On one side of Montauk Highway sit trailers and smoke shops; on the other, a golf course that hosts one of the sport's richest tournaments. As the US Open returns to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, the neighboring Shinnecock Indian Nation has secured its biggest payday yet from an event held on land it says was stolen, reports the New York Times. The tribe expects more than $800,000 from parking, youth programs, tickets, and helicopter landing fees—far more than the roughly $100,000 it saw from past Opens, but still a fraction of the millions the tournament generates.
Tribal treasurer Seneca Bowen calls it "the best deal we've ever struck" and a financial lifeline for a community where many live below the poverty line. But some Shinnecock say the money only papers over a deeper grievance: that the course was built on their burial grounds and on territory taken in an 1859 land grab. "My ancestors built that course, my ancestors died on that course," Matthew Smith, nephew of a longtime club groundskeeper, says in a recent documentary, The Land We Share. "There's blood, sweat, and tears on that course," he adds, per the Times Daily. One tribal member labels the payments "a slap in the face."
Even club member Roger Waters (yes, that Roger Waters) argues the Nation deserves "a bigger slice of the pie." US Golf Association officials praise their relationship with the Nation but won't discuss terms, as both sides prepare for protests, land acknowledgments, and another Open on contested ground.
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