Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Long Island, one of the founding clubs of the USGA, has officially been announced as the venue for the 2018 US Open.

The much-rumoured announcement was made by USGA president Jim Hyler during a press conference at Congressional in the run-up to this year’s Open. “We are thrilled our national championship will return to one of our country's most-storied venues,” said Hyler. “We are confident that Shinnecock Hills will provide a true challenge for the world’s premier players, as it has for more than a century.”

The 2018 championship will be the fifth US Open to be hosted by the club, the only venue to host the championship in all three centuries of its existence. The club hosted the championship in 1896, its second playing, and was also the venue in 1986, 1995 and 2004.

“On behalf of our members, I am delighted to welcome the USGA and the US Open back to Shinnecock Hills,” said club President Robert Murphy Jr. “Shinnecock Hills is very proud of our common heritage with the USGA dating back to the origins of golf in America, and we are equally excited about our strong future together. We believe that our course offers a unique venue for championship golf that stands the test of any era, and are very pleased to have the USGA as our partner in sharing the challenge of Shinnecock again in 2018.”

The club was founded in 1891, was the first eighteen hole course on America’s east coast, and the present course was designed by William Flynn in 1931.