19th Hole
Scottie Scheffler had an interesting assessment of Oakmont following opening-round 73
Oakmont Country Club is hosting its record 10th U.S. Open. Overall, the course has hosted 17 USGA championships. The Henry Fownes-designed track is presently No. 5 in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” and occupies the same spot in Golf.com’s “Top 100 Courses in the U.S.”
It was somewhat interesting, then, to hear World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, say Oakmont is not an “overly strategic” golf course following his opening-round 73.
Here’s Scheffler’s full remark in context following his opening-round 73. (The Texan was responding to the question, “Were you confident with your game plan today?”)
“I mean, it’s one of those places there’s not like — there’s not a ton of strategy, I would say. You just step up on the tee box and go, what club can I get into this fairway, and then try and hit that club in the fairway, and if you don’t, it’s like, how am I going to get out of this rough and get the ball back in the fairway so I can have a shot at the green. It’s not like an overly strategic golf course where you know there’s a lot of club options off the tee and stuff like that. It’s just a golf course where you step on the tee box, look at that fairway and you’re like, all right, get the ball in that thing.”
Isn’t strategy — options, decision making, etc. — one of the important elements of a great golf course? That’s for more golf architecturally attuned minds than mine to contemplate. I would argue that rigid frameworks and grading systems are unnecessarily restrictive (think Mr. Keating and the Prichard Scale of Understanding Poetry).
I would suggest the overall challenge, the green complexes, the lack of any gimmicks (and water hazards!), and the sheer rolling beauty of the Allegheny River Valley track make up for what it may lack in variety, width and angles, and all that. And it’s a course that holds up as a championship test without needing more trips to the cosmetic surgeon than a Beverly Hills Housewife. But again, I’m an architecture cretin.
I also don’t mean to suggest Scheffler was in any way denigrating Oakmont. Certainly, he was less than thrilled following an opening round that left him seven strokes off the leader’s pace. That said, the remark was an interesting one. Any decision about what constitutes greatness — be it in a golf course or a Primanti Brothers Sandwich — is ultimately a discussion, a debate. After whatever happens over the next 72 hours happens, and someone holds the trophy aloft as the victor of the 125th U.S. Open, that discussion will continue.
Scheffler’s sentiments, along with those of the rest of his fellow competitors, will join the chorus of comments about the 101-year-old course. If you love the game and enjoy thorough examinations in the U.S. Open style, how can you not be excited for the discourse?
What do you think, GolfWRXers?
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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F Rucker, Jr
Jun 15, 2025 at 9:36 am
Yep, its a hay field…………
G
Jun 13, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Yup. Definition of grip it and rip it.
Not tree lined, so no need to worry about threading the ball. You can air it out.
It’s just about survival, and a whole lot of luck with the rolls and bounces.
The US Open emulates the British one in that respect. Wide sky courses are what they like. It’s good for “viewing”
There’s a reason why they won’t go to a place like Firestone CC