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Oakmont Country Club’s lineage of champions is legendary. Walk down History Hall in the clubhouse and you’ll see a who’s who of golf royalty that lifted a U.S. Open trophy at the iconic course.

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tommy Armour, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els are among those whose photos adorn the walls. Add in the course’s PGA Championship and U.S. Amateur history, and you get names like Bobby Jones and Sam Snead. Outside of Sam Parks Jr., who won the 1935 U.S. Open, Oakmont has seen only the best of the best pass its test. Fluke doesn’t exist in the anchor site’s dictionary.

As the final round of the 2025 U.S. Open unfolded, Oakmont’s past suggested a few options as to who would be the last man standing. Adam Scott adding a second major win to his illustrious resume fit the mold. Viktor Hovland ascending to the next level and winning his first major did, too. Scottie Scheffler or Jon Rahm making a Sunday charge while the rest of the field came back to them would have been the perfect Oakmont ending.

Of course, J.J. Spaun had other ideas, finishing birdie-birdie to become an improbable Oakmont champion.

As Spaun flung his putter in the air after canning a 65-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to put an exclamation point on his unlikely win, I thought about his place in Oakmont’s history. From now on, Spaun will have his own case in History Hall. On the surface, the 34-year-old seemed to be an Oakmont outlier. He is to some extent, but the connection makes more sense than you might think.

“The guys and the ladies that have won here often fall into two categories,” Oakmont club historian and archivist David Moore told GOLF.com. “It’s their first major or breakthrough either after a couple years of struggle after their emergence on Tour, like Tommy Armour, Jack Nicklaus, Paul Creamer, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els. They fit that mold of like this was their first major championship but it made sense that they got it. It was part of the ascension. Then you look at the other group and it was kind of the swan song. It was won later in their career like Ben Hogan or Sam Snead. It was won near the end of the road. J.J. doesn’t fit into either of those categories.”

However, Moore sees parallels between Spaun and two past Oakmont winners: John Mahaffey, who won the 1978 PGA Championship at Oakmont, and Hogan, who won the 1953 U.S. Open.

“If I had to equate him with any of our champions, it would be John Mahaffey,” Moore said. “The reason being, Mahaffey came into that PGA kind of out in the wilderness. He had gone through a bitter divorce and an injury. He was just kind of starting to recapture something and find his footing. He won that PGA in a playoff. No one expected him to come in and win. He didn’t even expect to come in and win. It totally changed his life. Not only did he win the PGA. He won the following week, went on to win 10 more times on Tour. He won a Players Championship.

“It changed everything for John. I can’t help but think similar to J.J. You hear the stories. He has almost lost his card a couple times. He almost lost his card last year. He started on the Canadian Tour and worked his way up and had his struggles. Not necessarily the personal struggles that Mahaffey did, but the professional struggles of getting to this point. He was trending this year. He played well at The Sentry, the Cognizant, almost beat Rory at the Sawgrass. It seemed like good things were coming and now it finally pays off. I think it’s going to be fun to see what J.J. does moving forward. Is this going to be one of those guys like Mahaffey who takes this and ends up having a really good career for the last 10 years of it. Is this the catalyst to that as it was for Mahaffey? That’s why he doesn’t fall into any of the two prominent categories. He falls into that one.”

But while Spaun’s story and career arc to this point put him in Oakmont’s third box, his electric finish, where he drove the green on the par-4 17th and made an easy birdie before the 65-footer that capped the stunning win, connects him with the legendary Hogan, who also finished with a flurry.

“The one thing that’s so cool is the parallel to Ben Hogan,” Moore said. “They both won the Texas Open and they both won here. They both drove the 17th green on Sunday and two-putted [for birdie]. They both hit basically the same shots on 18: driver, 6 iron, make a birdie putt to close a U.S. Open. It’s so crazy some of the parallels.”

Regardless of how Spaun’s career unfolds to this point, and whether or not his career touches other Oakmont champions, the lasting image of his life-changing win will forever be linked with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer’s 1962 duel and Johnny Miller’s historic Sunday 63.

“That putt [on 18] is iconic,” Moore said. “I was right there and I saw it with him standing there, the putter is in the air, the caddie has his arms raised in the background and that’s going to be an iconic picture of here moving forward.”

At Oakmont, where golf icons live forever, Spaun’s putt made him a worthy member of the club with a lot of story still to be written.

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The post Letting that f’er go and heavenly Oakmont Bakery: 50 thoughts from U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

The post Letting that f’er go and heavenly Oakmont Bakery: 50 thoughts from U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

STARING AT ALL THE PASTRIES INSIDE OAKMONT BAKERY, Pa. — I wanted to write two story leads. 

Of course, there were no doubt at least a dozen, the number purposefully picked in honor of where I’m now stationed — Oakmont Bakery, where boxes upon boxes filled with 12 of the doughnuts once aligned behind the shop’s glass counters are flying out of the joint nearly as fast as they can make ’em. It’s a day after a most eccentric U.S. Open final day, and I’m still trying to make sense of it all — because even the winner had more than a few storylines, and even two four-word mantras.

In recapping J.J. Spaun’s day, I eventually centered things around his thought of letting golf be golf, which to him meant golf no longer had to be all encompassing, and by buying into it, he’d essentially exhaled. But I’d also liked some advice Spaun’s coach, Adam Schriber, told the pro early Sunday afternoon as he exited Oakmont’s range, so we’ll top this story with that.  

Schriber also told his man to deflate, though, shall we say, with a bit more creative English.

“Let that f*cker go,” he said. 

Afterward Sunday, I asked Schriber what that meant. 

“It’s just trust it, you know what I mean?” he said. 

“The last thing I said to him when he went out was no regrets, right? No. We’re not gonna wonder what-if.”

Amen. 

As we look back at the U.S. Open week that was, let’s make that observation No. 1 then. We’ll try for 49 more, and we’ll be fueled by Oakmont Bakery caffeine and sugar to get us home.   

2. Let’s talk Spaun some more. Here’s another quote I liked, this one from his post-round press conference, in talking about rallying after playing his first six holes at five-over par:

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“I think it’s just perseverance. I’ve always kind of battled through whatever it may be to kind of get to where I needed to be and get to what I wanted. I’ve done this before. I’ve had slumps kind of at every level. I’ve always kind of, I went back and said, ‘You’ve done this before. You’ve been down before. You got out of it.’ 

“There’s kind of like a little pattern, so hopefully I don’t do that pattern again.”

3. This was also good from Spaun, in answering a question about seeing his two daughters, Emerson and Violet, after his win:

“My daughter always asks me, every time dad goes golfing, she’s like, ‘Were you the winner today?’ Sometimes I’m like, ‘Yeah, I was.’ She’s like, ‘Where’s my surprise?’ So today she’s like, ‘You’re the winner today.’ Like she got to see it. She didn’t have to ask me. So that was a really fun moment.”

4. Speaking of his daughters, his youngest, Violet, was sick Sunday morning, and at 6 a.m., dad was at a CVS. 

“I was just like, OK, my wife was up at 3 a.m., and she’s like, Violet is vomiting all over. She can’t keep anything down. It was kind of a rough start to the morning. I’m not blaming that on my start, but it kind of fit the mold of what was going on, the chaos. I don’t think I had any — I didn’t really — like when I go back home after the round, my kids are there, and it’s such a big distraction where I’m not even having to dwell on anything or think too much, which is a good thing. Like the Players was tough. I was alone that week, and I’m just kind of sitting there at night in my hotel room, like trying not to go on social media, trying not to go on Twitter or whatever, X. It’s nice to be able to have the kids to be around and be a dad. That kind of keeps your mind off golf and kind of gets me in a calm, cool, collective mindset going into today.”

5. Monday, the story made the rounds — and CVS tweeted congrats, as you can see below. 

6. Where does Spaun’s shot on 17 rank? I didn’t see it on TV — I was walking with him — but know that if he missed his spot ever so slightly, Robert MacIntyre is your winner today. 

7. Where does Spaun’s putt on 18 rank? How many attempts would he need to make it again? How many attempts would a bogey golfer need? Incredible.

8. Where does Spaun’s start of the round rank? At the end on Sunday, that seemed like a dozen days ago, didn’t it?

9. I’m thinking Spaun will win big again. He was about a half-foot short from winning the Players this year, and Oakmont may be the most trying course the pros will play. 

10. Spaun really does kinda look like Jordan Peele, doesn’t he? You can judge for yourself below. 

11. I’m sticking with Justin Thomas to win the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. 

12. Of course, I also said Bryson DeChambeau was going to win the U.S. Open.  

13. Let’s talk MacIntyre, the runner-up. The video of him watching Spaun’s winning putt, shown below, was great, as was this quote, given to GOLF’s James Colgan:

“He won the golf tournament. Fair play. I mean, he’s dreamed of it. I’ve dreamed of it. Everyone’s dreamed of that moment. For him to pour in the winning putt, I mean, nothing I can do. Fair play.”

14. Full disclosure: At a table inside Oakmont Bakery, I actually measured how far apart my hands are when I clap. 

15. I keep getting the feeling that Viktor Hovland is on the cusp of about a five-year run of really, really great golf. 

16. I keep thinking that of Cam Young, too. 

17. And Sam Burns.

18. Adam Scott’s take on Watergate (whoa!) was interesting. It came after Burns, his playing partner, had made a case for getting temporary water relief on 15, following Sunday’s rain delay. 

“I was thinking of asking as well. It was borderline unplayable. The water was like so close to the surface. Like the shot I hit on 11, it’s bizarre. I just don’t know. It was like an aquaplane on the ground. He tried to hit a 5-iron, I guess, on the 15th, and it’s tough. It’s a tough call, but we played. Everyone had to deal with it.”

19. GOLF’s Sean Zak was walking with the group and said that at first, Burns asked him for a ruling, thinking he was a rules official. 

20. I thought No Laying Up’s Kevin Van Valkenburg, in the tweet below, perfectly summed up my thought on Scott contending. 

21. OK, let’s try to describe Oakmont Bakery. I’m typing at the far right end of the shop, and in front of me, to the right, are four metal shelves with cupcakes and cookies to go, and in front of me, to the left, are eight metal shelves with breads to go. At the registers are 16 (!) glass cases, holding doughnuts, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, bagels, rolls and breads.

It’s heaven. 

22. It’s also never slowed down since I’ve been here. My Uber driver said on the way over that they’ve recently expanded both the store and the parking lot. 

23. Tyrrell Hatton reacting to Spaun’s putt while being interviewed after his round is great. You can watch it below.

24. Scottie Scheffler tying for seventh while he was clearly searching showcased his ability. 

His kid can swing it, too, as you can see below. 

25. Rory McIlroy not talking or being short with reporters doesn’t bother me at all. 

But it should frustrate you. The athlete-reporter relationship shouldn’t be this hard to understand. 

26. The club toss below was magical. I think I rewatched it 50 times. 

27. This club toss, shown below, made me laugh. 

28. Have we seen the last of Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open?

Let’s phrase that question another way:

Do you think he’ll get a USGA special exemption after his numerous thoughts on the governing body, and his move to LIV Golf?

29. I’m still stunned he didn’t hit something safe on 17 on Friday. And I’m not stunned. There was no other way for Mickelson to exit. 

30. You’re a good dude, Wyndham Clark. You’re a good player. You’re good to talk to. You’re good to be mad occasionally. 

But next time, kick your bag.   

31. Let’s talk Oakmont. I don’t think I would’ve broken 150 on Sunday. 

32. I like short par-3s more than long ones. 

33. I’m split on the rough. Yes, don’t hit it in there. But do you make it to where your only shot out is a chop-out? Even from bunkers you can advance the ball.

34. The tweet below made me laugh. 

35. From up close, the church pew bunkers look … hard. While looking at them, I was wondering if every first-timer to the course hits from there, whether their ball ends up there or not. 

36. The highway running through the middle of Oakmont is striking. The course is as exclusive  as it gets. And yet the buzz of semis on a handful of holes is constant. 

37. I like the idea of U.S. Open staple courses and the fact that Oakmont will soon host again. But I’d also like a spot to be open every eight or so years for a wild card.  

38. On Tuesday night, we went to a Pittsburgh Pirates game, and it was my first time at PNC Park. Is it the best place to watch a game in the majors? Great sightlines. Great food and drink. 

But no-so-great team. Oh well. 

39. Here are a few of my favorite reads this week from the on-site GOLF.com staff. From my personal batch, I did like how my story on Spaun’s win turned out. 

40. From Michael Bamberger, this look at Phil Mickelson was a favorite. 

41. From Alan Bastable, this look at Philip Barbaree Jr. was a favorite. 

42. From Josh Berhow, this look at Brooks Koepka was a favorite. 

43. From James Colgan, this look at Arnold Palmer’s house was a favorite. 

44. From Dylan Dethier, this look at a Palmer interview was a favorite.  

45. From Claire Rogers, this rundown of off-course moments was a favorite. 

46. From Johnny Wunder, this look at bag setup was a favorite. 

47. From Sean Zak, his story on playing Erin Hills and Oakmont was a favorite. 

48. The tweet below was great, and you can read more on that story by clicking here. 

49. I have a new favorite golfer, and he’s below. 

50. Tonight, I’m making a stop at The Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, which, as the name suggests, is a brewery inside of an old church. 

Sounds like nirvana.  

51. One more. 

Above is proof that I was there, which was captured by my wife back home, who joked that I ruined a Spaun family moment, so my apologies for that. 

Editor’s note: The author also wrote 50 observations from the Masters and the PGA Championship. Those stories can be found here and here.

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The post Viktor Hovland lost the U.S. Open but left with something he needed appeared first on Golf.

Viktor Hovland entered U.S. Open Sunday at Oakmont as the man who seemed most likely to track down 54-hole leader Sam Burns and etch his name into major championship history.

The 27-year-old Norwegian has been on an endless quest for the right feel. He was at the top of the golf world when he won the FedEx Cup in 2023 and then tore his swing down in search of something better, something purer, something that felt more like Viktor Hovland. That search led him into the wilderness. Forever the tinkerer, Hovland kept changing things — from swing thoughts to coaches — as he tried to find something only he could discover.

That search led him to an unexpected win at the Valspar Championship, where he beat Justin Thomas despite hitting what he described as “disgusting shots.” But he was emerging from the wilderness. While his swing still needed molding, he had the confidence that he could play and contend while trying to harness that elusive feeling.

At Oakmont, Hovland’s voyage found him in contention entering the final round after gritty rounds of 71-68-70 to start. That Friday 68 saw Hovland get “U.S. Open’d” with a bad-luck double bogey on No. 2, but respond to steer it on the house and give himself a weekend chance at a first career major with a swing that still needs work.

Those first three rounds at Oakmont were a reminder for Viktor Hovland that while he’s seeking perfection in a game inherently filled with mistakes, his infinite search doesn’t doom his present goals.

“I know that even if it doesn’t feel great I can still get over the ball and get the ball out there somewhere,” Hovland said Saturday. “I would like to think my golf IQ is very high, so even if it doesn’t feel good and I’m not comfortable I can still play the game. I feel like the way that I became good at golf was having something suboptimal that I had to play with. When I was a kid, I played with like a big slice off the tee, and I couldn’t hit anything but a big slice, but I learned to score with that. So I think that kind of sticks with you for the rest of your career. Then, last few years, obviously my swing’s been good, I’ve been hitting a lot better shots, it’s easier to score, and now when I’m not swinging it as good I still have the capability to get the ball in the hole.”

At the U.S. Open, a sport that has become increasingly more optimized gets boiled down to its original goal. It’s not a test that asks you to be perfect in full flight, but one that demands you fight while revealing your imperfections.

Hovland navigated the demands well through 54 holes. But after Saturday’s even-par 70, Hovland, who sat three shots back of Burns, showed his pure golfing soul when asked about his desire to win the U.S. Open.

His quest seemingly will always be about more than what fills a trophy case.

“We would all like to win, that’s why we practice so hard,” Hovland said. “But there’s also like a deep passion in me that I want to hit the shots. Like I want to stand up on the tee and hit the shots that I’m envisioning. When the ball’s not doing that, it bothers me.”

So Hovland arrived Sunday at Oakmont as the only player in the top 10 on the leaderboard who was inside the top 15 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Even without the swing he desires, everything was right in front of Hovland on Sunday at soggy, iconic Oakmont. He had major championship contention experience from the 2022 Open Championship and 2023 PGA Championship, his iron play had been superb through three rounds, and he had already flashed the mental fortitude required to not melt in the U.S. Open cauldron.

But on a rainy, chaotic U.S. Open Sunday in which the conditions changed drastically throughout the round, Viktor Hovland was unable to pass the final Oakmont test.

He made back-to-back bogeys at No. 2 and No. 3. He got one back with a birdie at No. 5 before losing shots at No. 8 and No. 9. But even as Hovland fought his driver and missed the putts needed to conquer an exacting U.S. Open test, he still had a chance to hit the gas and steal the trophy as those ahead of him also stumbled in the wet and windy conditions.

Hovland made five straight pars to start the back nine before missing a 10-footer for par on No. 15 to fall two shots back of the leaders. Hovland didn’t give himself a good look for birdie on the par-3 16th and watched as his playing partner and eventual winner J.J. Spaun drove the par-4 17th green to set up an eagle look and a manageable two-putt birdie. Hovland’s drive, meanwhile, landed in the right rough. He got up-and-down for birdie, but Spaun still led by two with one hole to play.

With the western Pennsylvania rain still coming down, Hovland’s U.S. Open dreams were dashed even before Spaun canned a 64-foot birdie putt on 18 to put the exclamation point on his life-changing win.

Hovland tapped in on 18 to put the final touches on his third-place finish and then turned to Spaun and smiled.

“That was impressive dude, congrats,” Hovland said.

As Spaun prepared to have his name carved onto the U.S. Open trophy, Hovland processed a week that could’ve been more but still gave him what he needed.

“I’ve been tearing myself down a little too much,” Hovland said Sunday. “Even though I do know I need to work on some stuff and get back to where I used to be in a way mechanically, but in the interim, I can still perform at a really high level, and there’s a lot of good stuff. Just got to take that with me and be a little bit kinder to myself.”

And with that, Viktor Hovland exited to continue his search.

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The post Sam Burns’ U.S. Open collapse ended with bleary eyes but also self-belief appeared first on Golf.

OAKMONT, Pa. — As Sam Burns was coming up the last on a soggy U.S. Open Sunday, the scene had all the trappings of a victor’s march: jammed grandstands, appreciative fans, the grounds crew spilling under the ropes and fast-walking their way toward the green for a front-row seat to history.

It was surely the kind of stage Burns had envisioned for himself when he took the lead into the final round of this 125th playing of the Open, save for one unfortunate wrinkle: the praise and pageantry playing out on the 18th green was not for him; it was for the come-from-behind winner, J.J Spaun, who was playing in the pairing ahead of Burns and Adam Scott. As Burns waited to play his second shot from the left rough — he was out of contention by this point — Spaun, who’d opened his round by bogeying five of his first six holes, sealed the title in stunning fashion, dropping a 64-footer that sent a roar ripping across the property like an unmuffled stock car tearing around a track.

You couldn’t blame Burns if he was feeling a little shell-shocked; he was definitely feeling a little damp after on-and-off rain had soaked the course throughout the afternoon and into the evening, at one point suspending play for more than 90 minutes. For Burns, the gloomy setting was apt. When he started his round at 2:15 p.m., he was at four under for the week, one better than his nearest chaser. When, more than six hours later, Burns two-putted for bogey on the home hole, he had carded a crushing eight-over 78 that dropped him to four over for the week and into a tie for 7th. By any quantifiable measure, Burns had collapsed. Five bogies. Two doubles. An 18-hole tally nearly five shots worse than the field scoring average. Of the 66 players who signed cards on Sunday, only three posted higher scores than Burns.

“Golf’s a hard game,” Burns said afterward, “especially on this golf course.”

This golf course always lives up to its fearsome billing. The ball-swallowing rough. The slick sloping greens. The cavernous bunkers. It’s a hellish test — that, for three rounds, Burns aced. After opening with a two-over 72, he blitzed Oakmont in the second round en route to a spit-take 65, the low round of the week. “Mentally, there’s no just kind of gimme hole,” he said after that round (foreshadowing alert!). “There’s no hole where you can get up there and just hit it and not really pay attention to what you’re trying to do.”

When Burns backed up that 65 with a 69, it was starting to look like this might be his week, though quant nerds also had reason to believe that it might not be. Burns has five PGA Tour wins, but he has not been his sharpest on the biggest stages; before this week, he had recorded just one top-10 finish in 21 major starts. At the Open Championship at Royal Troon last July, Burns was one off the lead after 54 holes. On Sunday, he shot 80 and plummeted 29 spots down the leaderboard.

Burns counts Scottie Scheffler among his closest friends on Tour; the two players and their families often share houses together on the road, as they did this week in the Pittsburgh area. On Sunday morning, Burns asked Scheffler for advice on how to close. Scheffler described the exchange as a “good chat,” but added, “it was kind of a weird spot, because I wasn’t in the lead, but I had a chance in the tournament.” (Scheffler shot 70 and tied with Burns.)

Whatever wisdom Scheffler imparted, it did not yield immediate results for his pal. After making a no-sweat par at the first, Burns bogeyed a couple of par-4s, the 2nd and 5th. He was two over through eight when play was suspended. On his first hole back, the par-4 9th, he made another bogey to turn in three over. Still, at one over for the tournament, Burns’ destiny still was very much in his own hands.

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But that’s when his round started going sideways, in such foul conditions that Scott said, “Thank God it wasn’t like this all week.” After a double at 11 and bogey at 12, Burns dropped into a five-way logjam for first. A couple of pars followed but Burns fully came undone after his tee shot on the 503-yard par-4 15th caught the right side of the fairway, hard against the first cut. Believing his ball was in temporary water, Burns asked a rules official for relief. When his plea was denied, he asked for another official’s ruling. Denied again. So Burns played away, pulling his approach into the rough left of the green. “That’s ridiculous,” he said as his ball disappeared into the thick stuff.

Asked about the ruling after his round, Burns said, “That fairway slopes left to right; that’s kind of the low part of the fairway. When I walked into it, clearly you could see water coming up. Took practice swings and it’s just water splashing every single time.” NBC commentator Brad Faxon agreed, saying on the air, “He should have been able to take relief from there. That’s a bad call.”

Burns needed two chips to find the green, then two-putted for double, stifling any remaining glint of hope that he might raise the trophy at day’s end.  

Burns will have more chances in big spots. Likely a lot of them. He’s only 28 and is a savant with his putter. The season’s last major, the Open Championship, is just a month away, and Burns also most likely will be on Keegan Bradley’s U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black this September. Sunday at Oakmont was another painful learning experience for Burns, but in struggle there is growth.    

“I’m extremely proud of the way I fought out there today,” he said. “At the end of the day, I can hold my head high.”

Also not lost on Burns: Sunday was Father’s Day. Sam and his wife, Caroline, have a toddler son, Bear, and Sam said earlier this week that becoming a father has been “life changing.”   

“We were joking with the Schefflers yesterday afternoon,” Sam said of a scene at their rental property. “We were out in the yard, and the boys, no clothes on, just playing in the little splash pad, having the time of their lives. We were like, What did we do before that? We’re like, Well, we probably just sat around and watched shows and it was quiet.”

These days, Sam added, “there’s nothing better for me getting home after a long day and seeing Bear and Caroline and getting to hang out with them.”

When Sam emerged from scoring after his round, his wife and son were waiting for him near the locker-room entrance to the clubhouse.

When Bear, who has a mop of blond hair, saw his father, his face lit up and the family shared a group embrace. After Sam briefly met with reporters, he and his family repaired to the clubhouse. Minutes later, they reappeared. Sam was glassy-eyed and generally looking like a golfer who was ready for a hot shower and a cold beer.     

As Sam and Caroline walked to the parking lot, Bear was hanging off one of Sam’s shoulders and a Trackman launch-monitor was dangling off the other.

The U.S. Open was over, but life would go on. It always does.

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The post The Tiger Woods advice that helped J.J. Spaun win the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

The post The Tiger Woods advice that helped J.J. Spaun win the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

J.J. Spaun’s final round at Oakmont got off to as bad a start as he could’ve imagined. Bogey-bogey-bogey-par-bogey-bogey. That’s the kind of start that would tick off a single-digit handicap. For a pro contending at a major championship, a series of 5s like that to start the day is downright indefensible.

“I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the U.S. Open at the start of the day,” Spaun said. “It just unravelled very fast.”

Not only was Spaun hitting poor shots, but he was also getting unlucky breaks. His drive on No. 1 drew a nasty lie in the rough. His approach on No. 2 struck the flagstick so hard it caromed some 50 yards back into the fairway. (NBC’s Dan Hicks called it one of the “worst breaks” of the week.) His drive on No. 3 hit a sprinkler head that kept it from finding the short grass. Just six holes into the final round, it looked as though Spaun’s U.S. Open chances were toast.

“It was not a good start to the day,” Spaun admitted.

As you all know by now, Spaun’s Sunday did turn around, and it ended with the 34-year-old claiming his first major title. After the disastrous start, Spaun played the best golf of anyone in the field, playing three under over his final 12 holes to win the 125th U.S. Open.

So, how was he able to bounce back after such a horrendous start to the day? As it turns out, Spaun leaned on some key advice passed down by none other than Tiger Woods.

“I was having lunch with Max Homa at home,” Spaun said. “He was telling a Tiger story where he was like, ‘As long as you just like are still there, you don’t have to do anything crazy, especially at a U.S. Open.’ He’s like, ‘Tiger said this would happen, and the wind will switch, but you’ve got to just stay there. Even if you’re four back, you’ve just got to stay there. You don’t have to do anything crazy.'”

If there’s anyone who knows what it takes to win a U.S. Open, it’s Woods. Of his 15 major titles, three came at the U.S. Open, with the last being a come-from-behind victory in 2008 at Torrey Pines.

“I kind of was thinking about that out there this afternoon, where I was four back, maybe going back out after the delay, and then I made some good pars, nothing crazy,” Spaun said. “Then, next thing you know, I’m like tied for the lead, I think, and within four holes of the restart. That just kind of goes back to that, like you just try to like stay there. You don’t have to do anything crazy, especially at a U.S. Open. All those things came true.”

Turns out that Tiger Woods guys might know a thing or two about what it takes to win a U.S. Open.

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The post Tour Confidential: J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open win, Rory’s challenge, Oakmont lessons appeared first on Golf.

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Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, discuss J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open win, Rory McIlroy’s week and everything we learned at Oakmont.

J.J. Spaun won the 2025 U.S. Open, closing with a final-round 72 to edge Robert MacIntyre by two. With five players tied at one over late in the day, are you surprised to see Spaun emerge from this group? What was the difference?

Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens) I never would have picked Spaun to win prior to the tournament. But by the time late Sunday rolled around, he’d played three-and-a-half rounds with the calm demeanor and dead-eyed driving that are crucial in a U.S. Open. He’d also fought back from a couple of seriously bad breaks. A ridiculously unlucky carom off the flag on 2. An unfortunate bounce off a rake at 4. Compare that to the way Sam Burns let a wet lie on the fairway get under his skin, and you could say the big difference was outlook. Spaun made some poor swings and piled up bogies. But in the end, he didn’t beat himself.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): I was certainly surprised in real time, but when you think back to the brutal luck Spaun had to start the day, it’s not as surprising. No one in the field got as much bad luck pre-rain delay, and the stoppage was a good reset. Once he came back out, the bad breaks befell other contenders, and Spaun was able to stay steady.

Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I’m very surprised, especially given how Spaun’s final round started. After the bogey at the first and bad break on the second, I thought he was headed for an early exit. But he didn’t let that rattle him. He stayed in his process and hung around until the rain delay, which allowed him to breathe and reset. Once play resumed, his accurate driving gave him opportunities to rise, and the tee shot on 17 was his major moment.

Jack Hirsh, associate equipment editor (@JR_HIRSHey): I agree with Sens, it was the way he shrugged off the bad breaks to start that kept him in it, but it was his putting that won him the tournament. Sure, the tee shots on 17 and 18 were critical, but they would have been irrelevant had he not drained those two long putts on 12 and 14. He gained more than 10 strokes on the field putting despite averaging more than 30 putts around! Wild statistic! Was I surprised he beat out guys like Burns, Scott, Hatton and Hovland? Absolutely! I thought he was done after starting with five 5s, but I guess 55 is a lucky number for Spaun. Awesome major championship finish.

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It was a chaotic Sunday at Oakmont, with a lengthy rain delay followed by wet conditions and several players battling for the trophy. Who are you surprised didn’t come through?

Sens: From the start, I thought Viktor Hovland was going to pull it off. He’d been in the hunt in majors so many times, and his all-around game seemed solid the first three days. Funny game. Anyone who tells you they can predict it is lying or fooling themself. 

Melton: Adam Scott. It seemed like destiny that his career would get a punctuation mark with a U.S. Open win at Oakmont. Alas, he just didn’t have anything today. A final-round 79 was not what I (or anyone else) expected. 

Schrock: It’s Hovland for me. He was the best player at the top of the leaderboard, and I thought he’d be able to pull off the shots under pressure that I assumed would doom Spaun and Sam Burns. Instead, he hit just seven fairways and lost over a stroke on the greens to finish T3. The search continues for Viktor.

Hirsh: It was Scott for me, too. Maybe it’s bias because he is golf’s ultimate gear nerd and I cover gear. Maybe it’s because I was 15 when he won the Masters, and his career was right behind Tiger and Phil for me growing up. Maybe it’s because it’s always fun to root for the 40-year-old in the field of 20-somethings. Scott has been good at closing the deal for much of his career (aside from the obvious exception at the 2012 Open), and this seemed like it would have been a dream-like cap to a hall-of-fame career. I guess I’m happy he proved he still has what it takes. Like 188 mph ball speed at 44? SHEESH.

Several players were frustrated by the soggy conditions, which made an already difficult Oakmont even tougher. Do you think the tournament should have been delayed to Monday? Or was the Sunday finish the right decision by the USGA?

Sens: It was the right decision. If play were stopped every time modern Tour pros were unhappy with playing conditions, no event would ever get completed.

Melton: In the words of Scottie Scheffler, it is an “outdoor sport.” Let the boys play.

Schrock: Absolutely the right decision. Let’s see who is the best at getting the ball in the hole when everything isn’t optimized. Tip of the cap to the USGA.

Hirsh: That was fantastic theater. Right decision. Next question.

It was an odd week for Rory McIlroy, who declined to speak with the media after his first two rounds — “It’s more a frustration with you guys,” he said Saturday — and who finished in a tie for 19th place and failed to contend for the fifth straight start since his Masters win. He also reiterated that it has been difficult at times to stay motivated following the career Grand Slam. How would you unpack McIlroy’s week, and why do you think he’s still struggling so much with finding that motivation?

Sens: McIlroy came across as mentally unready before the week began, and he proved that he wasn’t in a great head space when his opening round on Thursday started coming unraveled. In one sense, it seemed odd. In another, it seemed very typical of McIlroy: when he’s on, boy is he on. But when he’s not quite right, he’s not going to contend in the way that, say, Scottie Scheffler does when he doesn’t have his A game. As for motivation, McIlroy has said it himself. It is tough to keep grinding at that level when you’ve achieved everything you’ve always dreamed of. I can relate. As a child, my greatest ambition was to someday take part in an online forum offering armchair analyses of lavishly paid professional athletes. And now here I am, so satisfied I can barely bring myself to finish typi . . .

Melton: It seems Rory has some post-achievement depression. After over a decade of trying to accomplish one of his life goals, the comedown seems to have him in a funk. It’s a bit odd how he’s handled the media during this slump, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s something more to the story than he’s letting on. I’m sure we’ll all find out one day. 

Schrock: I think because as human beings we aren’t wired to have just one purpose, one goal that leads to everlasting actualization. David Duval famously won The Open and wondered if that was “it” on the flight back. Kevin Durant hoisted a trophy with the Warriors and was more lost than ever. It’s up to Rory to find, as he put it, another “Everest” to climb. He will. It might take time. He’s human, just like the rest of us. Has it been “disappointing” that his post-Masters run has been so flat and filled with an unnecessary feud with a golf media that has given him almost two decades of glowing coverage? Absolutely. But eventually, Rory McIlroy will finish digesting achieving one lifelong dream and move on to the next pursuit.

Hirsh: Schrock, I think you hit the nail on the head here. The last few weeks, McIlroy’s struggles have me thinking back on a chapter from one of Bob Rotella’s — who is also McIlroy’s mental coach — books. In the first chapter of Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, Rotella talks about how wonderful it was to work with Pat Bradley — Keegan’s aunt — because she always was focused on qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, which is one of the most difficult halls of fame to qualify for. Once Pat won for the 30th time in 1991 to qualify for the Hall of Fame, she asked Rotella what she should do to find her next dream. She didn’t win again until 1995, which was the last of her career. It’s ironic that McIlroy works with the same coach now. Do I think it will take him four years to win again? No. But, it seems like he is having trouble identifying what his dream will be moving forward now that he has checked off the Masters, which he was trying to nab for 11 years. It will take time.

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In its 10th time hosting the U.S. Open, Oakmont Country Club allowed just one player to break par and only two players shot 66 or better the entire week. What did you think of the venue for this week? And did it prove to be too hard, not hard enough or just right?

Sens: It’s a great venue. Not the most telegenic of the U.S. Open anchor sites. But it’s my favorite of them. Have you ever seen so many short putts missed by so many great players. The course is a beautiful bear, and the greens are beyond belief in their subtlety and severity – in ways that TV can’t quite capture.

Melton: Perfect difficulty. If every U.S. Open could finish with just the winner finishing under par, I’d absolutely love it. A war of attrition is fun to watch once every year, and Oakmont is the perfect venue for that.

Schrock: This is what the U.S. Open is supposed to be about. A complete mental examination that is about grit and grind, not getting on the Trackman and golfing in a dome. It might not be my favorite U.S. Open venue, but Oakmont always rocks. Had it not been for the rain, the carnage would have been off the charts. 

Hirsh: I think the dichotomy of how J.J. Spaun and Sam Burns handled bad breaks was a perfect example of what a U.S. Open should be. Yes, was there some luck involved in whether you could advance the ball out of the ridiculous rough? Sure, but J.J. Spaun put together the best final nine holes at a U.S. Open since Tiger Woods in 2000. You can’t tell me he wasn’t a fitting champion. And it was great theater till the end. All at a course that was short of 7400 yards. We honestly should just have the U.S. Open there every year. Having played it, I know it’s also a blast despite being the most difficult course in the world.

Who won the U.S. Open week without winning U.S. Open week?

Sens: Hmm. I think I’d have an easier time coming up with the guys who had it within their grasp and couldn’t quite put it away.

Melton: Robert MacIntyre! He braved the conditions better than anyone and it damn near earned him a U.S. Open title. He’s one of the more earnest players in pro golf and I can’t help but root for his success. Honorable mention to Carlos Ortiz for earning a career-best major finish at T4. 

Schrock: Despite the poor final round, I’m going to say Adam Scott. Like Justin Rose at Augusta, I love seeing uber-talented pros who are past their prime but still love the grind. Scott talked about how winning a second major would fulfill his own self. At 44, with all the money in the world, to still be relentlessly pursuing who you dreamed you’d be is admirable. I hope he gets another major.

Hirsh: I would say Scott or MacIntyre, but since those are taken, I’ll go with Scottie Scheffler. He had a couple of brutal short misses, but ended up having a back-door top-10 with his C game. Feel like he had his B game at the PGA Championship, so really wonder what his A game is looking like right now. Scary for the field!

Finally, what did you learn this week?

Sens: It wasn’t a new lesson but an old one reinforced. At the elite level, in the most pressure cooker of situations, the game is 90 percent mental and 10 percent mental. They all have all the shots. But what matters most is how they cope with the results.

Melton: Oakmont is the hardest golf course on earth. Despite a deluge of rain in the leadup, and a couple proper soakings during the week to soften the course, just one player finished under par. Imagine how high the scores will be if there’s ever a week where it gets baked out and there’s a little wind. Ten over might win the thing!

Schrock: A lot of the game’s elite players are finding their form with one major remaining. Jon Rahm gained strokes everywhere except the greens this week. Same with Collin Morikawa, who led the field in SG: Approach (2.21) but lost it all putting. Brooks Koepka showed signs of life and Jordan Spieth played well outside of a brutal nine-hole stretch on Friday. Rory McIlroy led the field in SG: Driving, which is a good sign given his recent woes. Xander Schauffele was positive in all four strokes gained categories. Scottie Scheffler arguably should have won the tournament if not for a handful of missed putts and an uncharacteristic driving week. Many of the elite are trending (with McIlroy being the big question mark). It all sets up for fireworks at Royal Portrush in a month. 

Hirsh: Sens, I like to say that it’s 95 percent mental and the other five percent is in your head. Oakmont is amazing, but I think we already knew that. I think I learned that if you really want to challenge the best players in the world, you have to actually penalize them for missing the fairway. Even with soft greens, Oakmont proved that you can play a reasonable length golf course and still hold up against the best players in the game as long as they are truly penalized for missing fairways and missing fairways in the wrong spots.

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By now, you probably know a lot about Oakmont.

But what can you tell us about Oakmont East? 

If you’re like most golf fans, odds you’ve never heard of this lost green patch of history. But facts are facts, and here’s a fun one. 

This week’s U.S. Open site used to have a sibling course beside it, an 18-hole neighbor that anyone could play. It’s just a field now, a portion of which stretches to the right of Oakmont’s beastly par-4 3rd hole, where hospitality tents bloom today. Close your eyes, though, and we’ll sketch a picture of the layout that used to be. 

Founded as a public course in 1938, it was designed by Oakmont’s then-greenskeeper and golf professional, Emil Loeffler, who, when he wasn’t folding shirts and greeting Oakmont members in the pro shop, worked as a golf-course architect. Over the years, Loeffler amassed some 20 design credits in the Pittsburgh area, including the first nine holes at Latrobe Country Club (the future home course of Arnold Palmer) and a redesign of the back nine of the Pittsburgh Field Club. 

In the run-up to the 1962 U.S. Open, Oakmont, needing parking for the championship, purchased the course and operated it for nearly a half-century after that. 

Longtime Oakmont members recall it as a beautifully conditioned track, with small, challenging greens that made it a great tune-up for Oakmont’s own club championship. An Oakmont East scorecard from the 1960s lists it as a par 70 (each nine playing to a par 35) that stretched to 5,496 yards. 

In the early 2000s, the course was shut down to the public and used only sparingly by Oakmont members and residents of the local senior center. 

In the aughts, longtime Oakmont member, Chick Wagner, says he pitched the club on the following plan: He would lease Oakmont East for a dollar and maintain it rustically with the help of grazing animals, in the manner of traditional common grounds course, like Brora, in Scotland. But the club declined, Wagner says.

In the early 2010s, Oakmont East closed altogether.  

But memories remain, along with the original clubhouse. For the past two years, Oakmont has used it as a U.S. Open gift shop.

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Last month, it was signage at Quail Hollow. This week, it was the historic locker room at Oakmont.

In both instances, damage was done to a major-championship venue.

And in both instances, Wyndham Clark was implicated.

On Sunday afternoon, GOLF.com confirmed a report from Tron Carter of No Laying Up that Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open winner, had bashed in two lockers at Oakmont in a fit of frustration. His outburst came on Friday afternoon, after Clark had bogeyed the final hole of his second round to miss the cut in the 2025 U.S. Open by one shot.

Clark’s manager, Rob Mougey, did not respond to a request for comment, and a USGA spokesperson told GOLF.com that in matters related to player conduct, “we work directly with players and their teams. In the event we have any information to share, we would do so at the appropriate time.” But a source familiar with the matter told GOLF.com that Clark has acknowledged being the perpetrator, and that an apology would be forthcoming.

The news marks the second time in consecutive majors that Clark has left wreckage in his wake. Only four weeks ago, the 31-year-old issued a mea culpa for his conduct in the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he smashed a T-Mobile sign in anger on the 16th hole.

“I promise to better the way I handle my frustrations on the course going forward, and hope you all can forgive me in due time,” Clark wrote at the time.

Unlike the Quail Hollow incident, this week’s incident wasn’t caught on camera. But by Saturday evening, a photograph had spread on social media of two caved-in lockers at Oakmont, along with reports that the damage was Clark’s doing. By Sunday, with the final round underway at Oakmont, Clark had already been convicted in the court of public opinion, with multiple online commentators calling for him to be fined or suspended.

On Sunday, with word of the damaged lockers spreading around the club, several Oakmont members expressed a mix of disappointment and anger.

“Whoever did it, I don’t know who the f— they think they are,” one longtime member told GOLF.com. If Clark indeed was responsible, the member added, “I’d be tempted to show up at his next tournament and heckle him on the tee. You know, something like, Hey, buddy, how about I come to your house and kick in the shower doors?”

Another member, who was taking in the action inside the ropes Sunday evening, speculated that the members’ whose lockers were damaged would likely be in line for some form of restitution from Clark. “I wish he had done it to my locker,” the member joked.

Clark was not the only former U.S. Open winner to take out his frustration on Oakmont this week. A more public incident occurred on Friday, when Rory McIlroy smashed a tee marker in frustration on the 17th hole. But a tee marker is nowhere near as prized as the objects Clark damaged.

Like the club it serves, Oakmont’s locker room is steeped in history and brimming with reminders of the property’s rich championship past. Each of the nine golfers who has won a U.S. Open at Oakmont has his name on a locker, and the room’s wooden benches, which have been around as long as the course itself, bear spike marks left behind by legends spanning from Bobby Jones to Tiger Woods.

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OAKMONT, Pa. — At just after 8 p.m. Saturday, only two players were left on the range on Oakmont Country Club. On the far left side of the hitting bays, near the short-game practice area, was Viktor Hovland, who after an even-par 70 that had within three of Sam Burns’ 54-hole lead, was desperately trying to dial in his driver swing with his coach, Grant Waite.

The range’s other occupant, about a dozen bays down from Hovland, was 33-year-old Adam Schenk, who this week is playing in his fourth U.S. Open.

Schenk, who had carded a third-round 76, wasn’t hitting balls — he was throwing them: one high, arcing lob at a time toward a flagstick set in a green about 75 yards away. When Schenk’s turn was done, his caddie, Brett Swedberg, stepped in and tossed a few balls of his own at the target. And so it went, with some of the better efforts drawing oohs and aahs from a couple dozen fans in the grandstand.    

What was going on here?

Just a creative money game (think golf meets cornhole), to blow off a some steam after the grind of 54 holes on the toughest golf course you could ever want to play.

Schenk said he and Swedberg typically play the ball-toss game once a week at tournaments, or once every other week, and sometimes will get other players and caddies to join. An ace — i.e., a toss that finds the bottom of the hole — is worth $100; hitting the flag is good for $50; and hitting a ball on the green with a lawn-bowling-style roll earns you $20. “Start with five balls and if you get three out of five, you get a $20 bonus,” Schenk told me on the range. “You can make up the rules as you go.”

Every range has its own character. Schenk said the lower range on the practice facility at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands provides a particular challenge when rolling balls to the target. “The ball’s always changing direction with the divots,” he said. “It’s amazing how many balls can be out there, and you’re rolling them and you’re missing them all.”

The most Schenk has collected off his looper in a single game?

About $400 or $500, he said. And the result of his Saturday-evening showdown at the U.S. Open? Schenk deferred to his caddie for the final accounting.

“Square,” Swedberg said.

As of this writing, Schenk was five over through 16 holes in his fourth round, and 15 over for the week, tied for 52nd.

No word yet on whether he and Swedberg are planning a post-round game back on the range.

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OAKMONT, Pa. — When I first met Rory McIlroy, he was 19 and had not yet played his first tournament as a pro in the United States. Over a brown-bag lunch in Southern California, he talked about traveling the world as an amateur golfer from suburban Belfast. The things he saw! Grand (the Opera House in Sydney), fun (Disney World in Orlando) and wrenching (the slums of Mumbai). He was a prodigy with a broad view of the world. He was unexpected. 

In the years since then, McIlroy has talked about his growing reading list, his humanitarian travel to Haiti, his psychologist and his insights, his parents and their sacrifices, his daughter and her favorite movies. He’s been joyful in victory and candid in defeat. He talked and talked and talked, and a lot of it was interesting, insightful and intelligent. His swing, with driver in hand especially, came out of a golfing dream. In the history of the game, there was never anybody quite like him. He was beloved.

On April 13, he won his first Masters, on his 16th trip to Augusta, and became the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam. It was the most popular win in golf since Tiger won his fifth Masters in 2019. It was hugely popular. On May 4, he turned 36. From the outside looking in, Rory McIlroy seemed healthy, wealthy and wise beyond his years. 

Then, on the eve of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, he was told that his driver, the driver with which he won the Masters, did not pass the USGA’s conformance test. The face, degrading over time, had become too thin. On the Friday of the PGA Championship, there was a report about this failed driver on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio. And since then, from the outside looking in, Rory McIlroy — beloved Rory McIlroy, with his six majors and his career Grand Slam and his wife and young daughter and devoted parents and discreet caddie and his South Florida pals — appears to be on an epic run of. . .cranky.

And it’s kind of a freak-out moment for possibly millions of people because . . . 

If this guy is cranky, with all he’s achieved and all that he has, what chance do the rest of us have?

If you follow men’s professional golf closely, you know about the smashed tee marker at Oakmont. You know about the half-dozen times he has blown by various reporters who have covered him with a detectable delight for years, while giving his private life a wide berth. You know about his uninspired play since the Masters.

Something is going on here. Could it just be the non-conforming driver and how the news of it eked out? That just seems so unlikely. That would seem like an overreaction.

McIlroy talked to reporters after his Saturday 74. It was like a divorced couple having a court-mandated conference in chambers. The first question was posed by Stephen Watson, a veteran sports reporter and anchor for BBC Northern Ireland, a notably staid news organization.

“Can you give us an assessment of your U.S. Open so far?” Watson asked.

McIlroy’s two-word answer, and the long, excruciating pause that followed it, told you loads about his state of mind.

“Pretty average,” he said, as if the BBC Northern Ireland audience, and millions of other people beyond its reach, don’t have the right to know more.

I don’t want to turn this into one another self-absorbed media v. famous athlete contretemps. There’s way too much of that, everywhere. My view is that Collin Morikawa is lucky that people are actually interested in what he does as a professional golfer. But if he doesn’t want to share insights into his experiences on any given day, that’s up to him. For Rory or any of the others, the same. I have great respect for Tiger Woods, that he stood up there round after round, when golf was easy for him and when it was not, and took questions. And the times he didn’t, no big whoop.

But this feels different. For over 15 years now, we, reporters and fans, have made this investment in caring about Rory McIlroy, the person and the golfer, in good times and bad. And we’re finding out now the feeling is not always mutual. That, at the very least, is disappointing. From the person who just two months ago won the Masters and became the sixth golfer to win the career Grand Slam. Weird, weird, weird.

So there’s that, and there’s also something much more significant, and it’s one of the trickiest things in the human experience: Can you be in regular, meaningful contact with your own sense of gratitude? That’s a question for Rory McIlroy, for you, for your correspondent, for anybody and everybody. It’s a universal.

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The last question a reporter asked McIlroy on Saturday afternoon was this: “What do you look for tomorrow?”

“Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here,” McIlroy said.

I realize that’s a quick and annoyed answer to a question of no particular depth. But it is insulting to the hundreds of USGA officials and volunteers who work so hard to put on this tournament, and the Oakmont members and the club’s hundreds of employees. To the people who prepare the food he and others ate here, who cleaned the toilets he and others used here, who provided the security and the first-tee welcoming and everything else. It is the answer of an entitled person not in touch with the fundamental value of gratitude. (Asked Saturday whether he felt like he has the right to decline post-round interview requests, McIlroy said, “I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do.”) I’m not judging. Believe me, I’ve been there myself, acting uppity and important. I try to be aware. Here, with Rory, I’m observing, is all. We see what we see. I’m guessing it’s a passing mood.

Arnold Palmer grew up 40 miles down the road from here, in Latrobe. He was lucky. He played golf in an era when the game actually was glamorous. The stars wore Egyptian cotton shirts, cashmere sweaters, leather shoes. Their clubs were handcrafted artworks. Money took a back seat to camaraderie yet somehow the players were more independent-minded than they are today. I know how much Rory admired Arnold and his era. Rory and his brethren would do well to remember Arnold’s golden rule: Never put yourself ahead of the game.

Things feel a bit grubby in golf right now, self-absorbed, off. Not everywhere. Scottie Scheffler is a shining example of that. The British Open, the same. This year the Open visits Royal Portrush, a one-hour drive from McIlroy’s childhood home. Maybe a different Rory, old Rory, will be on display there, the one who traveled the world as a teenager and wondered at it in awe. 

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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