At Oakmont’s brutal U.S. Open, 2 very different fights emerge

Through 36 holes of the 2025 U.S. Open, there has been one clear winner: famed and brutal Oakmont Country Club has pummeled the world’s best in western Pennsylvania.

After two rounds, only three players are under par, and several of the game’s best slammed their trunks and went home after Friday’s cut, including defending champion Bryson DeChambeau.

Oakmont has inflicted pain on those walking its grounds this week, be they an elite PGA Tour star or an amateur qualifier. The tagline of this U.S. Open has become that “the pain is the point.”

But on Friday, something else bubbled to the surface. Something, like pain, that the U.S. Open tends to accentuate the importance of once a year — the fight.

At this U.S. Open, where challenging conditions have irritated the normally unflappable, two very different, but equally important fights have emerged on the grounds where Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan have all won USGA titles.

There was Viktor Hovland on Friday, riding a U.S. Open rollercoaster with five birdies, an eagle, three bogeys and a double bogey to post a two-under 68 to get within two shots of the 36-hole lead at one under. We watched as Adam Scott put together a professional round of golf to card his second straight even-par round and give himself a legitimate shot at a major title No. 2 on the weekend. There was, of course, Sam Burns, who rode a blistering hot putter to a five-under 65 to take the lead at three under par and put himself in major championship contention for the first time in his career. Brooks Koepka, J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley and Si Woo Kim all slugged their way around Oakmont on Friday to give themselves a fighting chance at lifting the trophy on Sunday and etching their name into golf history with a U.S. Open win at Oakmont.

The fight for legacy, history and the ultimate prize is the headliner at Oakmont.

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But there was another kind of fight that took center stage late Friday night.

The fight for pride. Pride in yourself, your game and your desire to survive golf’s toughest test and play the weekend at Oakmont.

My colleague Dylan Dethier chronicled some of Friday’s great cut stories on both sides of the line.

The prideful fight was apparent in a five-time major winner playing with his C game, a Korn Ferry grinder who made it through qualifying, an aging golf legend, a former Masters champion and a player with PGA Tour Americas status and only that, a dentist and a former UVA golfer trying to find a spot in the professional landscape.

Rory McIlroy started his second round with a double bogey at the first and another at the third to fall to eight over for the championship. With his attitude souring and the frustration rising, McIlroy seemed like he was headed for a quick exit and trip home to Jupiter. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see the wheels completely come off as they did for his playing partners, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose.

Instead, McIlroy buckled down and got grinding. That grinding included a tomahawked iron down the 12th fairway and an obliterated 17th tee marker. But it also included birdies at No. 15 and another at No. 18 to get inside the number and book two weekend rounds. McIlroy hasn’t been himself since his Masters victory, and while Friday’s blowups shouldn’t be excused or applauded, his fight and pride in his own game should. The desire not to take the easy bow out and to punch back enough not to see your tournament end early.

The same can be said for qualifier James Nicholas.

Nicholas is a career grinder who has bounced from the Korn Ferry Tour to the DP World Tour and back, hoping to find the game to climb the ladder. That’s the great thing about the U.S. Open. It’s the most democratic major. If you can get your ball in the hole better than anyone else at a local and final qualifier, you can tee it up right alongside the reigning Masters champion.

Nicholas punched his ticket to Oakmont via a 67-68 at the Canoe Brook qualifier and then was one of the handful of players to play the first round at Oakmont under par. A ticket to the weekend was well within his sights entering Friday.

Then, Oakmont punched him in the mouth and kicked him in the stomach.

A front-nine 45 saw Nicholas plummet down the leaderboard and onto the other side of the cutline. The feel-good story was set to end after 27 holes, right?

The grinder had other ideas.

Nicholas birdied the par-5 12th and then stuck his tee shot on the par-3 13th to five feet for another birdie. He stuffed his approach on the par-4 14th to six feet and made a third birdie in a row to jump back inside the projected cutline. After pouring in the birdie at No. 14, Nicholas smiled and made the get louder motion toward a group of family and friends that made the trip from New York State to push him toward his dreams.

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Nicholas bogeyed 15 but responded with a birdie at No. 17. A bogey at the last put a dejected look on his face as he thought that seven over might not be good enough. It was … on the number. The dream continues for 36 more holes for Nicholas before he has to head back to the Korn Ferry Tour and continue his grind up the professional golf world.

There was six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, potentially in his final U.S. Open, scratching and clawing to stick around for the weekend — to bask in the U.S. Open light for two more days. His birdie putt on the last missed, and he went home, but not before one touching gesture, as detailed by our Nick Piastowski.

There was Hideki Matsuyama pouring in a 13-foot birdie on 18 to make it.

But the prideful fight wasn’t contained just to the cutline.

George Duangmanee, who only has conditional status on the PGA Tour Americas, got obliterated by Oakmont. He shot a first-round 86, and the second round didn’t get any better. He shot a front-nine 47 on Friday. His championship was long over, but Duangmanee found solace in another battle — breaking 90. His head down, Duangmanee made a par on the par-4 14th before getting pummeled by a double bogey at 15. Undeterred, Duangmanee made a par at 16 before he was unable to get his ball from the fescue to the green on the par-4 17th and settled for bogey.

On the 18th tee, Duangmanee needed to make bogey-5 to shoot 89. He blew his tee shot into the fairway bunker and had to pitch out, which left him a tricky wedge shot. He hit a wedge to 36 feet and rolled his par putt six feet past the hole. Six feet stood between Duangmanee and a U.S. Open 90. He took a deep breath and studied the putt as if it were to play the weekend or get into the final group and not avoid 90.

He poured it in.

McIlroy, Nicholas and Matsuyama will play the weekend. Duangmanee, Mickelson and dentist Matt Vogt, a U.S. Open folk hero from Pittsburgh, will not.

But they all battled Friday at Oakmont.

Because at the U.S. Open on this famed, harsh, iconic track, that is the point.