US Open '25: Oakmont is the name that stands out in golf's toughest test

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Never mind that Rory McIlroy is finally a Masters champion and the first player in 25 years to join the exclusive list of players with the career Grand Slam. Or that Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship and reasserted himself as golf's best player. They are biggest stars in the game heading into the third major of the year. They might not be the main attraction. The one name that gets everyone's attention at this U.S. Open: Oakmont. The course Henry Fownes built in 1903 is tough as Pittsburgh steel. Geoff Ogilvy, a former U.S. Open champion, once said playing Oakmont "was like the hardest hole you've ever played on every hole." The USGA doesn't have to do much to achieve what it always wants: the toughest test in golf. Oakmont hosts the U.S. Open for the 10th time on June 12-15, more than any other course in the championship's 130-year history. There's a reason it keeps going back. "There are certain places in our game where you stand on the first tee and you look out over the landscape, and it's just meant to play the U.S. Open. Oakmont is that place," John Bodenhamer, the USGA's chief championships officer, said in an interview with Golf Channel. "It was built for a U.S. Open." Adding to the hype are players who have gone to Oakmont in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Open and sharing tales of deep rough and greens that make it feel they are putting on linoleum. There have been videos of golf balls in the thick grass with only a few dimples visible. "I would say all of the rumors and everything are pretty on point," said Justin Thomas, who toured Oakmont before heading to the Memorial. Xander Schauffele has finished out of the top 10 only once in his eight U.S. Opens. He has yet to see Oakmont, but its reputation is enough for him to realize what to expect. "It's just a battle. It really is," Schauffele said. "It can be extremely rewarding if you are able to stay disciplined for 72 holes. The cliche statement of golf is a marathon — it seems to be the most true feeling when you play at U.S. Opens. You just feel like you're going to war every day." Bryson DeChambeau is the defending champion, one of eight players who broke par at Pinehurst No. 2 last year. That was a stern test of a different variety, more about domed Donald Ross greens and fairways framed by sand dunes. Before that was the experiment at Los Angeles Country Club, where Schauffele and Rickie Fowler made U.S. Open history, each with a record 62 about 10 minutes apart. In the eyes of Jordan Spieth, what Oakmont provides is a chance to reset what the U.S. Open is all about — narrow fairways, deep rough, tough greens. And at Oakmont, the famous "Church Pew" bunkers that separate the third and fourth fairways. "If you miss the fairway, it's really hard to make par. And if you hit the fairway, the job's not done," Spieth said. "I think it's a good test. The way I've always talked about Oakmont is the USGA needs one year to be able for people to forget about something they did in a different one. It sets the slate straight. "It's the easiest Open for the USGA," he said. "They don't have to do a lot to it, and it makes it really good for the tournament." Scheffler made his U.S. Open debut as a 19-year-old at the University of Texas. He shot 69 in the first round and then missed the cut. Now he is a three-time major champion, fresh off his five-shot victory in the PGA Championship. Perhaps more telling was a four-shot victory at the Memorial, where players felt they were getting a preview of the U.S. Open with rough so thick that just getting back to the fairway could be a challenge. The freak injury Scheffler suffered — he tried cutting ravioli with a wine glass on Christmas Day and punctured his right hand — might have set him back at the start of the year. He is in full stride now, winning three of his last four tournaments. Not to be overlooked is DeChambeau. For all the talk about Oakmont's toughness, Winged Foot in New York is another brute of a U.S. Open test. That's where DeChambeau blasted away off the tee and powered wedges out of the rough. He set the scoring record at Winged Foot (274) and won by six. Now he is the defending U.S. Open champion and ready to match muscles with Oakmont. Only five players in the last 100 years have won the U.S. Open back-to-back. "I think I'm always chasing history. Everybody is. We're all trying to accomplish feats that haven't been done in a long time, and going back-to-back would be great. Three in a row would be an even better accomplishment," DeChambeau said. "So it is in the back of my head. "How am I preparing for it? Just like I would any other tournament. Just like I did last year with Pinehurst, focusing on executing the right shots, hitting the fairways, not three-putting — that's going to be a big deal — and keeping it out of the rough. I try to keep it simple." That's a recipe for a traditional U.S. Open. Avoiding three-putts is always mentioned at Augusta National. That comes into focus at Oakmont because of its reputation for fast greens. Sam Snead once famously (and jokingly) said of Oakmont, "I put a dime down to mark my ball and the dime slid away." One only has to look back at the last time at Oakmont, in 2016, when Dustin Johnson's ball moved ever so slightly as he was stepping in for a par putt on the fifth hole. He didn't think he caused it to move. The USGA didn't tell him until the 12th tee that it was being reviewed, and he was penalized after the fourth round was over. By then, he didn't care — he won by three shots instead of four. Johnson is bound of the World Golf Hall of Fame, and so is practically every U.S. Open champion at Oakmont, a testament to its stature. Missing is Phil Mickelson, who takes on Oakmont for the fourth time. He missed the cut the last two times at Oakmont, and shot 297 — 18 shots behind — in 1994. The U.S. Open remains the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam, and this likely will be his last one. Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at age 50. His five-year exemption to the U.S. Open runs out this year, and he already accepted one special exemption (which he didn't need when he won the PGA). Only once has the USGA awarded a second exemption to a player who had not won the U.S. Open. That was the late Seve Ballesteros.