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A bad attitude rarely ever leads to success on the golf course, but especially not on a golf course as punishing as Shinnecock Hills.
So when Sam Stevens arrived for the 2026 U.S. Open, he knew he had to flush the "crappy" attitude that has plagued his game in recent weeks. And it worked. He made six birdies en route to a 2-under 68 in Thursday's opening round and sat alone atop the leaderboard as of 3:30 p.m. ET.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I haven't played as well over the last month or so — to be honest, I've had a really crappy attitude, which makes golf a lot harder," Stevens said. "I got a week at home last week and just kind of focusing on trying to stay positive and kind of enjoy playing a little more. I've played well this year. I just haven't had maybe the best last month or so. So I'm not super surprised, but I'm grateful to shoot a couple under."
Stevens, who has never won on the PGA Tour, made the cut in all but one of his first 13 starts in 2026, recording five top-25 finishes, with his best result coming at the Houston Open, where he was solo fifth. But since the beginning of May, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy hasn't finished better than 42nd and missed the cut in his latest start at the Memorial Tournament. So what changed?
"Having a little too high expectations, then the moment that those expectations aren't met, being a little more upset than I need to be," Stevens said. "No broken clubs or anything yet. So that's good. Yeah, it's kind of one of those things. It's a long season. I played a lot the first half of the season. It's easy to get worn down a little bit, and I just haven't been as on top of keeping a good attitude as I should have been. I don't know, just a week at home is always nice, a little perspective."
Shinnecock is no place to be messing around with expectations that are too high, especially when the wind is blowing upwards of 40 mph on a course that's a treacherous challenge even when the breeze isn't stiff. Good shots can go unrewarded and bad breaks are aplenty. Stevens knows that. He caught one on his first hole of the day, the par-4 10th. He hit his tee shot in the fairway and as he was preparing to play his approach, officials put a stop to the action due to dense fog — a delay that lasted two hours.
"I teed off on 10, and I was getting ready to hit my second shot, and they blew the horn, which I thought was great because you couldn't even see the pin. It was pretty foggy or whatever it was, misty," Stevens said. "During the delay, I'm playing with two Oklahoma State guys actually, and my old assistant coach is caddying for Eric Lee. We were just kind of sitting on the range kind of chitchatting. Just kind of kept delaying it 15 minutes at a time. So you had to stay ready because you never knew when you were going to have to go right back out. It was pretty relaxed and chill."
When Stevens returned to hit his second shot at No. 10, it didn't go as planned. His ball hit the green and spun back off the front. Then he "flubbed" his third shot. He finally reached the green with his fourth, then two-putted for a double bogey. Not exactly an ideal start to a major championship, and if he still had that "crappy" attitude, things might have gone south. That wasn't the case, though.
Stevens bounced right back with a birdie at the par-3 11th, added another at the par-3 17th and three more at Nos. 1, 3 and 5. He bogeyed the eighth but bounced back again with a birdie at No. 9 to finish off his round and head into Friday with some serious momentum.
"Drove the ball well. Hit my irons really well, I felt like. Had a lot of birdie looks," Stevens said. "The greens were a little bit softer. They had to water them. I felt like you could hit good shots close to the hole, and then made a few nice putts, so overall good."
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow Nick on X/Twitter (@nickstavas)
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: US Open 2026: Sam Stevens flushes 'crappy' attitude, opens with 68
Continue reading...
So when Sam Stevens arrived for the 2026 U.S. Open, he knew he had to flush the "crappy" attitude that has plagued his game in recent weeks. And it worked. He made six birdies en route to a 2-under 68 in Thursday's opening round and sat alone atop the leaderboard as of 3:30 p.m. ET.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I haven't played as well over the last month or so — to be honest, I've had a really crappy attitude, which makes golf a lot harder," Stevens said. "I got a week at home last week and just kind of focusing on trying to stay positive and kind of enjoy playing a little more. I've played well this year. I just haven't had maybe the best last month or so. So I'm not super surprised, but I'm grateful to shoot a couple under."
Stevens, who has never won on the PGA Tour, made the cut in all but one of his first 13 starts in 2026, recording five top-25 finishes, with his best result coming at the Houston Open, where he was solo fifth. But since the beginning of May, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy hasn't finished better than 42nd and missed the cut in his latest start at the Memorial Tournament. So what changed?
"Having a little too high expectations, then the moment that those expectations aren't met, being a little more upset than I need to be," Stevens said. "No broken clubs or anything yet. So that's good. Yeah, it's kind of one of those things. It's a long season. I played a lot the first half of the season. It's easy to get worn down a little bit, and I just haven't been as on top of keeping a good attitude as I should have been. I don't know, just a week at home is always nice, a little perspective."
Shinnecock is no place to be messing around with expectations that are too high, especially when the wind is blowing upwards of 40 mph on a course that's a treacherous challenge even when the breeze isn't stiff. Good shots can go unrewarded and bad breaks are aplenty. Stevens knows that. He caught one on his first hole of the day, the par-4 10th. He hit his tee shot in the fairway and as he was preparing to play his approach, officials put a stop to the action due to dense fog — a delay that lasted two hours.
"I teed off on 10, and I was getting ready to hit my second shot, and they blew the horn, which I thought was great because you couldn't even see the pin. It was pretty foggy or whatever it was, misty," Stevens said. "During the delay, I'm playing with two Oklahoma State guys actually, and my old assistant coach is caddying for Eric Lee. We were just kind of sitting on the range kind of chitchatting. Just kind of kept delaying it 15 minutes at a time. So you had to stay ready because you never knew when you were going to have to go right back out. It was pretty relaxed and chill."
When Stevens returned to hit his second shot at No. 10, it didn't go as planned. His ball hit the green and spun back off the front. Then he "flubbed" his third shot. He finally reached the green with his fourth, then two-putted for a double bogey. Not exactly an ideal start to a major championship, and if he still had that "crappy" attitude, things might have gone south. That wasn't the case, though.
Stevens bounced right back with a birdie at the par-3 11th, added another at the par-3 17th and three more at Nos. 1, 3 and 5. He bogeyed the eighth but bounced back again with a birdie at No. 9 to finish off his round and head into Friday with some serious momentum.
"Drove the ball well. Hit my irons really well, I felt like. Had a lot of birdie looks," Stevens said. "The greens were a little bit softer. They had to water them. I felt like you could hit good shots close to the hole, and then made a few nice putts, so overall good."
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow Nick on X/Twitter (@nickstavas)
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: US Open 2026: Sam Stevens flushes 'crappy' attitude, opens with 68
Continue reading...
