OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Players began arriving at Oakmont on Sunday with umbrellas and expectations for a U.S. Open to live up to its reputation as golf’s toughest test.
Jordan Spieth was among the early arrivals, playing the front nine on Saturday and 11 holes on Sunday in a light, but steady rain. Turns out the USGA had a policy that no one could start on No. 10. Spieth went down the first, back up the ninth and headed to No. 10.
It was long. And it was wet. The area got pounded with rain on Friday, and heavy rain was expected again Sunday afternoon. As if Oakmont wasn’t already tough enough.
“This course is built to be like this,” Spieth said. “So they’re not doing a whole lot different to the golf course. You hit a good shot, you get rewarded for it here. And if you don’t, you’re in big trouble. It’s pure golf, no funny business about it.”
Spieth was keeping score on this day — he gave himself an 18-inch birdie putt after a 50-yard chip on the short par-4 17th and was 2 under for the day. He also did plenty of chipping and putting. On one hole, he had his caddie throw him golf balls down into the bunker. The grass was so thick it gobbled up the balls before they reached to the sand.
The rough was as advertised, mainly the sheer density of it, and it was made even more difficult considering how wet it was.
Spieth wasn’t worried so much about the grass off the fairway — everyone has to deal with that at some point during the U.S. Open. It was what followed.
“It magnifies once you make a mistake if you don’t play the right shot,” he said. “It’s not like making a mistake is the end of the world. It might cost you half a shot. You just have to take what it gives you.”
More than 60 players in the U.S. Open field were at the Memorial two weeks ago, which also featured rough that was longer and thicker than normal. Growing grass has not been an issue in the Ohio Valley this year. The difference is the speed of Oakmont’s greens — reputed to be the fastest in the land — and not many forced carries.
“This test here, because they give you more runways to try to run it up to the green, it entices you to think you can do more than you should,” Spieth said. “That will be the biggest challenge this week — swallowing pride. Bogeys don’t hurt you. Anything more will.”
The forecast was for more scattered showers on Monday, and then a break from the rain until the weekend.
Oakmont is hosting the U.S. Open for a record 10th time, and its reputation is strong enough that even the best can expect a strong test. First impressions, of course, can be misleading.
Shane Lowry recalls seeing it for the first time on the Sunday before the 2016 U.S. Open. He started on No. 10, played five holes and walked in, wondering how he could ever manage a decent score around Oakmont. A week later, he went into the final round with a four-shot lead.
“It was firm and fast when I played it that Sunday, and it was windy. We got a bit of rain that week, which helped us,” Lowry recalled.
The flip side was Adam Scott. He first played Oakmont the week before 2007 U.S. Open with Geoff Ogilvy, who was the defending U.S. Open champion that year.
“I played really great that day and Geoff didn’t, so I was feeling really chipper about myself,” Scott said. He returned a week later feeling confident as ever.
“I hit six greens in two days and flew back to Australia,” he said. “It really hit me hard.”
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