Major season resumes this week at the historic Oakmont Country Club as the US Open kicks off a unique summer of golf which will take in three of golf’s big four championships in the space of seven weeks. Here’s the lowdown…
Rewind
Jordan Spieth claimed his second successive Major title at Chambers Bay Golf Club last year after a dramatic finale in which the American finished with a birdie at the 16th, followed by a double-bogey at the 17thbefore sealing victory with a birdie at the last.
A final round 69 and a five under total earned him a one-shot victory over compatriot Dustin Johnson and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, and made him the youngest US Open Champion since Bobby Jones in 1923.
While Oosthuizen was the highest-placed European Tour member, it was a breakthrough week for his countryman Branden Grace as he showed the world he is capable of competing against the best players in the world with a tied fourth place finish. Grace went on to finish in third place at the US PGA Championship.
Shane Lowry also recorded his second top ten finish in a Major at Chambers Bay, his first on American soil, with a share of ninth place alongside Rory McIlroy and Jason Day.
Bite-sized history
The year’s second Major Championship returns to Oakmont Country Club for a ninth time and the first time since 2007, when Angel Cabrera dramatically held off the challenges of Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk to seal his first of two Major titles.
He became the second consecutive European Tour Member to win the US Open at Oakmont, following in the footsteps of Ernie Els in 1994. Both players were awarded Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour for those achievements.
This decade has been a fruitful one for European Tour players at the U.S. Open – four of the six since 2010 have been won by Europeans.
Graeme McDowell claimed his only Major title to date at Pebble Beach Golf Links six years ago before his friend and compatriot McIlroy entered that exclusive club for the first time a year later at Congressional Country Club.
In 2013 at Merion Golf Club, Justin Rose dethroned Webb Simpson to become the first Englishman since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to be crowned US Open Champion, and Martin Kaymer continued the continental success 12 months later when he doubled his Major haul at Pinehurst No.2
The field
The great and good of world golf will duly arrive on the hallowed soil of what is described as the “oldest top-ranked golf course in the USA” this week, with a total of 48 European Tour members teeing it up in Pennsylvania.
Included among them are World Number Three Rory McIlroy, the highest-ranked European in the field, and the Masters Champion Danny Willett.
Of the 48, 12 European Tour Members played at Oakmont in 2007 - Cabrera, Luke Donald, Els, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Peter Hanson, Søren Kjeldsen, McDowell, Rose, Charl Schwartzel, Jeev Milkha Singh and Lee Westwood.
Ten European Tour Members, meanwhile, will be playing the US Open for the first time - Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thitiphun Chuayprakong, Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Johnston, Mikael Lundberg, Sebastian Soderberg, Gary Stal, Miguel Tabuena, Romain Wattel and Chris Wood.
The course
Nestled in Pittsburgh’s north-eastern suburbs, Oakmont Country Club sits on the banks of the Allegheny River and is dissected by the Pennsylvania Turnpike – with seven holes (2nd-8th) separated east of the highway.
Much like many of the courses which host the U.S. Open, the course is notoriously difficult and the last player to win there, Cabrera, did so with a five over par score.
Phil Mickelson memorably suffered a wrist injury there while playing out of the thick rough and upon his return to the venue last week said, “I really think it is the hardest golf course we’ve ever played.”
The statistics from 2007 reveal that there is a premium on accuracy off the tee, as opposed to length. Ahead of that championship nine years ago, more than 7,000 trees were demolished and since then another 7,500 have been cut to reveal the course’s dramatic topography and slopey surfaces.
The par 70 course will play 7,219 yards, down 11 from 2007, and boasts the second-longest hole in US Open history – the par five 12th, which spans 667 yards, three shorter than the 16that Olympic Club.
The greens are likely to be once again lightning quick – interestingly, the Stimpmeter was created in 1935 after Edward S Stimpson reasoned that the greens during that year’s US Open in Oakmont were unfairly fast and wanted to find a way to prove his point! The United States Golf Association are hoping the greens will be rolling to 14 feet on the stimp this week.
The key stats
· Oakmont Country Club holds a unique place in American golfing history - this will be the ninth time the venue has staged the US Open (1927, 1935, 1953, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1994 and 2007) more than any other course.
· Major Championship history was made at the 1973 US Open at Oakmont with Johnny Miller becoming the first player to shoot a round of 63.
· Larry Nelson has the honour of recording the lowest final 36 hole total in US Open history - 132. This was on his way to victory in 1983 at Oakmont Country Club.
· In 1953, the year Ben Hogan won the three Majors he competed in, he claimed the US Open at Oakmont Country Club, beating Sam Snead by six. Nine years later in 1962, Jack Nicklaus won his first US Open at Oakmont Country Club, which also happened to be his first professional victory.
· Should Jordan Spieth make a successful defence he would become the first player to win in back-to-back years since Curtis Strange in 1988-1989.
