start of the season at the American Express on Jan. 22. He has been runner-up three times, including in the Masters. He leads the tour in strokes gained (2.221) and is 15th in approach (.521) and putting (.506).
"I would say this year has felt like I've been close," Scheffler said. "I felt like I haven't been as sharp as I would have liked to have been. When you look at the margins in this game, they're quite small. I think statistically I'm probably not far off from where I've been the last couple years, it's just a couple shots here or there."