OAKMONT, Pa. — After several days preparing for the US Open at the Oakmont Country Club, the world’s best player reached an impressive conclusion Tuesday.
“This is probably the most difficult golf course we play,” Scotty Schaeffler said. “Maybe it’s definitely.”
Schaeffler is number one in the official world golf rankings and is a banned favorite this week. He won the Augusta National Look Routine and easily beat the field of the best players in the sport on some of the toughest golf courses in the world.
But even he is at the mercy of the venue that hosted the US opening this week.
“I equate a few major tests, like you’re playing on another surface, like a tennis major,” Schaeffler said. “You have grass, clay and hard coats. It’s a game of different styles. Compared to Masters, the US is a completely different type of test.”
But Oakmont is not a traditionally tough US open venue. That’s more than that.
“If you miss the green at the master, the ball will escape and enter these areas and play bumps. You can play flops. There are a variety of options,” Schaeffler said. “Now, let’s see how you hit the ball over the green and just go into a heavy rough and pop out of this rough and somehow get it to yourself.”
Oakmont’s difficult topic has been at the forefront of previous championships. Players are talking at length about this week’s challenges, including thick roughness from the fairway, deep bunkers and lightning.
“I think everyone knows this is probably the toughest golf course in the world right now,” Bryson Deccanbeau said. “You have to hit the fairway. You have to hit the green, and it’s the worst case scenario of two putts. Once you’ve got those putts in 10 feet, you have to make them. That’s a great test of golf.”
DeChambeau released the video last week on his YouTube channel detailing all the shots of the practice round he performed on the course. He shot a uniform 70.
“Not every hole has a winged leg here,” said Deccanbeau, who won the first open in 2020 with a winged leg.
Two-time major winner, Morikawagawagawa, did not visit Oakmont early this year, but he said he saw a video of Deccanbeau. But he couldn’t prepare because he was actually in some of these holes and had to hit some of these shots.
“I don’t think people understand the thickness of roughness,” Morikawa said. “It’s not faint enough that a club can go through. It’s thick. The clubs turn over. You’ll see people hitting pitching wedges.
Morikawa said Tuesday that he had almost forgotten that everything he saw on the course this week before was not spiritualizing himself. Players are bracing preemptively for the massacre that could come Thursday, especially if the predicted rain over the weekend doesn’t arrive.
“The greens are already speeding up,” Morikawa said. “The wind picks up and the sun comes out, they get stiffer.”
Being in a rough or fairway bunker spells out trouble for players, but it’s Oakmont’s green with dramatic slopes and potential intermediate speeds, allowing you to really decide what bite this week’s course will do.
“We hope there are a lot of players coming out because they’re totally honest and very selfish,” Justin Thomas said of the difficulties on the course. “This is part of the preparation, like trying to hit the wedge, trying to get a green or something speed. You’re getting a game plan for how to approach the course mentally and strategically. I think this place is difficult. You don’t need to read the article.
But even if they are trying to predict how difficult the tasks they have, many find at least some comfort in the fact that all of the other 155 players on the field they are trying to beat have to face the same golf course as them.
“It’s going to be a great test and a tough one,” John Rahm said. “And I think it’s one of the real expressions of what we’re open to.”
