2 days ago
US Open round one: McIlroy, Rose and Lowry among early starters
Update:
Date: 12:13 BST
Title: First round pins
Content: The USGA have come out swinging today - look at some of these pins clinging to the edge of the greens.
Good luck everyone!
Update:
Date: 12:10 BST
Title: Watch: McIlroy practises at Oakmont
Content: McIlroy, Lowry, Rose (12:40 BST)
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Watch: Rory McIlroy on the practice range ahead of the US Open
Update:
Date: 12:10 BST
Title: 'This course challenges your sanity' - why Oakmont is toughest US Open test
Content: Iain CarterBBC golf correspondent at Oakmont
Pittsburgh, America's historic steel city also famed for coal mining, is known as a hub for hard industrial labour.
And these qualities extend to its most famed golf course. There are few, if any, tougher more uncompromising tests than Oakmont Country Club, the home of this week's US Open.
This is a place where players have to roll up their sleeves and get on with it despite the golfing environment's stark harshness.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau summed it up for his legion of YouTube followers when he said: "This course doesn't just challenge your game, it challenges your sanity."
This is the latest in a long line of observations about a course that will stage the US Open for a record 10th time, starting on Thursday. Seven-time major winner Gene Sarazen started the trend when he said Oakmont possesses "all the charm of a sock to the head".
The US Open is meant to be the toughest test and of all the courses that stage the United States' national championship, this appears the toughest. It is the ultimate US Open venue.
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Update:
Date: 12:09 BST
Title: Today's tee times
Content: Masters champion Rory McIlroy will play the opening two rounds of this week's US Open alongside European Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose and Shane Lowry.
The trio will start round one from the 10th hole at 12:40 BST on Thursday, 12 June and then tackle the Oakmont Country Club course from hole one in Friday's second round from 18:25.
McIlroy, who ended his major drought by beating Englishman Rose in a play-off to complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta National in April, won his solitary US Open in 2011. Rose claimed his only major title at the 2013 US Open.
World number one Scottie Scheffler is on the opposite side of the draw. He will tee off in Thursday's opening round at 18:25 from the first hole, and 12:40 from the 10th on Friday.
Here are a selection of the early tee-off times on Thursday.
Starting from hole one (all times BST)
12:18 Keegan Bradley (US), Harris English (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
12:29 Jose Luis Ballester (Spa), Bryson DeChambeau (US), Xander Schauffele (US)
12:40 Wyndham Clark (US), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Gary Woodland (US)
12:51 Akshay Bhatia (US), Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Matt McCarty (US)
Starting from hole 10
12:18 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Adam Scott (Aus)
12:40 Shane Lowry (Ire), Rory McIlroy (NI), Justin Rose (Eng)
12:51 Patrick Cantlay (US), Lucas Glover (US), Si-Woo Kim (Kor)
13:02 Brian Harman (US), Phil Mickelson (US), Cameron Smith (Aus)
Update:
Date: 12:04 BST
Title: Welcome to the US Open!
Content: Hello golf fans and welcome to the third major of the year and the toughest test of the lot, as the world's best take on the fearsome Oakmont in the 125th US Open.
World number one Scottie Scheffler is the biggest betting favourite to win this since Tiger Woods as he arrives as the US PGA champion in red-hot form, but he has a host of challengers lining up to take him on.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau is his chief opposition, Jon Rahm knows all about winning the US Open and Xander Schauffele is always there or thereabouts.
Scheffler's biggest challenge though will be Oakmont itself, and in particular its thick, gnarly rough that will result in some big numbers and some of the best players in the world being made to look rather foolish.
Let the carnage begin!
