Rain or no rain, Oakmont ready to wreak U.S. Open havoc

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OAKMONT, Pa. — Nick Taylor missed a four-foot putt during a U.S. Open practice round.

It rolled 30 feet past the hole.

Welcome to Oakmont.

“I don’t think the greens are at full speed yet, yeah it’s hard,” Taylor told Postmedia after that Tuesday round.

“The mindset is, if you get in trouble, try to get it back in play as quick as possible,” the Canadian added. “Double bogeys or worse is what will kill you around here. Birdies will be at a premium, but par is a great score on any hole. The mindset is: Don’t beat yourself.”

There will be plenty of mindsets (and minds) that get put to the ultimate test beginning Thursday at Oakmont, as golf’s toughest championship lands at golf’s toughest course for a record-setting 10th time.

“It’s not about the score, it’s about getting every club in a player’s bag dirty, all 15 of them. The 14 in their bag and the one between their ears,” USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer said on Wednesday. “And we work hard on that, and that’s how we’ve gone about our business here at Oakmont.”

Golfers are largely resigned to their fate when they arrive at Oakmont and understand that controlling their emotions will be key. As will coming to terms with the fact bogeys aren’t always bad, and that the winner might finish the week above par.

When Oakmont was built in 1903, it was 6,408 yards and a par of 80. This year, the world’s best golfers will be facing a 7,372-yard, par 70 course that includes the longest par 3 in major championship history — one that could be stretched to over 300 yards.

But distance isn’t really the main issue at Oakmont, as the course will play just 160 yards longer than it did for the 2016 U.S. Open.

The main issue here is the rough and the greens.

“The rough will be a little over five inches and it is dense,” Bodenhammer said. “Oakmont, day in and day out, has dense rough. But we have plenty of (ball) spotters, but no guarantees we won’t lose a golf ball or two, but we’re going to do everything we possibly can not to do so.”

“If you opened the book of golf terminology and you turned to the page that defined cathedral, you might see a picture of Oakmont Country Club next to that definition,” Bodenhammer added. “Oakmont is special for a couple of reasons. First, toughness. It’s not just the toughness of the golf course. It’s the culture of this club. They want it to be tough. They want it to be not only tough, over-the-top tough, because they play it that way in the squad every Friday. It’s amazing, I’ve never seen a culture like that. It’s wonderful to be around.”

Corey Conners often switches between a 5- or 7-wood for different courses and different roughs, but says he hasn’t put much thought into it this week because there will almost assuredly be no opportunities to hit a fairway wood out of this menacing rough.

The history of Oakmont sees a winners list of big, strong players. Golfers that have the speed, power and steep angle of attack to extract the golf ball from 5 inches of rough: Champions such as Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera and Dustin Johnson.

For Canadian contenders, Taylor Pendrith best fits that mold.

“The second part of being a special cathedral to us is about the ghosts of the past and, boy, does this place have them. You stand on the first tee and there are just places that the U.S. Open is meant to be played,” Bodenhammer said.

One variable that the USGA can’t control is the weather. And after a month of heavy rain, there has been more this week and even more in the forecast for the weekend. All of which means that Oakmont’s nightmare-fuel greens likely won’t get to full speed over the four days.

“As we like to say, Mother Nature has a seat at the table and we can only make water evaporate only so quickly,” Bodenhammer said. “But we’re hoping for a good afternoon with a little bit more breeze and a little bit more drying.

“The golf course can turn around very quickly. We’ll see. I can’t answer that because I don’t know. We’ve seen some of it come to us with a little bit of firmness and a little bit of green speed.

“Candidly, we’d like to see more.”