Golfers will be falling to their knees again.
Oakmont Country Club, along with every other golf course in Pennsylvania, can open Friday following a shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. And with the opening comes the famed church pew bunkers at Oakmont, No. 8 in GOLF.com’s Top 100 Courses in the World and home to nine U.S. Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships and two U.S. Women’s Opens.
Located between the 3rd and 4th holes and also on the 15th hole, the long bunkers are divided by grassy rows, giving it both the church pew look and one of the most difficult hazards in all of golf. “Everyone looks forward to seeing the church pews in person,” Bob Ford, Oakmont’s former head golf professional, told the USGA’s website. “But they certainly don’t want to get too close.”
They’re also part of a course that Jordan Spieth called “the hardest test in all of golf,” and where Tiger Woods said a 10-handicap wouldn’t break 100.
And a venue Lee Trevino described as the only course in the country “where you could step out right now — right now — and play the U.S. Open.”