SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — If you were worried about whether Rory McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, would find suitable partners for some Wednesday-afternoon tune-up golf, here on the eve of the sixth U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, you can stop worrying.

McIlroy went off the 10th tee a little after 2 p.m., playing with Mason Howell and Hamilton Coleman. Both are 18-year-old native Georgians who will matriculate at the University of Georgia at the end of summer, where they will be roommates. Both had tour bags every bit as big as Rory McIlroy’s bag.

The fellas chatted easily with McIlroy, 37 and bound for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Both are McIlroy’s match for swing speed and ball speed and get-on-with-it speed. If they were intimidated at all, there was no outward sign of it. McIlroy made a subtle nod when Coleman, who looks to weight about 138 pounds, smashed a driver off 10. Coleman nodded back like this — a practice round with one of the best golfers in history — is an every day. Kids these days. Kids!

Waiting to play a hole, McIlroy started doing the bouncing ball thing, turning the face of his wedge into a trampoline, bouncing his ball again and again of its scoring lines until one bounce got away from him. McIlroy watched as his ball went right into his golf bag, falling straight to its bottom with an immediate and audible thud. He offered a rueful laugh and he and his caddie, Harry Diamond, started to pull the clubs out of the bag, with a plan to retrieve the ball, before giving up. McIlroy put out his hand for a new ball.

All the while, Howell kept doing his own bouncing ball routine, stopping the ball in the face of his wedge whenever he felt like it. A kind of magic trick, really — fun-and-games, on the eve of the U.S. Open. Howell was wearing an embroidered belt with ANGC stenciled on it. That is, the Augusta National Golf Club. In April, Howell played in his first Masters, earning a spot in the field, and a spot in Rory McIlroy’s Thursday-Friday threesome, as the U.S. Amateur champion.

If Mason Howell and Hamilton Coleman are two of the prominent faces of elite American amateur golf for the next couple-three years, elite American amateur golf will be in a good place, for skill, for poise, for a do-it-right ethos. In case you were worried about it. Rory McIlroy didn’t agree to join these kids, half his age, out of happenstance.

If you were worried about the quality of the greens, here at Shinnecock Hills, based on Michael Kim’s comments or anything else, don’t be. The Korean-born golfer, with a notably active social-media life, described the greens as “spongy” and “quite bumpy” and pockmarked with “aerification holes” in a post on Tuesday. The greens were not spongy by Wednesday afternoon, and Rory & Friends went around. They were not bumpy. The teenagers were rolling one tumbling putt after another. The greens were dotted with dark healed aerification holes. They will do nothing to a well-struck end-over-end putt.

These beautiful and sloping William Flynn greens here are a variety of colors, as exposed greens on windblown courses near open water often are. You can see shades of poa and rye and bent on the greens, along with the aeration dots. These are not Oakmont greens or Augusta National greens. They’re Shinnecock greens and they are more than ready for the test.

If you were worried about the USGA and how it will handle the demands of putting on a U.S. Open on an exposed and hilly course with four days of wind in the weather forecast, don’t be. For starters, golf is an outdoor sport (with all due respect to TGL indoor play) and the challenges of weather are elemental parts of the game. More to the point, this current USGA regime — the president, Kevin Hammer, whose father was a club pro; the CEO, Mike Whan, who made his way in golf as an effective LPGA commissioner; John Bodenhamer, who runs the USGA’s championships and has obsessively watched previous Shinnecock Opens to learn what he could — is comfortable reducing green speeds and keeping the greens moist in the name of keeping balls on the green in the wind.

In other words, we’re going to get 72 holes of golf in, over these next four days, and it will be good, by which we mean it will be interesting. So don’t worry. As the kids say, or used to, it’s all good.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Do you, dear reader, have any idea how difficult this golf course is? In the last four U.S Opens here at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club — from 1986 to 2018 — exactly three players have finished under par. Phil Mickelson played hockey on the 13th green in 2018. Lee Trevino once called the 156-yard par-3 11th — with its tiny green that was already driving players nuts on Monday — “the shortest par 5 in golf.”

Although the only thing harder than the golf course — besides battling traffic to actually get to it — might be trying to predict who wins the 126th U.S. Open. But we are going to try anyway. Welcome to our biased, slightly erratic but mostly logical U.S. Open tiers, where we’ll dig through the contenders and, ultimately, pick a winner. And away we go…

The obligatory mention of the two favorites

Scottie Scheffler
Rory McIlroy

Do you know when Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler last finished outside the top 20? The Players Championship, back in March. In the time since, Rory won the Masters and Scottie has four top-three finishes. Scheffler needs a U.S. Open win to complete the career Grand Slam. Rory is looking for his second U.S. Open trophy. Shinnecock sets up well for both players, who are excellent ball strikers and rarely play themselves out of majors. They are the top two players in the world for a reason. Also, Scheffler’s 30th birthday? It’s Sunday.

One guy we really like who shot 63 last time he played here

Tommy Fleetwood

Before Tommy Fleetwood really became Tommy Fleetwood, he closed the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinny with a brilliant final-round 63, which ended up being a shot shy of winner Brooks Koepka. He finally got his first win on the PGA Tour last year and has six top 10s this season. A superb iron player who knows how to play in the wind, this is the perfect setup for him. Is this major No. 1?

Some other favorites we really like

Matt Fitzpatrick
Wyndham Clark
Cameron Young

This group has been cookin’, people. Fitzpatrick and Young are the front-runners for Player of the Year (five combined wins, including Fitzpatrick’s win with his brother at the Zurich, which we aren’t sure should really count but whatever). Young has tuned into a legit threat every week — he also dominated 60 miles away at Bethpage Black during the Ryder Cup last fall — and Fitzpatrick has already won a U.S. Open and loves these types of tests while everyone else seems to get more nervous around them. Clark, another U.S. Open winner, sparred with a locker this time last year and had been searching for better results since, but he’s turned things around and might be the hottest player entering the week. After his win at the Byron Nelson last month, he finished third at the Memorial and was in contention at the RBC Canadian Open last week before ultimately finishing 11th.

One sneaky pick I specifically like

Tyrrell Hatton

He tied for sixth here eight years ago. He’s wayyyy better now. He tied for 4th at Oakmont last year. U.S. Opens — especially ones at Shinnecock Hills — drive players mad (see: Mickelson, Phil). But Hatton’s already mad.

Shinnecock Hills greens

Nos. 1-18

By rule, someone will win this golf tournament, but the big winner until then (or even after) could be Shinnecock Hills and its devilish greens that are running slightly slower than usual due to anticipated strong winds but are actually still very hard. Fitzpatrick, who likes these kinds of setups, said he was disappointed they watered greens Monday. Regardless of who wins, the course, and greens, will always be a story here.

LIV guys we are bullish on

Jon Rahm

A 2021 U.S. Open winner at Torrey Pines, Rahm has played well this year and you could even argue he’s out to prove he should not be forgotten about despite his league’s ongoing concerns.

LIV guys we are less bullish on

Bryson DeChambeau
Cameron Smith

Bryson has missed the cut in both major starts this year and we aren’t sure Shinnecock is the perfect fit for his brawny game. (The fairways are wide, but if you miss them, it’s dead.) Smith played well at the PGA, but was that too little of a sample size?

Defending champs with injury issues

Brooks Koepka

Koepka won his second straight U.S. Open the last time this tournament was played here and he’ll tell you he’s mentally (and probably physically) stronger than most of these nerds. [Cue Brooks stuffing the 20 amateurs in the field in Shinnecock lockers.] But Brooks withdrew before the final round of the RBC Canadian Open two days ago with a hand injury and on Tuesday said it’s getting better by the day. Still, will it bother him? “I don’t know what I did,” he said Tuesday. “It just felt like it was very weak and kind of a tingly feeling as if you kind of hit your funny bone. That’s kind of how it felt in my ring finger and pinky finger.”

Other U.S. Open winners we didn’t mention yet but think they have a shot to win

J.J. Spaun
Justin Rose
Gary Woodland

J.J. Spaun is this week’s defending champ and has already won this season — and, ahem, excuse the shameless plug, also has the most interesting coach in the game — and Justin Rose continues to play excellent golf well into his 40s. Woodland has been solid and his win earlier this season has been one of the better stories of the year.

Guys playing in their 100th consecutive major

Adam Scott

One-hundred straight. Cheers to Adam. That’s remarkably impressive. Here’s a breakdown of his insane major longevity: 74 cuts made, 45 top 25s, 20 top 10s and, of course, that 2013 Masters win.

3 guys we didn’t mention who finished in the top 10 here in 2018

Dustin Johnson
Patrick Reed
Daniel Berger

While we don’t think DJ is about to turn back the clock and find that form, we do like P Reed this week. You should too.

2 guys trending?

Bud Cauley
Viktor Hovland

Cauley won the RBC Canadian Open Sunday, just his first as a pro, and Hovland finished third — his best finish of the season by far. But is it a sign of good things to come or an outlier?

The Jordan Spieth tier

Jordan Spieth

My first major I ever covered was won by Jordan Spieth, back at Chambers Bay in 2016. I don’t think he will win this week but boy time flies.

Other guys who are intriguing and have already won majors

Xander Schauffele
Collin Morikawa
Justin Thomas

Would it surprise you if any of these guys won? No, it would not. Xander has played nine U.S. Opens and never finished worse than 14th.

Other guys who are intriguing and have not yet won majors

Viktor Hovland
Akshay Bhatia
Patrick Cantlay
Russell Henley
Ludvig Aberg
Chris Gotterup

Aberg might be the most intriguing name among the intriguing names without majors. Henley won a couple of weeks ago, is ranked 5th in the world and can walk into basically any restaurant outside of his hometown and not be recognized as Russell Henley, which probably makes Rory and Jordan and Tiger extremely jealous.

Guys we should probably mention but they didn’t fit into other categories

Shane Lowry
Rickie Fowler
Brian Harman
Robert MacIntyre
Hideki Matsuyama
Aaron Rai
Sam Burns

A flier on Lowry, anyone?

Guys we like who are playing in their first U.S. Opens

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Bad news, rookies — the last player to win a U.S. Open in their first attempt was Francis Ouimet… in 1913. Not gonna happen.

Interesting Alexes

Alex Smalley
Alex Fitzpatrick

Both have played well this year and one (Smalley) had a taste of major contention already this season (and finished T3 at the Charles Schwab two weeks after his PGA close-call). The other Alex has continued to prove he belongs on the Big Tour after becoming a full-time member a couple of months ago.

The oldest and the youngest players

Padraig Harrington
Miles Russell

I don’t necessarily think either of these guys will win but it’s always fun to point out the oldest (Padraig Harrington, 54) and youngest (Miles Russell, 17) players in the field. The oldest Open winner was Hale Irwin at 45 and the youngest John McDermott at 19.

The Jacksons

Jackson Koivun
Jackson Suber
Jackson Van Paris
Jackson Herrington
Jackson Ormond

The Jackson 5 is a mix of professionals and amateurs, although it’s mostly notably because 3 percent of the 156-player field is named Jackson. One, however, is worth highlighting for now, and that’s Koivun, who turned pro Monday to put a bow on a sensational three years at Auburn. In his nine PGA Tour starts as an amateur, he made seven cuts and finished in the top 10 three times. There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding him and we’re about to see him lots more on our TVs. A fine Jackson indeed.

And the winner is……

The last time we had a European win the U.S. Open, Matt Fitzpatrick lifted the trophy at Brookline in 2022. Now he does it again, finishing one-over par and edging guys like Scheffler and Fleetwood to claim his second major title. Scheffler was my pick up until Sunday, but after Fitzpatrick finished second in Canada, it was enough to persuade me to go with the hot hand who loves these gritty conditions. Will it actually happen? Now, we wait.

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Golf’s next big thing had a pre-U.S. Open press conference on Monday. Because he’s golf’s next big thing. And golf’s next big things have pre-U.S. Open press conferences. 

In front of the cameras, golf’s next big thing smiled at most every question, and every answer was delivered as if a grin had a tone. On the left side of golf’s next big thing’s black polo was a cursive M, the logo of Malbon, golf’s next big thing’s new clothing sponsor. Golf’s next big thing sounded and appeared like golf’s next big thing. 

Of course, you must see golf’s next big thing do his thing, which is to play golf, and it is something.  

His move is electric. His putting stroke is hypnotic. The accomplishments are many. [Deep breath now …] He’s the world’s top-ranked amateur. This season, while a junior at Auburn University, he played in 13 tournaments — and won six. His Tigers just won their second national title in three years. He’s the first player in college golf history to win all three player of the year awards (Haskins, Hogan, Nicklaus) more than once. The list of what he hasn’t done is shorter than the list of what he has. 

But if you really want to know golf’s biggest thing, let Jackson Koivun tell you about a bogey. A scorecard square in a sea of circles. 

The plus-one came earlier this month at the NCAA national championship’s match-play team final, where, on the par-4 9th hole, Koivun was stuck after two shots. “I hit myself in probably the worst spot, just short-sided,” he said Monday. “Like one out of 10 it stays on the green.”

He went right. Safe. Bogey. Smart, smart, smart.  

From over the green, Koivun’s opponent “kind of messes up.” Double bogey.

Koivun won the hole. Koivun won the match. The Tigers won the title. 

“So that was definitely one I kind of lucked out on,” he said.

Maybe.

Maybe not. Listen more to Koivun. He’s 21, but could be mistaken for a number somewhere around the age of this week’s 135-year-old host, Shinnecock Hills. Last week, he announced he was turning pro, joining the PGA Tour through its college program — but thing is, he could have done so last year. 

But the then-college sophomore said he wasn’t ready. 

“I think my golf game was there,” Koivun said. “I just think I wasn’t ready to leave college, and mentally just wasn’t ready for the potential hardships and the travel and everything like that.

“But taking another year to really wrap my mind around that was good for me, and now I’m definitely ready.”

What did he learn over the past year?

What he needed more of, he said. 

“Just maturity,” Koivun said. “That’s pretty much my answer. I just gave myself another year to grow, grow as a human being, mentally and physically and everything like that.”

These, of course, are just words, and Koivun is well-spoken. 

But Shinny makes no exceptions, and it takes no prisoners. Its mounds confound. Its wind slaps. Koivun said he watched when the U.S. Open was last played here, in 2018 (when he was 13!) “I just remember it looked really hard,” Koivun said. “Obviously, guys are hitting moving balls on the green; it’s dicey. You watch some guys just hit some shots in places, and when you’re younger, it’s easier to say, well, how did he do that? Now you come out here, and you’re like, OK, well, that makes a lot more sense now.”

Which is to say Shinnecock is hard hard. And there’s his play at last year’s U.S. Open, his debut at the national championship. He missed the cut at Oakmont, another one of golf’s cathedrals. “Oakmont was hard, for sure,” he said. 

But remember, this is golf’s next big thing. 

And golf’s next big things aren’t easily made small, no matter the challenge, no matter the venue, no matter the tournament. That’s why they’re golf’s next big things.  

And Koivun is that. 

“For me, it’s just finding acceptance in golf,” he said. “Obviously coming into any event, I’m going to try to win it, but not pushing too hard and accepting that, like you said, it’s not a game where you win every week. 

“So understanding that and getting that through the head and just keep on going.”

On Sunday, Los Angeles added a new Farah to walk of fame.

Her name was Farah O’Keefe, and she was making the painstakingly long walk from the 17th green to greet her teammates after perhaps the best week of her life. And though she looked every bit the terrifying superstar who’d utterly dominated Great Britain & Ireland to the tune of five points and a triumphant victory at Bel-Air Country Club, it was the fist pump after her putt fell on the 17th to win the Cup that told the whole story.

O’Keefe, a junior at the University of Texas and one of the best collegiate golfers in the world, carried the Americans to a victory at this 44th playing of the Curtis Cup — the biennial match play competition that serves as women’s golf’s counter to the Walker Cup. All week long, she looked the part of a player fresh off an NCAA individual title and a U.S. Women’s Open start … and certain to waste little time making her way to the LPGA whenever her time at Texas is up.

“It is a lot of golf. I’ve played a lot of golf in the last month and a half. It’s really kind of ridiculous, really since SECs,” O’Keefe said Saturday. “This is what I love to do, and this is my passion. Even though my body is hurting and everything is feeling kind of old, I’m still enjoying it, and I think I’m running on a little bit of adrenaline.”

In the end, she finished 5-0-0, good for top billing on an American side that featured no shortage of talented youngsters, including amateur star Asterisk Talley. O’Keefe’s Americans fended off a late Saturday charge by the GB&I with a forceful finish in Sunday Singles, winning the last six of eight matches to clinch a 13-7 victory and extending the American side’s long-running dominance in the all-important final day format. Since the Curtis Cup went to a three-day format, the Americans are beating the GB&I 46.5-23.5 in the singles session. The Americans have also won four of the last five cups.

“I think it was all about perspective,” said Talley. “You feel the adrenaline out there, so you don’t get tired too much. But when you do, you’re just like, man, it’s always great to be out here with friends and family. I think it’s great to play golf every day for a living. You always have to keep that in perspective. Not everybody gets to do that. You have to be grateful.”

In the end, there was plenty to be grateful for on the U.S. side after clinching a victory to return the Cup to American soil. Only the top-two billings on the GB&I side, Sophia Fullbrook and Patience Rhodes, managed to deliver victories on the final day as the American wave rolled in at Bel-Air, and as Farah O’Keefe was crowned as the tournament’s undisputed winner. The excitement carried all the way to the team room for the American side, which was still abuzz even as the evening rolled in to Hollywood.

“I’m so over the moon,” Jasmine Woo, another victorious American, said. “I don’t know how to feel right now.”

On Sunday evening and for the next two years at least, the answer is clear: She can feel like a champion.