US Open: Golfers gear up for tricky Oakmont test

‘Trepidation’ the common sentiment prior to second major of 2016

OAKMONT: The world’s best golfers were yesterday preparing for the ultimate US Open test at Oakmont with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

The course is not an untamed monster like Chambers Bay in Washington State last year, but its distinctive bunkers are forbidding and its greens are among the fastest and must undulating on the circuit.

On top of that, the eighth hole is the longest par-three in US Open history at 300 yards, the 12th at 667 yards the second-longest ever par five and the closing hole is an unforgiving 484-yard par four many consider to be the hardest on the Open rotation.



The par is at 70 and few think that will be bettered by Sunday evening. The last time the tournament was held at Oakmont, in 2007, Angel Cabrera won at five-over.

Asked if he felt trepidation or excitement, Rory McIlroy, who won the US Open in 2011 at 16-under par said, “Trepidation, I guess. You know you’re going to be put under a lot of pressure on basically every single golf shot you hit out there.”

The four-time major winner from Northern Ireland is not alone in feeling his stress levels on the rise.



World number one Jason Day, who forms with McIlroy and defending champion Jordan Spieth what is being regarded as golf’s new “Big Three”, said that he, too, was unsure what the week would hold in store for him.

“I’ve never been more stressed in my life than right now,” said the reigning PGA champion, who is also battling a bad cold.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2016.

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