‘You get punched in the face’: At U.S. Open, dreams unravel fast

OAKMONT, Pa. — The dentist had one hell of a U.S. Open.

Until the tournament started.

If you followed the lead-up to this year’s national championship, you’ve likely stumbled on his story by now. “The dentist” is Matthew Vogt, a big-swinging Indiana mid-am who balances his practice (dental) with his practice (golf) and seems to have excelled at both. The story gets better than just his occupation, though: He and Oakmont go way back. He caddied here when he was younger and describes it as a life-changing gig in more ways than one.

“Even as I just talk about it now, I get sentimental on it. This place means so much to me,” Vogt said at a pre-tournament press conference on Monday. He described the members as “incredible”. He name-checked Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire hedge-fund-manager-turned-philanthropist. “He provided me and a lot of the caddies with a scholarship to help with college. So I’m just indebted to this place, and I’m so grateful.”

His qualifying story was unlikely and inspiring, a 34-year-old amateur with a direct tie to the host course who’d earned his way through an 18-hole shootout at local qualifying and then a 36-hole shootout at sectionals and suddenly had a tee time in his national championship.

Stories from Vogt’s genre are part of what make this event the biggest and most egalitarian of the major championships. The qualifiers aren’t usually dentists (although, if we’re dishing out fun facts, Dr. Cary Middlecoff did run a dental practice before giving up the gig at 26 to play pro golf — a decision that paid off when he went on to win two U.S. Opens plus a Masters) but they’re high schoolers and they’re pros who chip one-handed and they’re grinders who have beat Tour players in playoffs to get here. They’re all even par through Wednesday, at which point anything could still happen. Things only get bittersweet once you have to keep score.

Vogt’s Thursday got off to a memorable start. He hit the first tee shot of the championship — a snap-hooked drive more than a fairway over — on his way to make a par, then made another at No. 2. But he was understandably dejected as he came off the course some four hours, six bogeys and three doubles later. He’d performed respectably, beating a couple pros and tying a couple more with his 12-over 82, and he’d made it out alive after a bout with arguably the hardest course in the world. But when you’ve already earned a dream berth in the U.S. Open, you want to keep dreaming. Respectable probably isn’t in the plans.

“You just get behind the eight ball here, and honestly your head starts spinning. That’s what it feels like — your head starts spinning out here, and it just gets away from you,” he said in a post-round interview session. At a U.S. Open, you can’t get away with mental or physical errors, he added — and you definitely can’t get away with both.

Vogt clearly believes in the power of positivity; he did his best to give assembled media members a bright spot from a challenging day. But he’s also a golfer, and every golfer gets glum (and usually worse) after an unsatisfying round.

“I think down the road there will definitely be a lot of things to take from today,” he said. “I’m trying to have a silver lining on shooting 82.”

His was far from the only disappointing score; because of the nature of golf and golfers plus the setup of this particular championship test, it’s safe to say that a serious majority of the field left disappointed after Round 1. They say you can’t win the U.S. Open on Thursday, but you can lose it — and they’re right.

Evan Beck birdied two of his last three holes to break 80, no small triumph, but he’ll be unlikely to make the weekend. It was a memorable week for amateurs Trevor Gutschewski, Noah Kent and Cameron Tankersley, too, but after each shot 10 over par they’re unlikely to play Saturday, either. It’s not just the ams who felt short of their expectations: each of the last four major winners shot over par, and there are Ryder Cuppers in tough spots too (Patrick Cantlay at six-over par, Justin Rose at seven, Shane Lowry at nine). Vogt’s 82 tied Matt McCarty, who won on the PGA Tour last fall and finished top 15 at the Masters and finished T4 on Tour just last week. There are reminders everywhere: this is hard.

Mason Howell, the high schooler who lit up sectional qualifying, spoke after an opening 77.

“It was a fun day. Fun playing in front of the crowd,” he said. Even he couldn’t help but add this: “I wish I played a little better.”

There are two lessons here, and certainly more.

1. These guys are good.

J.J. Spaun is a better-than-average PGA Tour player but hardly a superstar and he beat Vogt by 16 shots on Thursday. Golf has plenty of randomness — a top amateur has a better chance of beating a top pro than, say, a college basketball player taking LeBron 1 v. 1 — but under its toughest conditions, it’s remarkable how the best sort their way to the top.

2. The U.S. Open does not play favorites.

The beauty of the U.S. Open is its democratic roots, but that cuts both ways. Oakmont is set up to dole out punishment to all comers, no matter their stories, their connections to the course, their proficiency at plaque removal. It is cold and unflinching. There are no lifelines you can call, no shortcuts to a lower score. There is only playing better.

Vogt said he’ll sure try.

“The last however-many years I’ve tried to just work really, really hard,” he said. “I think it would be easy to kind of go take a nap and say that was awful and just mope, but I’m just going to honestly get something to eat and work really, really hard and try to build on something tomorrow.”

If there’s one thing golf is good at, it’s bringing you back for more. After Thursday’s beatdown, is he excited to do it all again?

“I need a nap first after that,” he added. “But yeah, super excited. Super, super excited.”