Oakmont Country Club will add to its lead as the most frequent U.S. Open host.
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Argentina’s Angel Cabrera delivered a superb display of ball-striking to win the U.S. Open when it was last played at Oakmont in 2007, and yet he could manage only a five-over-par total of 285.
“I think it accomplishes the goal that the members want, which is to have the hardest course in the world or in America or wherever, and I think they’ve accomplished that”, Mickelson said of Oakmont’s legendary status as a house of horrors. “So I have to put that in the back of my head, but there’s no question that starting this year and every year here forward until I ultimately win this tournament, it will be my biggest thought, my biggest focus because I view those players that have won the four majors totally different than I view all the others”.
Aside from the opportunity at Merion, Mickelson was runner-up in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009, famously matching Colin Montgomerie in making a double-bogey on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot in 2006 to finish a shot behind Geoff Ogilvy.
One of the biggest frustrations for the players was not being permitted to warm up on the practice area after the first weather delay.
He has come close a lot, finishing as runner-up six times. He said that “nothing would mean more to me than to cap off my career with a win here at the U.S. Open … it’s my national Open”.
DeChambeau was playing in the same group as defending champion Jordan Spieth, who was a frustrated figure when the horn sounded for a second time to halt play 12:07 p.m. ET (1607 GMT) as thunder rumbled overhead.
After beginning his first round from the 10th at a rain-softened Oakmont, Westwood holed out from 124 yards for an eagle on the 14th to move to within a shot of the early lead held by American Andrew Landry. “Certainly, very emotional to be back”.
“I think the guys who are going to play well this week will be upbeat and calm and kind of just floating around the golf course and won’t get dragged into all the bad stuff that’s out there”. He also has finished in the top 10 four times at the U.S. Open. Els won in 1997 and Furyk won in 2003.
But this is Oakmont, one of the hardest courses in golf, and the greens are brutally fast.
“I really like the golf course”, Johnson said Wednesday. “I was playing so well”.
“And I feel like just over the years I’ve learned how to do that a little bit better”. But I don’t know until it’s game time and the conditions are out there.
Johnson still has a lot of golf to play and will be a contender for a long time. But after we finish today, that’s the last thing I want to think about over the next four days because it just doesn’t help me play well.
“If you lay up or you just go for the safer side to the right side and the pin’s tucked in the left, you might be dead”, Grace said.
Mickelson doesn’t mind the difficulty of Oakmont, even though he hasn’t done well in his two previous U.S. Opens here. In fact, Bob McElhose is the only one.
Like Mickelson, Johnson has experienced plenty of heartbreaks in the U.S. Open and has had a couple slip through his hands on Sunday.
McElhose’s first U.S. Open saw Tommy Armour claim his first of three major championships. It also has hosted the most U.S. Opens and USGA championships of any course in the country.
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There was the recent public revelation that he was connected to an insider-trading investigation and forced to pay back almost $1 million he made in a suspicious stock transaction.
