A Lemon Wedge for $15.95, $19 hot dogs and some not-too-exorbitant U.S. Open food and drink prices

These days it seems you need more than just world-class athletes, a shiny trophy and a legendary setting in order to hold a major sporting event. You also need a signature cocktail.

This week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills has just that in “The Lemon Wedge,” a distant cousin of the wildly popular “Honey Deuce” and “Watermelon Slice” that were born at and became staples of the tennis version of the U.S. Open in Queens at the end of each summer.

The “official cocktail of the U.S. Open,” the Lemon Wedge features Dewar’s 12-year-old whisky, club soda and fresh lemons topped with a golf tee pick and — naturally — a lemon wedge for garnish. It is available at the concession areas dotted throughout the course and, at $15.95, runs at roughly half the price of its tennis-themed predecessors.

“I thought it was so great,” Amy Tolle of East Moriches told Newsday after sampling one from a plastic souvenir cup at a collection of concession tents called “The Village on 17” on Tuesday. “I love lemon and it had a perfect hint of it.”

Other popular drinks available include Sun Cruiser’s line of vodka-infused iced teas and lemonades as well as a Hamptons Shandy made with Corona Premier in the Trophy Club.

Brendan Kenny of Southampton decided to go with a Transfusion for his beverage, a mix of vodka, grape juice, ginger beer and lime.

“It’s a staple on a golf course,” he said. And as a former bartender he declared this version “really good.”

The menu at the Open — both liquid and solid — has come a long way since Leighton Schwob, the USGA’s senior director of operations, began working the event 21 years ago. It’s also changed dramatically since the last time the Open was at Shinnecock in 2018.

“The food and beverage program overall has become such a critical part to the fan experience,” Schwob said. “It’s a balance of the core items, the hot dogs, hamburgers, turkey sandwiches, then balancing it and interjecting some specialty items.”

And with the Open traveling from course to course each year, that means local flavors. This year’s has a very strong taste of New York that includes various Pat LaFrieda sandwiches and dishes — what would a “links style” course like Shinnecock be without links such as a foot-long hot dog or the Spaten-braised sausage with a broccoli rabe? — plus tents that offer wares from Tulum Tacos in Mineola and Baldwin, Stuf’d sandwiches from Brooklyn, and, very popular among those with early tee times, The Espresso Guys.

The prices aren’t quite as uncommonly low as they are maintained by events such as, say, The Masters, but they are comparable to many other local stadium and arena fare. The Pat LaFreida sandwiches run between $14 (sausage) and $19 (foot-long hot dog), but you can also get a simple Nathan’s hot dog for $7.95 or a Caesar salad for $10.95. Considering it’s a meal in the Hamptons, that’s not exorbitant.

Said Schwob: “I’d encourage you to come hungry and travel around the site and taste everything.”

Golf crowds, it turns out, are not very different from those at other events, said John Fitzgibbon, regional vice president for Aramark, which handles much of the food concessions for the Open (and also at Citi Field and other venues).

“There are a lot of similarities in what people want to eat and drink,” he said. “It’s making sure we have everything in proximity to them and everything has to be portable. You are walking around the course, you are on site for multiple hours a day, so how do we make it easy to eat and accessible? It’s ballpark food but on the golf course. That’s what people want.”

And at the U.S. Open this week, that seems to be what they are getting.