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With the U.S. Open returning to Southampton, Anthony Montañez has the same goal as the 156 golfers competing at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
He’s looking to make the cut.
The 37-year-old owner of Monti’s Barbershop returns to Shinnecock with his tools in hand. It was there in 2018 that he became a go-to barber for one of golf’s premier tournaments — and a trusted set of hands for some of the sport’s biggest stars.
“It’s been amazing to cut every one of the top guys that you see on the top of the leaderboard week in and week out,” Montañez said. “Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler.”
The 2026 U.S. Open runs from June 18 to 21, with Montañez and his shop’s one-time manager, Eddie Canillas, setting up at Shinnecock in advance for the players and caddies at the third of the four men’s major golf championships.
“That’s the thing, they have media, they’re in pictures and on camera all day, every day,” he said. “So it’s important for these guys to look sharp.”
The deal with the United States Golf Association has taken Montañez and Canillas, the owner of a barbershop in Florida, to some of golf’s most storied courses.
The pair have traveled to Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, to The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. and the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. They have worked every U.S. Open since 2018, save for the two years affected by the COVID pandemic, and also at the U.S. Senior Open.
The arrangement has allowed the barbers to establish personal connections with their boldface-name customers that go beyond the golf course, with Montañez and Canillas posting photos and videos to their social media accounts of the stars who make it into their chairs.
“It’s really just gotten better and better for us every single year,” said Montañez, who has Monti’s locations in Moriches and Yaphank. “We’ve established personal relationships with the players, the caddies, the coaches, the managers, staff — it’s been awesome.”
Close to a decade ago, a visit from organizers to the Moriches shop got the ball rolling for the pair.
“Being a big golf fanatic and a golfer myself, I said ‘Absolutely, can you please tell me the details?’” Montañez recalled.
The father of two, a 2007 graduate of Eastport-South Manor High School, estimates that he averages “15 heads a day” on the practice days that precede the start of U.S. Open play on Thursday.
“Some guys do haircuts and beards, which obviously take a little bit longer, some guys have really quick haircuts, some guys have more complex haircuts,” he said. “So on average, it’s at least 15 heads.”
Those numbers begin to trend down once half the field doesn’t make the cut for the weekend’s final rounds, giving the barbers a little more of an opening to catch some of the action.
“We don’t get as many people to come in for haircuts on Saturday, and definitely not as many for championship Sunday,” Montañez said. “So typically, Saturday and Sunday, we’re able to pop out there a little more often.”
But the barbers try not to stray too far from their rented chairs and the potential for more cuts.
That’s how Montañez, by chance, met all-time golfing great Tiger Woods.
“I always get, ‘Have you cut Tiger Woods yet, and I would always tell everybody ‘Not yet,” he said. “I felt that one day I would get Tiger Woods in my chair.”
The encounter with Woods came at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
“As he came out of the locker room, he looked up at me and he said, ‘Hey, you cutting hair?’ and I said ‘Absolutely,’” he said. “He came in and we just had an amazing conversation.”
Montañez marked the occasion by posting a photo on Instagram of him with Woods and writing, “Look who came in to get a fresh haircut!”
“We talked about both of our fathers, we talked about our kids,” he said. “We talked about my golf game.”
Montañez and his customers can work on their games at the Monti’s Yaphank location, which is equipped with a golf simulator inside the shop. The SkyTrak simulator is available for rental.
“It’s a conversation piece,” he said. “There are no other barber shops on the island that have a simulator in their shop. Once people see that, they’re like, ‘No way!’”
Top: Long Island barber Anthony Montañez cutting pro golfer Akshay Bhatia at the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. (Credit: Instagram)
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