The 2025 US Open is set to be a ‘brutal’ test – just ask the players

The US Open has built its brand on being ‘golf’s toughest test’, and in Oakmont Country Club, the site of this week’s tournament, it has a course that typifies that more than most.

In recent years, the United States’ national championship has faced criticism for not producing courses with the requisite penal conditions that fans have come to expect.

That was particularly the case two years ago at Los Angeles Country Club, where Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele carded the lowest rounds in US Open history, shooting eight-under-par 62s within 15 minutes of each other during a benign and friendly first round.

Fans hungry to see the best players in the world suffer should not worry this week, though. High scores and punishment await on every hole.

A par-70 layout measuring at 7,372 yards this week, Oakmont possesses two par-5s over 600 yards, a par-3 over 300 yards and a whopping 168 bunkers littered around its 18 holes.

With fairways only 28 yards wide on average, driving the ball straight will be the key to success. Land in the five-inch thick rough on either side, and many will be forced to lay up short of the green or simply hack out sideways.

Get to the greens, and the challenge is no easier. The huge, undulating putting surfaces will be rapid and tricky to navigate. Players have already been seen chipping on the green during practice rounds as they try to find solutions.

‘It’s a different type of test’

Such conditions should come as no surprise. When Oakmont last hosted the US Open in 2016, just four players finished below par for the tournament. Before that in 2007, Angel Cabrera’s winning score was +5.

‘It’s just a tough course. It’s so difficult where very few times anybody has won under par,’ former US Open champion Jon Rahm said.

‘If it doesn’t rain, most likely over par will win again. It’s something that none of us are used to, but it’s a challenge you need to embrace.

‘If there’s any part of your game that will be tested on a week like this, it will be your mental game, that’s for sure.’

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is the favourite for the week, but even the three-time major champion is under no illusions as to the task awaiting him.

‘This is probably the hardest golf course that we’ll play, maybe ever, and that’s pretty much all it is. It’s just a different type of test,’ the American admitted.

And what about the defending champion? Bryson DeChambeau is renowned as being one of the game’s longest and most accurate drivers, but even the LIV Golf star was left awestruck by Oakmont’s sheer size.

‘It’s a beast, it’s brutal. The 18th was playing into the wind yesterday – I hit a great drive and still had 240 yards in,’ DeChambeau told ESPN. ‘I was like ‘oh my god, what is this test, this is crazy’. It’s a great test of golf.’

‘I hope it psychs a lot of players out’

Given all the challenges presented by Oakmont, this edition of the US Open may quickly become a mental test as much as it is a golfing one.

Scorecard errors can quickly compound if players buckle under the weight of Oakmont’s unrelenting setup. Having the experience to navigate those setbacks could well come to define a player’s week.

‘Being perfectly honest and very selfish, I hope it psychs a lot of players out,’ two-time major champion Justin Thomas said.

‘I understand this place is hard. I don’t need to read articles, or I don’t need to hear horror stories. I’ve played it. I know it’s difficult.

‘It’s getting a game plan for how you’re going to approach the course mentally and strategically.’

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