It was the rain that may have made all the difference. J.J. Spaun, reeling after bogeying five of the first six holes in the final round righted the ship after a 96-minute rain delay, and won the 2025 U.S. Open with a back nine charge for the ages. Spaun, who began the day one stroke behind third-round leader Sam Burns, carded a final round 72, to finish at 1-under...
The next time it’s Halloween or your kids are out camping and everyone wants to tell ghost stories and other tales of horror, I’ve got the mother of all bloodthirsty slashers for you. Never mind the guy with the razor blade fingernails, or the dude with the Ghostface mask. Forget about Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. Not even Vincent Price or Edgar Allan Poe have...
Picture yourself for a moment lying in bed the night before you tee off in the U.S. Open…only it’s the U.S. Open at Oakmont. The National Open is routinely played at only the finest and most difficult golf courses in the country. “Golf’s Toughest Test” is the semi-official moniker, and the USGA means it. Historians may quibble as to the exact genesis of the inception...
As you all know, we here at JF.com use VegasInsider.com for all our handicapping needs in any sport. Here are the up-t5o-the hour odds on the players in the field for Oakmont. Author’s Note: That’s a great price for Bryson. Also Hovland, Lowry, and Cam Smith. Scottie Scheffler +470 Rory McIlroy +1000 Xander Schauffele +1200 Jon Rahm +1200 Ludvig Aberg...
Augusta National may be the most venerable course in America, Pebble Beach may be the most beautiful, and Winged Foot may be the Yankee Stadium of golf, but for my money, Oakmont may be our country’s greatest major championship venue, and it returns this summer for its record 10th U.S. Open Championship. Pittsburgh, PA is indeed the city of champions and befitting...
Big thank you to Golf Course Trades for running my latest story – a retelling of many of the worst golf train wrecks at Oakmont. Oh Oakmont, our great grassy guillotine! We will see her again this June for the 125th U.S. Open. The story is here. Here is a snippet from the piece: So the legend is actually true: You could play the U.S. Open at Oakmont with...
Call it an encore:Â the USGA has announced their second U.S. Open Anchor site, and it is being met with the same widespread acclaim as when they announced the inaugural site at Pinehurst. Fabled, venerable Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh has been given the honor, and will host the 2025, 2034, 2042, and 2049 U.S. Opens, with an eye toward eventually hosting the...
PITTSBURGH, PA – —The noise afterwards, It rises up like a storm, As if you were the Thunder God himself. Proximo to Maximus the Gladiator— Like a scene from Gladiator, the roar of adulation rang from Erie to Allentown and from Scranton to Akron. No mere coliseum could match it. Conquering heroes were returning home, and this is Pittsburgh. When you...
OAKMONT, PA – “It’s the hardest golf course I’ve ever played,” said pretty much every golfer in the field this week at the 2016 U.S. Open. Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Andrew Sullivan, Phil Mickelson: the list was endless. Mighty Oakmont, Henry Fownes’s knuckle-dragging, slavering-jawed, razor-sharp taloned grassy guillotine is...
With today’s announcement that Oakmont and Shinnecock Hills will host the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Opens respectively, that fills up all spots available for the next ten years. Here is a list of all future U.S. Open venues through 2026. 2017 – Erin Hills Golf Club, Erin, WI 2018 – Shinnecock Hills Country Club, Southampton, NY 2019 – Pebble Beach...
OAKMONT, PA – We’ve had our ledes written for 17 years, but still haven’t been able to use them. “Phinally Phil!” “Phillin’ Groovy!” “Mickel-slam!” – they all lay useless in a seldom used Microsoft Word file I call “The Well of Lost Plots,” where bits of articles that end up on the cutting...
OAKMONT, PA – They’re called “half-par holes” be cause they play either much easier or much harder than the par on the scorecard states, and they are often the key to winning a golf tournament. Be it stroke play or match play, the ability to negotiate the razor thin edge between a birdie (or even eagle) or a triple bogey is the difference...