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Steve Sands joins The Sports Junkies to preview the 2026 US Open.
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00:00a little more sober this morning when i see you guys a little bit very lucid no alcohol
00:05anywhere around us no bloody mirrors to be seen hey i know you were covering the rbc up in canada
00:10did you go back down to dewey before the usl before you had to go up to new york i
00:16had to
00:16sneak down late sunday night and uh get a late night crush with our man monty and jimmy o'connor
00:23and everybody and val sands and uh i drove up here from dewey on late monday night so gotcha
00:29i was there for probably 18 or 20 hours how long is the commute from dewey beach delaware to i
00:36believe southampton long island new york the commute uh the drive would be well i mean depends on the
00:43time of day um i much preferred you guys are real early morning people i'm a late at night person
00:49so i would much rather drive at night when there's no traffic um i left dewey let's see it took
00:54me
00:54four hours 29 minutes wow it's not bad we went to we went to dinner and then i then i
00:59got in the car
01:00and just drove up and uh it was it was easy are you like are you like me you take
01:05it at a casual
01:07leisurely pace maybe a stop or two along the way are you team eb where he's just like i'm in
01:12the car
01:12i've got a five hour energy and i'm making it all the way through no stops slamming the gas i
01:17i don't
01:18i only stopped for two reasons to pee yeah and to stop at chick-fil-a to get some nuggets
01:23other
01:24than that there's no way i would stop on a long run when i drive up from florida up to
01:28dewey every
01:28year uh once a year i drive up and then once a year i drive back so we have a
01:32car up there
01:32and uh i stopped twice you know i have to go to the bathroom grab something to eat bathroom grab
01:38something to eat and that's 14 hours straight up right see that's my hack see cakes can never do
01:42that because he pees like every hour he's constantly no but the hack is and i was a veteran
01:49driving up to new york to see my kids games all the time yeah it's five hour energy it gives
01:53you
01:53that energy and then you're not having too much liquid yeah you got to bulldog it all the way
01:58through man you just gotta go you gotta grind so you'll be driving back down to dewey uh at the
02:03end of this week at the end of the weekend uh i'll be back uh on monday yeah looking forward
02:08to it
02:08can't wait all right so next week off next week off too six great days oh it's gonna get crazy
02:14take advantage of it all right so all the headlines i keep seeing is like there's going
02:19to be carnage you know it's just how tough shinnecock is and yet i see the players and
02:25they're very respectful of the spot i mean everybody i mean not everybody but i mean they
02:28they seem to really respect shinnecock for what it is they do they always respect shinnecock because
02:35it's one of the great golf courses not only in the country but in the world and i think it's
02:40kind
02:40of like dealing with referees and you know in the nba and dealing with linesmen and refs in the nhl
02:47and in the nfl and then umpires and major league baseball you want to speak nicely so that they
02:53perhaps will be a little kinder to you in this case they don't call rules and fouls on the players
02:58but they do set up the golf course and the people who are setting up the golf course this week
03:03are under
03:03a massive microscope shinnecock is a legendary golf course an absolutely legendary golf course
03:11and the last two times the us up has been played here it's been a clown show in 2018 when
03:16brooks
03:16kepko won in 2004 when retief goosin won they're watering the greens in the middle of the round and
03:23things are just getting out out of control and they lost the golf course because it was too firm and
03:27fast
03:28i think because of the forecast this week because the wind is supposed to be so crazy tomorrow in
03:34thursday's first round and as i'll taper off on friday saturday and sunday but still be just a
03:38little bit windy they're going to soften the golf course up just a touch and i don't think they're
03:43going to make it as severe as they have in the past because they know if they lose this golf
03:48course
03:48again shinnecock will say you know what we don't want this on the world's display this golf course is too
03:54great they have too much pride here if they mess it up again uh i don't think it'll be coming
03:59back
03:59here for quite some time steve this is an insane stat i had to read like two or three times
04:04to make
04:04sure it was correct this is from at justin ray golf 655 yeah 654 players have teed it up in
04:12a u.s
04:12open at shinnecock all time three have finished the week under par it's nuts yeah that's just just
04:19legendary brutal conditions like you're like you're touching on it's it's crazy it's so hard
04:24it's so good but it's also mother nature dependent you know we're way out here on the eastern tip of
04:30long island i mean we're a hundred miles from new york city right and still here on long island it's
04:35a
04:35long ways away and when you're sticking this far out near the ocean you know you'll know and everybody
04:41knows has ever been around the ocean there's going to be some windy conditions now right now
04:44it's beautiful out it could not be more perfect but it's going to blow a little bit on friday saturday
04:50and sunday but tomorrow the first round that's going to be the issue uh we'll see how the golf
04:55course is set up for tomorrow because when you get winds of 25 miles per hour sustained and gusts of
05:0335 40 miles per hour in this sport it's an outdoor game you've got it's not that these guys are
05:08soft and
05:08can't handle it fellas it's that if the golf ball is on the green and the green is shaved too
05:14closely or it's too fast or too firm that golf ball won't stay in its spot and you can't do
05:21that in
05:21golf and they did that the last couple of times it was here i don't think they're going to do
05:25it this
05:25time so compare shinnecock and that layout compared to oakmont the year before where i believe jj
05:33spawn finished one under to win yeah it's completely different one landlocked you know one right out here
05:39on the eastern tip of long island um oakmont is brutally difficult so is shinnecock but in
05:45different ways you know the greens at oakmont are insane and they're they're world famous uh and
05:51they're just crazy greens with whole locations that can really really mess up the players not only with
05:57their game but in their mind as to what they're trying to do here's shinnecock you know fairways you'll
06:02notice on tv tomorrow when we start uh the fairways are relatively wide okay um you have a lot of
06:08space
06:09out here but because of the windy conditions they have to be like that because of the windy conditions
06:14the greens aren't going to be nearly as fast as they were last year at oakmont uh if anybody's familiar
06:19in your audience with a stimp meter that's that's how they measure the speed of greens the higher the
06:24number the faster the greens are you know at oakmont they'll be rolling 14 15 lurch i mean on the
06:31stimp here at shinnecock they'll be 10 and a half or 11 on the stimp so they have to be
06:36slower because
06:37of the windy conditions uh but this golf course can punish you in so many ways if you're not razor
06:44sharp with your game you have absolutely no chance here well who has the advantage in terms of the
06:49tee times uh early or or later in the afternoon tomorrow it's funny how they uh put the world's
06:55number one and number two player early late um if you play early you play late on friday if you
07:00play
07:00late on thursday you play early on friday and they just do it opposite then make the cut and
07:06everybody goes out on the weekend based upon their score and the guys who are playing early tomorrow
07:11if the weather forecast holds out what are we about 24 hours away you know 20 hours away 22 hours
07:16away
07:16whatever it is um i think if you are early late it looks like it sure looks like you have
07:23an advantage
07:23over the guys who are playing late early because the wind is really supposed to pick up
07:27uh thursday all the way through the afternoon and then in the morning on friday and then died down
07:33just a little bit for the guys in the afternoon so normally we talk about waves jason at the open
07:40championship next month at royal birkdale because of the weather over there but out here you know with
07:45this golf course and these conditions the tee times really matter and i think the guys early late
07:51are going to have a huge advantage as long as the forecast holds down so so chef's not playing great
07:57um you know he's obviously a top 10 machine but he he's he hasn't had the results that he had
08:05the year
08:05before he's like he's only got the one win but his putting hasn't been great rory has he just hasn't
08:11played a lot and those are the top two guys obviously in the field but so what do you expect
08:15from chef
08:15and rory i think you know kind of like what you said uh i think we need to see if
08:22there's any rust
08:22in rory's game because he just hasn't played that much golf um since winning the u.s over since winning
08:28the masters and competing in the pga he also played in the memorial but he hasn't played a lot of
08:32golf but
08:33you know this golf course should suit him you know um not only because he's one of the best players
08:38in
08:38the world but because of the way he plays the game this golf course you know should be good for
08:43rory
08:43mcelroy every golf course is good for scotty uh but right now he's not playing great and you know
08:49do you trust someone even though he's the best player in the world do you trust someone coming
08:53into a major championship when he's not playing great when he's not hitting the ball crisply when
08:58he's not standing over eight foot putts which you're going to have here to u.s open to save par
09:03and having all the confidence in the world i don't know i think i think if i were putting money
09:08on one or
09:09the other i probably would put more money on rory than scotty however wow rory as you know lurch
09:15is a guy who doesn't perform very well when it's windy so the golf course might be good for him
09:22but
09:22the conditions might not be good for him that's why tomorrow morning's round is so big for mcelroy
09:28if he can take advantage of the more benign conditions it's going to be windy in the morning
09:32but not nearly as it will be in the afternoon if he can take advantage of the early conditions
09:37tomorrow having mcelroy will be in a very good spot come friday how incredible is is uh alex
09:43fixpatrick and how he's taking advantage of his opportunity i just have been amazed by what he's
09:49done it is it's amazing uh he's matt that's patrick's brother matt by the way is a favorite
09:55this week i think matt's going to perform very well here yeah this week when they won together in new
09:59orleans it's the only team event of the year yeah when they won together in new orleans that opened the
10:04door for alex to get onto the pga tour now one of the things that people complain about exactly
10:09one of the things that people complain about in that victory is that golf at the highest level is
10:16the ultimate meritocracy you know you put a right you put a piece of paper in front of you you
10:21put
10:21your pencil on it and you put a score and whatever the best score is wins you know there's no
10:25messing
10:25around in that regard when it comes to this particular sport so he got a little bit of a break
10:30you know having that door open for him by his brother because it was a team win but he then
10:35came out the next two weeks and played great and played really good top five finishes exactly and he
10:42earned the respect of the other guys which might not sound like a big deal but out here on the
10:47pga tour
10:48alex knew that that door opened in a bit of a strange way for him but he took advantage of
10:55it and
10:55he has a lot of respect uh from most of the guys out here and i think that's a really
11:00important
11:00thing and i think that's helping him you know above the collarbones with his mental approach i think he
11:04understands that he got a break but he also understands that he took advantage of it and
11:09good for him he's a really nice guy and he's playing very very well i'll tell you this is impressive
11:13um sansy xander shawfly has played in i believe this is his 10th u.s open he's never missed a
11:20cut
11:21never missed a cut in the u.s open and has never been uh worse than 14th so he's had
11:26i think six
11:27top sevens um he balls at the u.s open so i mean we got to look at him right
11:34100 yeah i think what
11:37you want to do when you look at players at u.s opens you want to look at tough guys
11:41kind of bulldog
11:43guys guys who aren't complainers you know guys who aren't whiners out there if you look at the winners
11:48at shinnecock go back to 86 raymond floyd all-time bulldog 1995 cory pavin a bulldog in his own right
11:56maybe got the most out of his game than anybody with his stature and his skill set than anybody
12:02in his era um and then you go to 2004 retief goosin very quiet guy but played the game like
12:09a bulldog and then brooks kepka in 2018 is a bulldog as well so i think tough guys win here
12:15and i think
12:16zander is as tough as they come on the pga tour right now he just has a great personality for
12:22this
12:22uh event he also understands how difficult it is and his game matches up to it it wouldn't surprise
12:29me at all if zander had a chance to win his third major championship he's already won an open he's
12:34already won a pga i think he's going to give himself an opportunity this week to play well
12:38and give himself an opportunity on sunday uh somewhere on or in or around the leaderboard
12:43and you never know if it breaks his way but zander for sure i think will be a factor this
12:47week yep
12:48sansy enjoy your time at shinnecock and then have a great week off that afterwards we'll talk to
12:52you again soon okay man enjoy it thank you buddy appreciate you all right pal yes sir that is our
12:57pal steve sans he is boots on the ground at shinnecock for the u.s open you can catch him
13:03on golf
13:03channel and nbc we're the junks we'll be right back on the fan
13:07channel and nbc we'll be right back on the fan
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