The U.S. Open leaderboard feels random. Oakmont does that

OAKMONT, Pa. — A funny conversation broke out at the back of the driving range Saturday afternoon. Talker No. 1 was a numbers-inclined swing coach. Talker No. 2 was a golf statistician. They riddled their way through the 36-hole data report.

What was Oakmont rewarding most? Distance? Accuracy? What was Si Woo Kim doing so well to hang around? It’s possible Si Woo didn’t even know himself. How about Sam Burns? Are guys clubbing down more than normal? Does the rough accentuate or equalize skill? And what kind of player is J.J. Spaun, really? Each question seemed to beget another, until we had bird-walked so far we forgot where we had started. 

The bottom line? Oakmont is confusing more than just the players and caddies. Everyone is puzzled about this place. As a result, it has properly created a very confusing leaderboard.

And this ain’t the first time. 

Up top is one of the best putters in the world. Three back is one of the worst chippers on Tour, currently third in the field in short game stats this week. There is just one major winner in the top 10, and he’s 44 years old. A few strokes back is a 25-year-old who hasn’t won anything. Craziest of all might be the pro who has missed 12 of his last 15 cuts. How the hell is he doing it?

At Oakmont, the difficulty is cranked to 11, the slopes are harsh, the rough is horrific — U.S. Opens can turn in weird report cards with all that randomness. A 46-year-old Jim Furyk contended here in 2016. So did No. 624 in the world that week: Andrew Landry. Bryson DeChambeau wasn’t the bomber we know him to be now. He was 22 years old and he hit it straight, finishing T15. This week, he mashed his way into an early flight home.

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When course is set up this way, there can be an element of flattening certain skillsets. The penalty for missing the rough is greater this week than any Tour event of the last 10 years. One out of every five shots played from greenside rough isn’t even staying on the putting surface. There’s randomness in that thick stuff — good luck and bad — just like there was in the native areas at Pinehurst last year. To have experience playing from five inches of rough, you’d have to grow up on a farm.

In a quick reprieve from his missed cut range session Saturday, Justin Thomas said he’s glad the schedule didn’t go from the Memorial Tournament straight into these U.S. Open conditions. “I think I would have wanted to quit my job,” Thomas said, very ready to fly to next week’s Travelers Championship and the much easier TPC River Highlands. He’s not alone. 

But first, we have our island of misfit contenders. Each of them deserve to be here — it’s just hard to understand totally why. 

There’s Sam Burns (-4) alone up top, making the most sense. He’s had a run of great form lately — nearly winning last week — particularly in the accuracy department. That putter of his is as good as they get.

There’s J.J. Spaun (-3), who two weeks ago had his least accurate performance of the season. This week, he’s 6th in the field in hitting fairways. Of course.

There’s Adam Scott (-3), who would become the second-oldest winner in U.S. Open history, validating every ounce of affection his beautiful swing has earned over the years. 

There’s Viktor Hovland (-1), who sometimes hates his swing so much he can’t even look at it. He’s one of the worst chippers on Tour, but Oakmont’s green surrounds mostly just ask for a wide open lob wedge and a lash at it. 

LIV Golf has two names near the top: Carlos Ortiz (E) and Tyrrell Hatton (+1). You know, the LIVers no one was picking at the beginning of the week. Or on Thursday. Or on Friday. Ortiz would be the first final qualifier to win the U.S. Open in 56 years. 

Thriston Lawrence (+1) and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (+2) were both competing in Europe last week, and both missed the cut! Why wouldn’t they find their game at the toughest course in the world?

After those two is another pair at three over and a mess of 10 others at four over. The good news, for anyone reeling with confusion, is that almost everyone who wins here wins another major in their lifetime. Anyone who survives Oakmont’s brutality tends to make more sense as time passes by.