U.S. Open Preview: The Cowboys Will Be Well Represented at Shinnecock Hills

There will be plenty of Cowboys roaming the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club this weekend.

Nine current or former Oklahoma State golfers are in the field for the U.S. Open, which tees off Thursday in New York:

Wyndham Clark
Ethan Fang (a)
Rickie Fowler
Viktor Hovland
Eric Lee (a)
Alex Noren
Sam Stevens
Preston Stout (a)
Peter Uihlein

Among that group of Cowboys, Viktor Hovland and Wyndham Clark share the best odds to win, according to FanDuel, with both sitting at +4,500. Here’s a little preview on how each Cowboy got to this point.

Clark: This marks Clark’s sixth U.S. Open, and it’s event he has won before.

In 2023, Clark won at the Los Angeles Country Club North Course with a 10-under 270. That was the only time he shot under par at a U.S. Open, as aside from that 2023 tournament, Clark has missed the U.S. Open cut four times and finished tied for 56th the other time.

On 15 PGA Tour starts this year, Clark has made the cut 12 times and won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in late May. That tournament has started a good run for Clark entering the U.S. Open, as he has since finished third at the Memorial and tied for 11th at the RBC Canadian Open.

Fang: At just 21 years old, Fang will make his U.S. Open debut after a win at the 2025 Amateur Championship.

As a junior on the OSU golf team this past season, Fang received honorable mention All-America status by PING and Golfweek. He was an All-Big 12 First Team selection and was a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award.

Fang won the Carmel Cup back in August, marking his first college win as a Cowboy. He’d share a win with teammate Preston Stout at the Maridoe Collegiate in March and had Top 10 finishes at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, The Clerico, the Haskins Award Invitational and the Big 12 Championships.

Fowler: This is a tournament that Fowler has threatened at in the past.

This’ll be the 15th time Fowler competes in a U.S. Open, going back to 2008. Although he’s never won the event, he has been in the hunt on a few occasions. In that 2023 Tournament that Clark won, Fowler finished tied for fifth, just five shots back. That was one of four times Fowler has finished in the Top 10 of the U.S. Open, tying for fifth in 2017, tying for second in 2014 and tying for 10th in 2013.

Fowler has made 10 of 14 cuts this year but has missed the past two cuts at the Charles Schwab in May and the Memorial earlier this month. But the form isn’t all the way down. In early May, Fowler tied for second at the Truist Championship — one of four times he’s finished in the Top 10 in 2026.

Hovland: Viktor Hovland finished third at the U.S. Open last year at Oakmont, and this weekend will be the eighth U.S. Open he has participated in.

He has made 10 of 12 cuts this year with a pair of Top 10 finishes. The best of those finishes is Hovland’s most recent result when he placed third at the RBC Canadian Open last weekend.

Lee: Another current Cowboy, Lee got into this field by tying for second at a final qualifying event in Sacramento, California earlier this month.

Lee earned an honorable mention All-America honor from PING this past season. He won the NCAA Marana Regional and had Top 10 finishes at the Carmel Cup, the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and the Maridoe Collegiate.

Noren: This will make a dozen U.S. Opens for Alex Noren, with his best finish at the tournament being a T17 in 2020. He’s only made the cut three times at the U.S. Open, but one of those times was at Shinnecock Hills, as he tied for 25th in 2018.

Noren has made 11 of 14 cuts on the PGA Tour this season, including a ninth-place finish at the Memorial earlier this month. He also tied for seventh at the Cadillac Championship at the end of April.

Stevens: This will be Stevens’ fourth U.S. Open, and he has made the cut in his other three attempts. He finished tied for 23rd at the tournament last year, his best finish at the event.

Stevens has made 15 of 17 PGA Tour cuts this year and has two Top 10 finishes. The most recent was a fifth-place finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in late March. He also finished tied for sixth at The American Express in January.

Stout: Stout earned this opportunity by winning the NCAA Championship this year.

He has been named a First Team All-American the past two seasons and has won three Big 12 individual titles in three years in Stillwater. He was the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2026 and was a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus Award, Ben Hogan Award and Fred Haskins Award. He has eight collegiate wins, which is three short of Lindy Miller’s program record.

Uihlein: Uihlein earned his spot in the field by winning a final qualifying event in Dallas last month. This will mark his fourth U.S. Open and first since 2018 — when the event was also at Shinnecock Hills. He made the cut back in 2018, tying for 48th.