U.S. Open 2026: PGA champion Aaron Rai seen practicing his putting on the driving range(!?) at Shinnecock
Aaron Rai is anything but conventional. He wears two rain gloves. He uses iron covers. He only rocks pink tees. But what we saw at Shinnecock on Wednesday might be his most, um, unique quirk yet. Check it out.
If you’re wondering how scared these guys are of the greens this weekend, the 2026 Wanamaker winner putting ON THE DRIVING RANGE pretty much says it all. After the chaos of 2018, when the USGA lost the course and the greens turned into hockey rinks, setup discourse was at already at an all-time high coming into the U.S. Open. Then the forecast for Thursday began calling for wind … lots and LOTS of wind.
In response, the USGA began aggressively watering the greens on Wednesday and even announced plans to “syringe” them between the morning and afternoon waves should they require it. They have also reduced their target green speeds from 12-13 on the stimpmeter to 10.5 in anticipation of the gusty conditions. It’s not certain why Rai adopted this unconventional practice routine, but it’s possible the practice greens didn’t reflect that speed change on Wednesday, so Rai moved to the closest place that did:
We’ll have to wait and see if Rai’s singular strategy pays off, but it has time and time again throughout his career, so why stop now?
