American singing Scotland song and scene set for amateur dramatics - Martin Dempster's US Open diary

Scotland song stuck in American’s head

Though not everyone, World Cup fever is definitely gripping some Americans, including Dan Rapaport, a golf journalist/broadcaster/content creator.

He’s a big football fan and supports Manchester United, but, by the looks of things, he’s got a Scotland song stuck in his head at the moment.

“We’ve got John McGinn, super John McGinn” were his first words on seeing this Scot in the Media Centre at Shinnecock Hills and, with a huge smile on his face again, he was signing it again when we bumped into each other a bit later.

No prizes for guessing who he’ll be supporting between Scotland and Morocco on Friday night then!

Get set for amateur dramatics

Watch out for some amateur dramatics at Shinnecock Hills, where arguably the strongest line up of up-and-coming stars are in the field.

A total of 20 amateurs are competing in this week’s event, including six of the top 15 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

World No 1 Jackson Koivun, regarded by many as a superstar in the making, heads the amateur contingent while it also includes second-ranked Preston Stout.

Earlier in the week, all 20 players - the most since the event’s last visit to Shinnecock Hills in 2018 - were joined at a function by 1995 champion Corey Pavin.

Trend of winners outside world’s top ten

You get statistics coming out of your ears at big golf events these days, with Elias Sports providing a mountain of information for this week’s tournament.

One that jumped out is that each of the last four US Opens was won by a player ranked outside the top ten in the OWGR at the time.

Matt Fitzpatrick was ranked 18th in 2022, Wyndham Clark was 32nd the following year, Bryson DeChambeau was down in 38th in 2024 before J.J. Spaun landed his title triumph last year as the world No 25.

Could that be a good omen for Bob MacIntyre, who was inside the top ten earlier in the year but is now sitting 17th?

Oakmont is US equivalent of St Andrews

It’s an easy one for golf fans if someone asks which venue has staged The Open most because that, of course, is St Andrews, where the event will be held for the 31st time next year.

But there would probably be a fair bit of head scratching if the same question was asked about the US Open.

The answer is actually Oakmont, where last year’s edition was a tenth staging at the Pennsylvania venue.

Baltusrol is next on the list with seven, closely followed by four clubs with six, with Shinnecock Hills now joining Oakland Hills, Pebble Beach and Winged Foot on that mark.