OAKMONT, Pa. — Serenity at Oakmont Country Club 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 round before the U.S. Open tees off Thursday morning.
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 the Official World Golf Ranking, even as McIlroy tries to build on his dream moment of being the Masters champion and clinching the career Grand Slam, as reigning tournament champion 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 United States Golf Association 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 with Matt Vogt, the former Oakmont caddie who’s now an Indiana dentist but qualified for the USGA’s biggest show, selected to hit the opening tee shot.