Oakmont (United States) (AFP) – Oakmont’s fiendish layout provided a rain-softened preview Monday of what the world’s top golfers will face when the 125th US Open starts Thursday. Thick rough was damp and dense for the first official practice round while greens and fairways were far more receptive than they are expected to be when the major billed as the toughest test in golf gets under way.
“It requires patience and discipline,” fifth-ranked Justin Thomas said. “If you just get lazy, like on any drive, any wedge shot, any chip, any putt, you can kind of look stupid pretty fast, especially at a place like this. It’s a great week to be in a great place mentally and very patient and picking our spots out there.”
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Third-ranked Xander Schauffele, last year’s British Open and PGA Championship winner, says golf fans enjoy seeing mighty players humbled. “I don’t think people turn the TV on to watch some of the guys just hit like a 200-yard shot on the green,” Schauffele said. “I think they turn on the US Open to see a guy shooting eight-over and suffer. That’s part of the enjoyment.”
Oakmont offers risk-reward challenges seeking to tempt players into mistakes. “It’s challenging myself to try and hit every fairway, every green, to try and be disciplined like through and through,” Schauffele said. “There’s going to be a point where you lay up into a bad spot, and it goes to laying up again from that layup spot. If you have a decent lie, you might try to take some risk, and that’s part of the fun.”
Schauffele sees it as a perfect set-up for world number one Scottie Scheffler, who has won three times since the start of May, including his third major crown at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. “Take Scottie Scheffler,” Schauffele said. “He’s in the middle of every fairway. It takes a serious amount of discipline to play away from pins and hit really good shots to safe targets and that’s what it takes to play well at US Opens.”
World number two Rory McIlroy, who won the Masters in April to complete a career Grand Slam, might be one who can risk using driver often. “You drive it like he does, I would pull that driver out as often as I can,” Thomas said. “He hits it further and straighter than maybe anybody that has played the game.”
Thomas, a former world number one, says he would like to challenge for the top again, if Scheffler would only stumble. “Guys are playing unbelievable, like Xander did last year, like Rory is this year, but it’s just that Scottie is also doing that. You can’t really catch that if he keeps doing what he’s doing,” Thomas said. “He doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down.”
– ‘Licking your chops’ –
Oakmont isn’t done with forcing difficult choices upon players once they punch out of the rough. “The way Oakmont plays is you can sort of hack something, if you’re courageous enough, and if you get the correct line and a couple of bounces, you could turn what would be a nightmare into a decent situation,” Schauffele said. “It just puts an emphasis on hitting the fairway and hitting greens. If you’re a premier ball striker, you’ll be licking your chops. If you’re in the rough, it’s very lie dependent.”
Thomas said practice can only tell a player so much. “It’s very helpful, but if I’m not hitting it where I want and controlling the ball like I want, it doesn’t really matter if I’ve hit shots around the green or not,” said Thomas. “I’m going to struggle if I’m not hitting it well.”
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