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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Shinnecock Hills was a lot bigger than Graeme McDowell expected.
But not too big.
McDowell was among those who began preparing Sunday for the U.S. Open on a course where golf first was played in 1891, and where the U.S. Open was last played 14 years ago. He had never been out to the Hamptons - ''Only as far as Bethpage, if that's even considered part of Long Island,'' he said - and his imagination told it would be a golf course tucked in among high-end real estate, like Pebble Beach.