OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Serenity at Oakmont could be found Wednesday morning when Rory McIlroy stood on the first tee as the sun rose against a hazy sky on the horizon. He was playing with his best mate in golf, Shane Lowry, their final practice before the U.S. Open.
The peace gets shattered as soon as the score starts to count.
Even with Scottie Scheffler in full flight as the No. 1 player in golf, even as McIlroy tries to build on his dream moment of being the Masters champion, as Bryson DeChambeau gets a chance to see if his brawn can handle this rough, there has been one name — Oakmont — that rises above all others going into the 125th U.S. Open.
“Oakmont is relentless,” said John Bodenhamer, the chief championships officer at the USGA who sets up the course for the toughest test in golf. “There’s no letup. It’s a grind. That’s the U.S. Open.”
It gets started on Thursday with Matt Vogt, the former Oakmont caddie now an Indiana dentist, selected to hit the opening tee shot.
Jon Rahm, who won his U.S. Open four years ago at Torrey Pines, made his debut at Oakmont in 2016 when he was fresh out of Arizona State. He shot 76 on the first day, went 1-over par the rest of the way and finished as low amateur.
Even with changes to the course from a restoration project, including a ditch that now meanders across the landing area in the 10th fairway, the Spanish star has a better idea what to expect.
“You’re aware of what a golf tournament here is going to be like. It’s going to be a challenge,” Rahm said. “A lot of unfortunate things are going to happen. It’s hard fairways to hit, bad lies, difficult bunkers, difficult greens. It’s going to be a nice test, a difficult test, and I think one of the truest representations of what a U.S. Open is all about.”
Dustin Johnson set the Oakmont scoring record for a U.S. Open at 276 when he won in 2016.
The USGA mentioned a few other numbers that also describe Oakmont, mainly the 5-inch rough so dense at the bottom there were no guarantees a golf ball might be lost.
Another number had historical context — only 27 of the 1,385 players who have competed in a major championship at Oakmont finished under par. That includes when Oakmont, now a par 70, was played as a par 71 or par 72.
“Our mantra is tough but fair,” Bodenhamer said. “And what does that mean? It’s pretty simple. It’s not about the score. It’s about getting every club in a player’s bag dirty, all 15 of them — the 14 in their bag and the one between the ears. And we work hard on that.
“And that’s how we’ve gone about our business here at Oakmont.”
The other number that stands out is 10 — the number of times the USGA has brought its marquee championship to the course built to be tough in 1903. No other course has held the U.S. Open more often.
The USGA has been accused over the years of trying to protect par, which it long has denied.
Johnny Miller remains the only player to win the U.S. Open with a 63 in the final round, in 1973 at Oakmont. The following year, Hale Irwin won at 7-over par in what became known as the “Massacre at Winged Foot.” It also fed into the belief that par matters.
In some respects, it does. Bodenhamer was asked what score would indicate the USGA didn’t get it right.
“Interesting question,” he replied. “Off the top of my head, something in double digits. I’ve said this before, we don’t want 20 over to win and we don’t want 20 under to win. It might be tough. It might not be tough enough. There’s a number in there somewhere.”
Scheffler is in search of the third leg of the career Grand Slam after winning the PGA Championship by five shots at Quail Hollow last month. Scheffler has won his last three tournaments — all in a five-week stretch — by a combined 17 shots.
“What is he doing? Well, everything,” Justin Thomas said. “It’s effortless. Every single aspect of his game is unbelievable. I think his mental game is better than anybody out here. To be able to play with those expectations and to stay present as often as he has to me is maybe more impressive than even the golf he’s playing.
“He just doesn’t make any mistakes and almost kind of lets himself be in contention versus forces himself in contention. He just seems to be playing better.”
If there is a common trait among U.S. Open champions at Oakmont, strength would be on the list. Johnson won in 2016, Angel Cabrera in 2007, big Ernie Els in 1994. The first of 18 professional majors by Jack Nicklaus and those powerful legs came at Oakmont in 1962.
“I’d say there’s definitely a strength factor coming out of the rough,” Scheffler said. “I don’t really know if this is a golf course you can necessarily just overpower with a bomb-and-gouge type strategy, especially with the way the rough is.”
Scheffler’s strength, much like Tiger Woods, is knowing where to miss and playing the angles. That works almost anywhere. Almost.
“There’s not really many areas where you step on the tee box and you’re like, ‘Hey, I can miss it right here; hey, I can shade towards the left side of the fairway because right is really bad,’” he said. “Actually, if you hit it in the right rough, you’re probably not going to get it to the green. If you hit it in the left rough, you’re probably not going to get it to the green. So might as well try and split the difference there and hit it in the middle.”
Sounds simple enough. It rarely is at Oakmont. And that’s just the way the USGA likes it.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
