Emiliano Grillo turned a rough start into one of the better rounds of Saturday at the 2026 U.S. Open, recovering from a double bogey on his second hole to shoot a 3-under 67 and get back to even for the tournament at Shinnecock Hills.
The round mattered because Grillo arrived at the week 123rd in the FedEx Cup standings, outside the new cut of 100 cards for full-time Tour players, and he still found a way to stay in the mix. He said he played solid all day and pointed to four straight birdies at the end of the front nine as the stretch that changed everything.
That kind of rally fits a player who has spent much of his major championship life trying to survive hard setups rather than dominate them. Grillo has a pair of PGA Tour victories, but he has also missed the cut in six of his last 10 majors, and Shinnecock Hills has already left a mark on him. In 2018, he missed the cut there by a single stroke and described the week as a blur, adding that he hated every minute of it because it was dry and windy.
This time, the weather again turned the course into a grind. Grillo said he looked at the forecast and expected one kind of round, then watched the wind keep building instead of easing off. He said he had to be patient, and the patience showed after the early double bogey, when he steadied himself and kept the round moving in the right direction.
There is still a bigger question hanging over his week: whether one strong Saturday is enough to move him into safer territory with the FedEx Cup race and the rest of the U.S. Open still ahead. For Grillo, the more immediate answer is simpler. Shinnecock Hills once gave him a week he wanted to forget. On Saturday, it gave him a score he could live with.
