PITTSBURGH — J.J. Spaun had seen the chatter on social media about Oakmont Country Club, site of the 125th U.S. Open. He knew the course would pack a punch ... and might knock a few of the best golfers in the world to the mat. The 34-year-old Los Angeles native also didn't care.

Ignorance is bliss? Yeah, something like that.

As the lid ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — It was like Easter Sunday at Oakmont Country Club on Thursday morning: The Church Pews were packed.

The massive bunker lining the third and fourth fairways drew player after player into its deadly ridges — even first-round leader J.J. Spaun — and many of them left saddled with bogey or worse during the first round of the U.S ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The golfer who emerges victorious Sunday at the U.S. Open here at Oakmont Country Club is probably the one who minimizes bogeys, and that generally means the golfer who hits the most fairways.

It is a simple formula that some would say plays in every golf tournament, but after two days of listening to the best guys in the world ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Sharp bettors don’t see any value in backing Scottie Scheffler to win the U.S. Open as the shortest favorite to win a major in 16 years.

But it’s still tough to bet against him.

“It almost feels like you could be lighting money on fire doing that,” Westgate SuperBook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman said.

Sherman and VSiN ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Rory McIlroy called it a big brute. Dustin Johnson said it's the hardest course he's ever played. Bryson DeChambeau went a step further and proclaimed it the hardest in the world. Jon Rahm said it's an extreme challenge where a lot of bad things are going to happen.

"It doesn't really get harder than this," said Ludvig Aberg, the...Read more

That Scottie Scheffler is the prohibitive favorite to win the U.S. Open this week at historic Oakmont Country Club surprises no one. He's the top-ranked golfer in the world, winning three of his last four starts, including the PGA Championship.

That Scheffler deleted his Venmo account because bettors continually clicked the pay/request link on ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Scottie Scheffler’s first U.S. Open was in 2016 at Oakmont Country Club. He was an amateur, mostly an unknown. He was in awe of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, whom he got to play a practice round with. Scheffler missed the cut.

At that point, nobody outside of some golf insiders really knew who he was, and certainly very few...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Scottie Scheffler is widely considered the world’s most dominant golfer since Tiger Woods in his heyday.

Fittingly, Scheffler is the shortest favorite to win a major at this week’s U.S. Open since 2009. Woods was a favorite of +250 or less in all four majors that year, including +175 to win the U.S. Open, according to ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Rory McIlroy is doing more than struggling to find the right driver and recapture the form that made him the game’s greatest driver of the ball.

He is struggling to find the proper motivation and recapture the desire that fueled his fast start to the season and ultimately resulted in winning the Masters.

The world’s No. 2 ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Dustin Johnson’s prominence in the golf world was a lot different the last time he was at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

At the time, he was the No. 6-ranked player in the world who finished no worse than seventh in five of his previous seven major starts.

He had never won a major championship, despite any number of near misses, ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — When he played his first practice round before the 2016 U.S. Open, Shane Lowry quit after six holes because he thought Oakmont Country Club was too paralyzing — and too damaging to his confidence.

"I sat there in the locker room going, I have no idea how I'm going to play golf around this place," Lowry said.

Six days later, ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — No offense, Oakmont. You're incredible. But you might need to shove over and make some room.

Until this past weekend, much of the fuss surrounding the U.S. Open has focused on the golf course — the diabolical rough, the ridiculous pin placements, the sadistic challenge it presents.

There hasn't been enough talk about the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — On his way to the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, Justin Thomas stopped at Oakmont Country Club to get in a practice round for the 125th U.S. Open that was still two weeks away.

Thomas, the fifth-ranked player in the world, and his caddie Matt Minister wanted to get some early preparation before the crowds and players ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Where do you want to start with Scottie Scheffler?

That he has won 15 times in his past 69 PGA Tour starts, a 21.7 winning percentage?

That he has won three of his past 14 major appearances and finished in the top 10 of eight of his past 10 majors?

That he has been the No. 1 ranked player in the world for more than two years, a...Read more

DUBLIN, Ohio — It might have been 63 years ago when he took his first remarkable step into the world of major championships, but Jack Nicklaus still recalls one memorable moment from his U.S. Open victory at Oakmont Country Club in 1962.

Aside from winning, of course.

At the driveable 17th hole on Sunday, Nicklaus hit his tee shot in the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Befitting a course of such world-renowned stature, Oakmont’s pantheon of major champions litter the walls of their white-and-green clubhouse, serving as a who’s-who of the game’s most legendary figures.

Bobby Jones. Gene Sarazen. Sam Snead. Tommy Armour. Ben Hogan. Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller. All won major titles at ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Bryson DeChambeau's impact on golf is indelible, both from his continuous presence on major tournament leaderboards to the millions of followers on his YouTube channel.

He refers to himself as an entertainer and content creator, in addition to professional golfer, and he is all that — on and off the golf course.

But his ever-...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Woods has taken a big first step out of his father's immense shadow in the golfing world.

The 16-year-old son of golf legend Tiger Woods made a huge statement this week by winning the American Junior Golf Association's Team TaylorMade Invitational at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. He shot a 15-under-par 201 (70...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Dustin Johnson is no stranger to rules violations. Nor had he been immune from finding a way to cough up a major championship.

But he didn’t let either get in his way the previous time the U.S. Open was held at Oakmont — not even when the USGA admittedly botched the way it handled a rules infraction that set off a maelstrom ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The U.S. Open is generally the toughest of the four major golf tournaments, so it is appropriate it will be played this year for the 10th time ever at Oakmont, a course generally regarded as one of the five toughest in the United States.

A good friend of mine described Oakmont Country Club as “a beautiful walk ruined by having...Read more