U.S. Open preview - Golf's toughest test awaits at Oakmont
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Hide your scorecards, my friends, because the US Open is back and the toughest tournament in golf this year is being played at one of the toughest courses in the country.
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That would be Oakmont, the old classic.
It's been around since 1904.
It's hosted now 10 US Opens, more than any other course in the United States, and it's going to be an incredible challenge for today's golfers for a number of reasons, starting with the rough, as much as 5 inches deep in some places, the famous.
Church Pew and piano keys, bunkers, cinematic and also devastating to your score if you happen to end up in them.
And then the greens, which are so slick, that Sam Snead once said he put a dime down to mark his ball and it slid off the edge of the green.
Now who can handle this kind of course?
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Well, Scotty Scheffer, of course, he's already got 3 majors.
He might well win 2 more before the year is out.
He's not quite at Scotty versus the field level, but he's very, very close, right behind.
Hi.
You've got Rory McIlroy, understandably a bit out of form since his emotional win at Augusta back in April.
He missed the cut last week at the RBC Canadian.
That's a bit of a concern for him and for anybody else who's looking to watch him win his second major.
A little further down, you've got John Rohm playing very well on Liv.
That's kind of damning with faint praise because while he's been able to hold leads, he hasn't been able to keep leads over the course of the last Few months, most notably last last month at Quail Hollow in the PGA Championship when he let it get away from him late.
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Then of course there's Bryson DeShambo, Rohm's mate over at Liv Golf, playing very well in most phases of the game, always in competition in majors lately, but his iron play is a bit suspect, and you're going to need to be accurate off the tee if you're going to win at Oakmont.
He should be in the mix, but will he be holding up the trophy at the end of it?
To be determined.
Now, in terms of a sleeper, a guy you might want to look at is someone who's had some strong iron play, that would be Terrell Hatton.
He's never won a major, but he has made the cut in 13 of the last 14 majors that he's played, and he's extremely accurate with his irons.
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Plus, the side benefit of that is that he would be the first golfer whose celebration speech at the end would be an FCC violation.
We will be live all week from Oakmont.
Join us at Yahoo Sports.
I am Jay Busby.
We will see you from the US Open.
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