NOTES AND QUOTES – NBC SPORTS' COVERAGE OF THE 125TH U.S. OPEN (SECOND ROUND)

NBC Sports

14 hours ago

Saturday's Third Round Coverage Begins at 10 a.m. ET on USA Network and Continues on NBC and Peacock at Noon ET
'When you talk about a wide open U.S. Open, you couldn't get any more wide open than this going into the weekend.' – Brandel Chamblee on the weekend and potential weather impact
'That 63 was just a heavenly round, literally. I think it was inspired by somebody upstairs. I don't think Arnold Palmer liked it very much.' – Johnny Miller in the broadcast booth with Dan Hicks on his final round in 1973 U.S. Open win at Oakmont
'He had a little letdown...I think he was sort of like, 'Wow, I did it.' It's hard to regroup the way you were before. Tiger Woods didn't have any trouble going after everything he could get, but not everybody can do that.' – Johnny Miller on Rory McIlroy's play after clinching the career Grand Slam
Mini Episodes of the GOLF Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav Post Nightly
STAMFORD, Conn. – June 13, 2025 – NBC Sports presented second round coverage of the 125th U.S. Open from Oakmont Country Club on NBC and Peacock, including on-site post-round coverage on Golf Central Live From the U.S. Open on GOLF Channel.
Saturday's third coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET on USA Network and continues on NBC and Peacock at noon ET.
Friday's coverage included a visit to the broadcast booth by long-time NBC Sports golf analyst Johnny Miller, who won the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont with a final-round 63.
125th U.S. Open – First Round Leaderboard
JOHNNY MILLER WITH DAN HICKS
Miller on his 29 years as lead golf analyst with NBC: 'We had such a great group of guys working together for all of those years. (To Dan) I sort of ushered you in. You were my youngest brother.'
Hicks: 'Yeah you did. You had to babysit me for a while especially that first U.S. Open we did together at Pebble Beach in 2000.'
Miller: 'Yeah, like five minutes (laughs).'
Miller on his U.S. Open win and final round 63 at Oakmont in 1973: 'Well, if you're going to win the U.S. Open, I had a pretty interesting way to do it. That 63 was just a heavenly round, literally. I think it was inspired by somebody upstairs. To hit every green and not have one putt downhill, I just hit the ball close to the hole all day long. I don't think Arnold Palmer liked it very much.'
Miller on his final round 63 in 1973: 'The winds were down this morning, maybe the course was a little bit softer, but very quickly it turned from gentle to brutal. We only have a handful of players under par.'
Miller on J.J. Spaun: 'That was a great putting exhibition yesterday from J.J. Spaun.'
Miller on Rory McIlroy's play following the career grand slam win at the Masters: 'He had a little letdown...I think he was sort of like, 'Wow, I did it.' It's hard to regroup the way you were before. Tiger Woods didn't have any trouble going after everything he could get, but not everybody can do that.'
Miller on Ben Griffin: 'He's a good looking player. It's funny – in my planner, I wrote his name. Don't ask me why, but I did right in the June section ...he's playing pretty good.'
Hicks: 'Johnny Miller – partner for life.'
ON CONDITIONS AT OAKMONT
Mike Tirico: 'The headline guys coming in, very interesting way they played out for the first two days. Scottie Scheffler, who seems to be searching right now but also lurking as he's at four-over par. Seven shots can be made up here.'
Curt Byrum: 'When they top the rough here, it doesn't help anybody. These players would rather start to see it lay over. When they top it, it stands straight up and the ball goes right to the bottom. It's like they're cutting it with a vacuum cleaner – it cuts it, then stays straight up.'
Begay III on the rain at the end of the round: 'Things drastically change. You're trying to focus on keeping your glove dry, keeping your grips dry. You can see the caddies trying to keep the ball dry as much as possible before the players hit it because when that ball does get wet, the way the drivers are designed, it will skid off that face a little and go out to the right.'
McGinley on the impact rain could have on the third round: 'It'll make it easier, make the fairways wider because the ball will hit now and stop. It won't be bouncing off into the rough the way it did, not as much anyway…The greens will be softer. Because of the slopes on them and the speed of them, you might see a lot of balls spinning away from the flags more and then maybe off the greens so the players are going to have counteract that…But, wet golf is not going to be nice.'
Chamblee: 'This rain will take so much of the bite out of (the course). Scoring average has been around 75 the last couple of days. It wouldn't surprise me tomorrow if they get around 72 or something like that, and it wouldn't surprise me if someone came out tomorrow and shot 65 or 64…Everybody who makes the cut is going to be within ten shots of the lead. So, when you talk about a wide open U.S. Open, you couldn't get any more wide open than this going into the weekend. The complexity of this in the last hour changed 180 degrees.'
ON SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (+4, T-23)
Notah Begay III on Scheffler's swing early in the second round: 'It looks a bit more awkward than normal. Which tells me that he's just trying to keep the train on the tracks through impact and it's just not working in his favor right now.'
John Wood prior to Scheffler's birdie on the 7th hole (his 16th hole of the day): 'He's showing some signs of life. It's starting to click a little bit for him.'
Begay III on the 8th hole: 'I think he has found something here in the last few holes. The last few swings have been great.'
Hicks: 'Just seven of 18 greens in regulation hit today. That's not a Scheffler-like line.'
Brad Faxon on Scheffler on the range following his second round: 'I've never seen him this animated.'
ON J.J. SPAUN (-2, 2nd)
Faxon on Spaun and his coach's mindset this week: 'They're using this thought process this week, 'Are we going to respond or are we going to react?' And react is not what you want to do. You want to respond. It sounds subtle in words, but it's huge in the way you think about your shots. Everybody is getting bad lies, bad situations, and reacting to them. He's just trying to respond to them.'
Kaufman on Spaun's second round: 'That's what he did yesterday: his putting and his short game led him to a bogey-free 66 and today it's been a little bit of the opposite. His ball-striking has been so solid – a lot like what we typically see with J.J. and the putter has let him down at times a little bit.'
Hicks on Spaun's mindset: 'Spaun admitted when he used to see his name up on leaderboards, especially in big tournaments, he used to get a little scared. He said, 'I used to be scared to have the ball,' kind of alluding to a basketball reference but his confidence level has changed considerably.'
ON BROOKS KOEPKA (+2, T-8th)
Begay III on criticism Koepka received from coach Pete Cowen: 'He said that he wants to hear the truth and he doesn't want to be surround by 'yes' men. And when you get the truth and sometimes it hurts, it allows an athlete to focus on the things they need to focus on in order to improve. In a nutshell, I think he's found a nice groove and he's right in the middle of this.'
ON RORY MCILROY (+6, T-45th)
Sands on McIlroy's birdie on the 18th hole to finish at +6 and make the cut: 'It has been a rocky road the first couple of days, but that was a professional effort…a professional never wants to go home for the weekend.'
Kisner after McIlroy threw his club on the 12th hole: 'I don't know what was worse – the club toss or the shot.'
ON ADAM SCOTT (E, T-4th)
McGinley: 'The golf swing hasn't changed, but this is kind of out of left field. All of his numbers are bad this year, he hasn't had a top ten…So for him to show up and drive it as well as he has, hit his irons as well as he has, and play with this kind of form, I mean he looks like a guy who can go out there, put some numbers up on the board and add to his major championship total, and nobody would have really talked about him coming into this week.'
ON BEN GRIFFIN (E, T-4th)
McGinley: 'Keep an eye out for this guy. Outside of Scottie Scheffler, this is the hottest player in the game.'
GOLF CHANNEL PODCAST WITH REX & LAV
As part of NBC Sports' comprehensive U.S. Open coverage, new daily episodes of the GOLF Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav, hosted by GOLFChannel.com senior writers Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner, will post nightly. The podcast sees the two longtime scribes discuss and debate the latest news and hottest topics in the sport, and this week's daily mini-pods will recap each round of the U.S. Open, discuss the major storylines from the championship, and look ahead to the following day's play.
Click here to listen to the latest episode on YouTube and Apple Podcasts.
--NBC SPORTS--