What player* really thought of Oakmont

The U.S. Open should be difficult. But we have witnessed a special killing in Oakmont this year, with many of the best players in the world struggling.

In the latest episode of Oakmont, senior golf writers Sean Zak and Dylan Dethier figured out the test this year.

Zak described the atmosphere as the player exiting the court after the first round: “A lot of frowning, a lot of sweaty eyebrows, a lot of like, how did I just bogey 18?”

“It’s hard to get rid of emotions from their reactions and figure it out, well, what do these guys actually think of the golf course?” Dethier added. “Because they are used to 68 points.

Whenever the top players struggle, the topic of fairness always seems to come. This is Oakmont, which Zak hasn’t thought the players were ready to make the claim unless Scottie Scheffler sees it as a fairway that is nearly impossible to hit.

“I would love to see the proportion of people who were actually able to keep it on the fairway in the afternoon, just because it was so firm and there were a lot of courts on the fairway,” Scheffler said Thursday. “So there was almost nothing like that, which made it so challenging. I mean, you could hit a great shot in that hole in the tee and it could end up there with the first cut or rough situation anyway.”

Other players admit that at the U.S. Open, sometimes you have to be satisfied with a higher score than usual.

“I’m so happy,” Jon Rahm said of his 69 games. “I mean, I played some incredible golf to hit a 1, and we don’t usually say it, right?”

Ultimately, Zach said he liked the challenges raised by Oakmont.

“It’s a proper setup. It’s a proper test,” he said.

Sffler said his approach to accepting Oakmont was simple.

“There’s not a lot of strategies,” he said. “Just, you can stand there on the t-shirt box and then like, can I get into this fairway? Then you try to knock that club into this fairway, and if you don’t, that’s fine, okay, how will I get out of the way and get the ball back into the fairway so I can shoot on the green green?”

Will it become stronger, faster and crazy as the week continues? Desir had no objection.

“I like what Xander said. He said, I’m a patient like everyone else. I just hope it gets harder and harder,” Dethier said. “I’m with him. So let’s have a weekend.”

For more information about Dethier and Zak, as well as other player reviews on Oakmont, check out the full episodes seen and heard below.

“>