Less stress, faster trips on the LIRR

Paul Saulnier, a volunteer for this year’s U.S. Open, got a text alerting volunteers that heavy traffic is causing delays to get to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

So, Saulnier, 68, took the Long Island Rail Road.

From the Hampton Bays LIRR station to Shinnecock Hills "is only like 10 minutes," he said. "But it'll take you like an hour and a half in a car, so they say."

Saulnier, who also has a residence in Queens, added he wouldn’t have volunteered if he didn’t have a house closer to Shinnecock, because of the traffic.

Robert Bracken, 61, from Greenport, was also waiting at the Hampton Bays station to head to Shinnecock as a fan for Monday’s practice round.

Bracken said he wasn’t surprised "at all" about the traffic on his way to Hampton Bays, where he said he parked his car before finishing his trip by taking the LIRR.

"It could have been hours," Bracken said of driving all the way to Shinnecock. "Less stress for us to take the train."