Latest news with #ChurchPews
Washington Post
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Scheffler: 'Definitely not out of the tournament' after another US Open round over par
OAKMONT, Pa. — Scottie Scheffler made yet another visit to Oakmont's famous Church Pews. He also bogeyed a hole after nearly driving the green. That wasn't enough to knock the top-ranked player out of contention — in the eyes of the betting markets and Scheffler himself.
Associated Press
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Scheffler: 'Definitely not out of the tournament' after another US Open round over par
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler made yet another visit to Oakmont's famous Church Pews. He also bogeyed a hole after nearly driving the green. That wasn't enough to knock the top-ranked player out of contention — in the eyes of the betting markets and Scheffler himself. 'Overall definitely not out of the tournament. Today was I think with the way I was hitting it, was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there,' Scheffler said. 'I'm 4 over. We'll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don't think by any means I'm out of the tournament.' Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open on Friday, a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that's made him the game's dominant player the past three years. He has 36 more holes to try to unleash the form that produced wins in three of his last four tournaments. But at 3 p.m. Friday, only four players had shorter odds on the BetMGM Sportsbook money line, where Scheffler was at 10-1. He was tied for 34th on the real leaderboard. Scheffler began his second round with a birdie on No. 10. After a bogey on 15, his tee shot on the par-4 17th ended up just short of the green. But he needed four more strokes to complete that hole. 'I think it's just giving it your best on each shot. There was some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is, how my swing was feeling,' Scheffler said. 'I'd get in position there on 17 and make a mess of the hole, and feel like I was making birdie, walk off with bogey. Then I hit it in a bunker on the next hole, and it's like I'm going to be struggling for par.' He alternated bogeys and birdies on holes Nos. 1-4. After ending up in the Church Pew bunker on both the third and fourth holes Thursday, his tee shot went in there again on No. 3 a day later. Still, it could have been much worse. Scheffler got up and down for par from the rough on No. 5 and from a bunker on No. 6. 'Mentally this was as tough as I've battled for the whole day,' he said. 'There was a lot of stuff going on out there that was not going in my favor necessarily.' At last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Scheffler played all four rounds over par for the first time at a major championship. He's halfway to a repeat of that. Or he could storm back into contention. His patience was on display on No. 9, his final hole of the day. After his tee shot went into the rough, he used a wedge to hit out instead making an aggressive attempt at the green. He ultimately missed a 17-foot putt and took a bogey. If he's going to make a significant climb up the leaderboard, that will have to wait. 'Going out early tomorrow, maybe get some easier conditions than the guys late in the afternoon. At the U.S. Open I don't think you're ever out of the tournament,' he said. 'I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.' ___ AP golf:
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Oakmont's difficult yet exciting course as it proves a rollercoaster in opening round for McIlroy and Lowry
Back to the quiet contemplation, then. Oakmont will do that to you. Neither Rory McIlroy nor Shane Lowry made their way into the interview tent after their Thursday morning openers at the US Open left both facing an early close. Both Irishmen have had their issues with post-round media duties in recent months but the silent treatment in Pittsburgh was a little more explainable. Perhaps even expected once you looked at their scores. McIlroy's round got away from him slowly but steadily after the turn. Lowry's was on its way somewhere beyond his control a whole lot earlier. Bar a brief flash of brilliance from the fairway in front of the Church Pews, the Offaly man endured fiendish, call it biblical, punishment. Helpfully, the two groups which followed the Irish-heavy tee time into the clubhouse saw players step in front of the mic to offer some thoughts. Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, a Ryder Cup teammate, reflected on what he'd just experienced. Read More JJ Spaun uses Players confidence to shoot lowest-ever US Open opening round at Oakmont 'The most demanding golf course I've ever played, and I've played Royal Lytham,' said MacIntyre, whose level-par 70 was four shots better than McIlroy's and a full nine better than Lowry's disastrous 79. 'That's up there in the top 10 of any rounds I've played. It is just so hard. Every shot you're on a knife edge. I absolutely [had fun] because I like hitting crazy shots. 'You shoot four level-par rounds, you're walking away with a medal and a trophy.' DIFFICULT YET EXCITING: Robert MacIntyre, of Scotland, tees off on the 13th hole. Pic:AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster Korean Si Woo Kim, one of just four players who made it back into the clubhouse under par as the afternoon wave got going, had his own take. 'Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing on the course,' he said. 'Kind of hitting good…but I feel like this course is too hard for me. So, kind expectation. But I played great today!' That's a stream of consciousness from a mind left scrambled by knee-high, ravenous rough and greens that do everything in their power to deceive and deny. Oakmont demands perfection because anything less is peril. In pairing McIlroy with Lowry for the first two days, many felt the USGA had done the Irish duo a favour. Perhaps they did. The close friends were at least able to commiserate with one another in close quarters as the hallowed turf showed its teeth. It bit Lowry first but bided its time with McIlroy. The Holywood man had made the turn on 2-under, one of just a handful of the morning starters in the red. But things darkened in a hurry as four bogeys and a double on the 8th, his penultimate hole, led to a 4-over 74, his worst opening-round score at a US Open for seven years. Alongside him, Lowry came off in even worse shape. A stunner of a slam dunk eagle from way downtown on the 3rd proved to be a lone highlight of a round that featured five bogeys and three double-bogeys. Just five players were below him on the leaderboard as he finished. American JJ Spaun set the pace with a faultless 4-under 66, going bogey-free at a course that proved more punishing as the morning went on. But among the afternoon wave, which included Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, others found chinks of light through the thickest rough. Surprisingly, the world No.1 wasn't among them in his early going, Scheffler scuffling to three bogeys in the space of four holes before he got to the 6th. FLYING START: J.J. Spaun is off to a flying start at the US Open. Pic: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel It was important to remember MacIntyre's reminder that there was still plenty of golf to be played. Whether Lowry or McIlroy will be around to play all 72 holes of it remains to be seen. A later start Friday is unlikely to prove favourable. For McIlroy the major concern coming in was his driver. He'd reverted to his favoured TaylorMade model but left it in the bag until his third hole. When he did pull it out you felt powerless to predict what would come. Better to stay quiet and watch. He unleashed a bomb, his longest of the season careening down the 618-yard 12th, shaving a full 392 yards off that distance. It would help him to back-to-back birdies as he jumped briefly into an early share of the lead. But it wasn't a sign of an unlikely quick fix. McIlroy would hit just seven of 14 fairways as the right leak returned. On the par-5 4th, his 13th, the drive went way right into hazard area. The Masters champion eschewed a drop and instead chopped — twice. His ball went a total of 90 feet. Not 90 yards, feet. A 25-footer saved double bogey but one of those arrived on his penultimate hole and the media requests, at this stage unsurprisingly, were turned down. Read More Shane Lowry's off to a mixed start at the US Open For Lowry, runner-up here in 2016 when he'd came into Sunday in the lead, this was an opener that must have left him wondering where to turn. His long-range eagle came immediately after a brutal double bogey and the look on his face when it dunked was that of a man cursing his chosen profession. The strokes gained data pointed to a round that fell apart in places you'd expect and some you wouldn't. Lowry ranked 155th of all 156 competitors in putting but surprisingly also plumbed depths in around-the-green rankings, 134th. His driving, rarely considered a strength, was the only number in the green. But that's Oakmont for you. A brain-blending bastard of a test that, for everyone watching on, is thoroughly enjoyable. For most of those in the thickest thick of it, enjoyment isn't always evident. 'I think the rough is incredibly penalizing,' said defending champion Bryson DeChambeau after a 73. 'Even for a guy like me, I can't get out of it some of the times. It was a brutal test of golf. But one that I'm excited for tomorrow.' That feeling may not be universally shared.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
U.S. Open: What if these are the good ol' days?
Over the course of the next seven days, you'll see, hear and read a whole lot about the majesty of Oakmont — the depth of its viciously penal rough, the siren-like call of its Church Pews and Piano Keys, the miracle playoff between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in 1962 and the magnificent final-round 63 of Johnny Miller in 1973. That's what happens when you stage golf's toughest test at one of golf's finest, most revered courses — history swirls and surges, resurfacing memories of past glories and honoring the gods of the sport. Advertisement No sport worships its past with fanatical devotion quite like golf. If you've spent any more than 10 seconds around the game, you've heard of Nicklaus and Palmer and Tiger Woods and all the other goliaths who strode the fairways of Oakmont and its fellow legendary tracks. The implication in all this reverence is obvious: Golf's greatest days are in the past. Today's players might play the same holes, but they're nowhere close to the icons on the sport's Grand Leaderboard. Allow me to offer a different perspective: What if these are the good ol' days we'll be talking about decades from now? What if this is another golden age, and we can't see the glow because we're too close? Advertisement Granted, no player today can match the breadth of popularity of Arnie's Army, or the ruthless brilliance of Woods, or the all-encompassing excellence of the Golden Bear. But consider what we do have in this era: • A generational player in Scottie Scheffler who's drawing comparisons to the career trajectory of Woods and Nicklaus. It's way too early to put him in their class, but with every win, every major, he stays in the hunt. • An icon in Rory McIlroy who just engineered maybe the finest morality play in the game's history, a journey from the mountaintop to the depths of the underworld and back to the mountaintop. • A fascinating conundrum in Jon Rahm, a Hall of Fame-level talent who may have made the most foolish career decision in golf history. Advertisement • A trailblazer in Bryson DeChambeau, who's creating an entirely new brand framework for a professional athlete, combining talent, showmanship, social media savvy and niche obsessiveness in a way few people in any entertainment field have managed. • A competition in the Ryder Cup that grows more vibrant, crucial and popular every time it comes around. • A thriving golf ecosystem that extends beyond the PGA Tour of Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods to encompass everything from LIV Golf to YouTube influencers to an energetic independent golf media. Consider DeChambeau, for instance — his day job is as a LIV player, his most notable inside-the-ropes performances come at majors, and he's a YouTube star. (His Oakmont preview racked up more than 2 million views in its first four days.) The world of golf continues to grow … just not in a way that, say, Arnie's Army would have expected or predicted. Bryson DeChambeau reacts after winning the 124th U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst No. 2 a year ago. (Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) (Tracy Wilcox via Getty Images) It's all too easy to focus on the infuriating distractions, the obsession with purse sizes, the petty factionalism and bureaucracy that have shredded golf over the past four years. And yes, many of those tasked with protecting this game and shepherding it forward have sacrificed long-term stability for short-term pocket-stuffing. Advertisement But as the latest major arrives, take a look at what we've seen over the last few years in the sport's biggest moments. Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm and DeChambeau racking up victories. Dramatic finishes that raise spring and summer Sundays to the level of art. Epic tournaments — like Pinehurst 2024 and Augusta 2025 — that will rank among golf's greatest ever. Regardless of what's happening outside the ropes, the game, and its best players, are rising to meet the moment. Another Oakmont element you're likely to hear often this week: club president W.C. Fownes' (alleged) declaration that at Oakmont, 'a shot poorly played should be irrevocably lost. Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artist stand aside!' That admonition applies to the game outside Oakmont, too. Golf's best are stepping up and delivering, major after major. I'd say we should hope this glorious run continues this week … but at this point, I pretty much expect it.
