For most of R1 at Shinnecock Hills, Billy Horschel was the story. He was 2-under and at the top of the leaderboard. Then the par-5 5th happened, a triple bogey 8, and the week turned on its head. Eventually, he missed the cut by one stroke and did not stay quiet about it afterward.

“Disappointed to miss the cut by a shot. Always go over the two rounds where you could have saved a shot or two, and I’ve been saying that a lot lately. Shooting the highest score possible almost every round. The good thing is my good right now is really good. Need to make my bad shots better and my good shots more consistent. And mentally, I need to be a little sharper throughout the round. My game is close, and I know it. Will keep going and pushing. I know no other way!” Billy Horschel posted on Instagram, who has earned over $42 million on tha PGA Tour.

The scorecards explain the frustration. In Round 1, Billy Horschel shot 73. He actually had the lead briefly at 2-under before a triple bogey 8 on the par-5 5th hole changed everything. Round 2 was a 72, steadier but not enough to recover. One costly hole in round one cost him the weekend at Shinnecock. Overall, this has been the look of his 2026 season often.

Horschel was T6 at the Zurich Classic in April at -27. Then, he was T15 at the Canadian Open the week before the US Open, shooting 66-70-64-70. But then there are the missed cuts as well: the Memorial and the PGA Championship.

The biggest question is his return from hip surgery in May of 2025. Doctors repaired a large tear in his labrum, shaved bone from the hip capsule, and fixed two microfractures. Recovery was expected to take one to two years, but Billy Horschel was back competing in less than six months, much to the surprise of his own medical team. He even sounded confident about it.

“The game’s building; it’s getting better,” he said in March 2026. “I just need more reps, I just need to groove it in a little bit more.”

In fact, his U.S. Open record shows the pattern clearly. In 2023, he finished T43 at +5. In 2024, it was T41 at +8. Now in 2026, he has missed the cut again, finishing at +5. Clearly, the tournament exposes weaknesses in his game and makes them costly. But his IG post reads like someone who knows exactly what is wrong and believes he can fix it.

Notably, Billy Horschel was not the only big name who had a weekend to forget at Shinnecock.

DeChambeau, Rahm, and Cantlay also packed their bags early

Bryson DeChambeau entered the tournament as a two-time U.S. Open champion, having won in 2021 and 2024. At Shinnecock this week, he shot 70-75 to finish at +5 and miss the cut by one stroke. This follows missed cuts at the 2026 Masters and the 2026 PGA Championship.

Jon Rahm had a solid Round 1 with a 68, but Round 2 fell apart completely. He finished +6, two shots off the cut after a closing 78 on Friday. He carded five bogeys and a triple bogey on the 16th in the second round. The 2023 Masters champ couldn’t hold it together when the course fought back.

Patrick Cantlay closed at +6 after shooting 74 and 72. He’d had some consistency in 2026 with a T8 at RBC Heritage and a T12 at the Masters, but at Shinnecock, he couldn’t put two good rounds together when it mattered.

Now that these names are out of the major run, who do you think will win?