SPECIAL TO GOLF NEWS NET
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – The warning came Sunday: “The Knicks won the title, the City has gone absolutely mental. You better be prepared for everyone to be over the moon.”
Then came the airport, where fans from across the globe were streaming in for the World Cup. Futbol jerseys from every country: Ecuador and Columbia, Japan and Australia, Morocco and Belgium were all disembarking at JFK early Tuesday morning as the first red-eyes landed.
And this is in addition to all the normal “dull roar” of a summer in New York and the Island.
Never mind the city that never sleeps, right now, on the eve of the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the entire tri-state area is electrified with a perfect storm of world-class sporting events and world championship joy all at once, so much so that New Yorkers and Long Islanders are all saying this is the craziest they have seen the region in decades.
New York is the epicenter of the sports planet right now. The top world events in golf, basketball and soccer all at once.
First came the Knicks. I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut that the Larry O’Brien Trophy ends up at Shinnecock Hills, along with several Knicks mugging for the cameras and fans. The Knicks own the City right now after that incredible, out-of-nowhere run through the NBA playoffs – 13 wins in a row?! – right through to the historic and instantly classic four wins against the San Antonio Spurs. And more than any other sport, New York is a basketball town over everything else.
“After 53 years, we haven’t been this happy since the 1986 Mets,” gushed Carolyn, a pretty young golf and basketball fan from Long Island, and why not? What a storybook ending! Two last-second, one-point victories! Two comebacks from statistical outlier range: first after trailing in San Antonio by 22 points in Game 1, then the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, from a whopping 29 points in Game 4! Sealed with the “Tip of the World” as the buzzer sounded by O.G. Anunoby. He is O.G. indeed.
It was an instant and forever classic in basketball lore, and it belongs to you, Knicks fans. I know you will savor it.
Word has gotten out that the USGA has invited Josh Hart and other Knicks to the tournament, and you can bet they will get the rowdiest of receptions from the guaranteed raucous, thirsty 55,000 plus fans. And 4,000,000 people are expected to line the Canyon of Heroes and line up from Battery Park to City Hall Thursday morning for the victory parade.
“No one is going to work tomorrow. No one!” shouted one eager fan of both golf and basketball, sporting his Knicks gear at the course. He’s just saying out loud – really loud – what everyone else was thinking.
In 2016 when the U.S. Open was held at Oakmont, near Pittsburgh, and the Penguins clinched the Stanley Cup over the San Jose Sharks on the Saturday before, the parade was on Wednesday, and the Cup arrived at the golf course the next say. Expect something similar this weekend.
Now add the fanfare and hoopla of the World Cup into the mix. New York, already the crossroads of the globe is seeing a microcosm of that diversity in concentrated form with fans from six continents streaming into the City to watch games at Met Life stadium, yet party in the Five Boroughs. The LIRR featured a great many of the fans of both sports combining the two events into one long trip.
“Vee ahh from Stuttgart und Heidelberg!” barked four German fans, some in golf attire, some in the jersey of the Mannschein. “Vee played golf at a lovely 9-hole course on ze Island called Robert Moses for $11 each und zen vee came here. Vee vill see zah golf und zen go to ze Met for ze Raphael exhibit.”
Sounds like a plan. While you’re in the 80s on the East Side, head over to Maz Mescal for, perennially, one of the best Mexican dinners in New York.
Indeed, jerseys were everywhere at Shinnecock, some typical favorites, some surprising. You expect Australia, Scotland, and England of course, but Japan, Mexico, and the Netherlands were pleasant surprises. The world has come to Shinnecock more than perhaps ever before, and not just the golfers. 50 countries including the United States are represented in the field of 156 players, and it seems as many are represented in the stands, in the restaurants, in the bars, and even just milling about on the streets merrymaking.
They are even coming in by boat. Yes, boat! As you watch the overhead shots this week, you’ll see whole flotillas of yachts – some sailed by crews of 1-4 people and some so enormous they look like Al Czervik from Caddyshack showed up…him or King Farouk of some oil-rich nation – you’ll see whole flotillas of yachts just offshore. Their owners first sail to some nearby golf course in the morning like Friar’s Head or Sebonack, they’ll play golf, then they’ll go the Bank of America tent at the tournament and drink themselves so far into oblivion they have to be wheel-barrowed back to their yacht.
Then they sleep it off, sail the yacht to a different golf course before returqing to the BofA tent: lather rinse, repeat.
Golf majors are Coachella for CEOs now.
Those boats are ridiculous. But yesterday out in the bay various local yacht clubs on the Island held a regatta and Your Author got a chance to ride along as a deck hand. Yes, competing in the race off shore in the Bay.
I was mostly useful as ballast.
Our entry, Spirit de Mer, came in second to last. But we did beat a boat called Big Bertha. So, there’s that. Pandemonium won, for those of you scoring at home.
You can take that as an omen. Right now pandemonium is the perfect word to describe the Island and the City. And the U.S. open is sailing right into the thick of that maelstrom. It’s not just a palpable, infectious energy on the eve of this year’s U.S. Open. It’s a rocket ship in flight, and we haven’t even gotten started.
“This is the sickest I’ve ever seen the City,” beamed one golf fan from Forest Hills. “The Open is just going to be bunkers. New Yorkers will be at full throttle and full voice. This is our time. This is our town. We’re going to show you how it’s done.”
Sleep well, golfers. You’re going to need it.
