US Open ‘25: Oakmont's par-3 8th hole requires removing a head cover

Hamilton Spectator

a day ago

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Maybe no one would complain about the eighth hole at Oakmont Country Club if the term 'par' had never been created in championship golf.
But there it sits in the middle of the this tough U.S. course, the longest par 3 in major championship history, 289 yards on the scorecard and certain to top 300 yards in actual distance for one round, just as it did in 2007 at Oakmont.
'I couldn't tell you a par 3 over 250 yards that's good, architecturally,' said Justin Thomas, who took a scouting trip to Oakmont two weeks before it
hosts the U.S. Open for a 10th time
.
'That's not my favorite hole in the world,' he said. 'I think you could do some other things with that. But everyone's going to have to play the same hole and going to have to execute the same shots, and I would love four 3s on it right now if I could take it.'
Jack Nicklaus, who won the first of his 18 professional majors at Oakmont in the 1962 U.S. Open, was asked what he thought about the par-3 eighth.
'I haven't played it since they lengthened it to be a short par 5,' Nicklaus said with a smile.
Viktor Hovland speaks for the majority when he said the best par 3s in golf are under 200 yards. But the topic on this day was 300 yards — more or less, depending on how the USGA sets it up each round. Hovland was not a fan.
'As soon as you start to take head covers off on par 3s, I just think it gets a little silly,' he said.
This is nothing new in major championship golf.
The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow last month featured the 252-yard sixth hole that required a fairway metal for some. The toughest par 3 at the Masters is the 240-yard fourth. And last summer at Royal Troon in the wind and rain, Scottie Scheffler hit his best 3-wood of the year into the par-3 17th on Saturday.
There's no doubting No. 8 is a tough hole. A bunker named 'Sahara' juts out some 80 yards before the green. That's easy enough to carry, and then the ball runs onto a putting surfaces that is not as contoured as the others at Oakmont.
It's just long. And the numbers indicate it is hard. It ranked No. 8 in difficulty in 2016, with 36% of the field hitting the green in regulation. Go back to 2007 and it ranked No. 4 in difficulty, with 33% of the field finding the green.
'The psychology of par is amazing, which goes to the point of long par 3s,' said Geoff Ogilvy, a U.S. Open champion and now highly regarded in golf course design.
'If it's a par 5 and you're coming in with a fairway metal, you're thinking there's a chance you can make 3,' he said. 'But if it's a par 3, you hope you don't make 4 or 5. And you've got it off a tee! ... No one likes to get a wood out on a par 3. There's a bit of ego involved. But sometimes you have to.'
Ogilvy presented one other observation about the par-3 eighth at Oakmont that at least should give critics pause.
'Eight at Oakmont almost is the easiest of the four par 3s, even though it's so long,' he said. 'It has a wide fairway and probably is the only flat green on the course so you can run it up. I think it's too much at 300 yards. But like at 250, it's a really good hole.'
John Bodenhamer, the USGA officer in charge of setting up the course, has said the tee and the pin will be adjusted enough to make it play 301 yards for one round — not 300, but 301.
That's part of the fun the USGA likes to have, but not always. The distance for the par-3 11th at Los Angeles Country Club was 299 yards in the 2023 U.S. Open (there is a 40-foot drop in elevation), and the seventh hole at LACC also measured one yard short of a perfect game in bowling. Both of those were in the second round.
Phil Mickelson was fuming over the 274-yard third hole in the final round of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, where he made double bogey. He was overheard telling an official, 'That's terrible — 274, we can't even reach it.'
As for Oakmont, it's worth noting when Johnny Miller had his historic 63 in the final round to win the U.S. Open, his only bogey came at the par-3 eighth.
Given the modern game, maybe the value of a super long par 3 is for players to show they can hit a long iron or fairway metal. Ludvig Aberg was asked how often he hits a 3-iron.
'I don't carry one,' the big-hitting Swede said.
He has a 4-iron and then swaps out the 3-iron with a 7-wood. But he brings his 3-iron with him in case it makes sense.
'You don't get a lot of long irons into par 4s,' Aberg said. 'It would be a second shot into a par 5. I've never had anything against a long par 3. I guess I'm different.'
Harris English played Oakmont in the 2016 U.S. Open and had no beef with No. 8 because 'it gives you room to play.' But when asked for some of the other long par 3s he likes, English struggled to come up with even a short list.
'The long ones aren't as memorable,' he said.
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