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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
US Open '25: Oakmont's par-3 8th hole requires removing a head cover
Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from the bunker on the fourth hole during the third round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York) Justin Thomas hits from the fairway on the 10th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from the bunker on the fourth hole during the third round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York) Justin Thomas hits from the fairway on the 10th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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." Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. ___ AP golf:
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
US Open '25: Oakmont's par-3 8th hole requires removing a head cover
Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from the bunker on the fourth hole during the third round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York) Justin Thomas hits from the fairway on the 10th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from the bunker on the fourth hole during the third round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt York) Justin Thomas hits from the fairway on the 10th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) FILE - This is an overall photo of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, the course for the 2025 U.S. Open golf tournament. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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." Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. ___ AP golf:
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
US Open '25: Oakmont's par-3 8th hole requires removing a head cover
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. ___ AP golf:
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Memorial Tournament tests both physical, mental aspects for PGA Tour players
Memorial Tournament tests both physical, mental aspects for PGA Tour players Spectators attending the Memorial Tournament and fans viewing at home get to see how PGA Tour players hone their craft inside the ropes. How the pros perform inside their heads is a different matter. Golf is two games in one. The physical contest – driver swing, putting stroke, iron play – is easy to spot. The mental game – handling the pressure, dealing with doubt, forgetting the previous bad hole – is more challenging to recognize. The physical and mental work in tandem, but which has more impact on scoring? Which is harder to master? Even tour players are not sure how to judge the two. 'It's like an endless question,' said 2023 Memorial winner Viktor Hovland, who has battled mental and physical issues for nearly two years. 'I think I heard Padraig (Harrington) answer that, and he's more in the camp of saying it's almost all mental. But at the end of your day, if your technique or the physics of your golf swing are not matching up and the ball's going everywhere, it doesn't matter how you think.' On the other hand … 'Mental,' J.T. Poston said without hesitation, addressing which aspect of the game is more challenging. 'With physical, it's a lot easier to see the results, Mentally, it's more work. A lot of people struggle or have a harder time in silence, and out here it's a grind. I think golf is the hardest sport (mentally).' Two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay agrees that the 'thinking' side of golf takes longer to work through than grooving the swing. 'You're out there by yourself, and a lot of times you've got to find the willpower to figure it out,' he said of when his game is not where he wants it. The majority of pros tend to think the mental/emotional aspect of golf is more difficult to wrestle through than the physical, probably because they already are gifted biologically to make the game look easy. They don't need Youtube videos to learn how to consistently hit a drive 310 yards into the fairway or crush a 9 iron 175 just do it. As 2002 Memorial winner Jim Furyk explained it while surveying pros hitting lasers on the practice range at Muirfield Village Golf Club May 28, 'You look down and all these guys hit it really well. The mental side of it? We're all going to make mistakes. We're all human. You're never going to master it, but the ones who do a better job of it consistently are your very best players.' But even the best players struggle with a mind that plays tricks on emotions. 'You're always going to deal with doubt, because your game's never going to be firing on all cylinders,' Furyk said. 'I've had rounds of golf where I didn't think I could shake in a 3 footer, and I'm a good putter. But I've had rounds, and weeks, where I was a mess. So there's doubt.' Jack Nicklaus, who with Tiger Woods is one of the mentally strongest golfers in history, summarized the physical vs. mental debate. 'If you don't have the physical, it doesn't make any difference,' Nicklaus said. 'You're not going to win mentally if you don't have the physical. Physically, you can overcome some of the mental, if you're really good enough, but if you're going to win on any consistent basis you have to have both of them.' Nicklaus did, which is why though he leans toward physical being more important than mental, he uses his own career to prove how the mind cannot be overlooked. 'If you aren't strong mentally, you're not going anywhere. You have to learn to get it between the ears sometimes. I look back and see things that happened that were part of my mental growth," Nicklaus said as introduction to a lesson he learned during the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in Denver. Nicklaus led through nine holes but stumbled to a 39 on the back nine to finish runner-up to Arnold Palmer by two strokes. 'I look back and think about how easy it would have been to win that golf tournament if I'd have known how to win,' he said. 'That's what (Ben) Hogan said. His comment was, 'I played with a young man today who should have won this tournament by several shots if he had known how to win.' ' That young lad was Nicklaus, who eventually won four U.S. Opens. Apparently, he figured out how to win. 'The physical was fairly easy for me, but the mental is one that comes later, with experience,' he said. Cantlay pointed out that 'You can develop both the mental and physical,' adding that he sees tour veterans 'catch runs of success they attribute to a certain mindset change.' Jim Furyk got mental help to improve his golf game Furyk includes himself in that group. 'I sought some help," he said. "I was 42 or 43 before I started talking to (sports psychologist) Bob Rotella, and it helped. I shot that 59 and 58 late in my career and I had a lot of voices in my head, whether it was my father's or (wife) Tabitha's or (Rotella's) through the round trying to fight the mental part of breaking barriers.' Furyk's advice to amateurs who obsess over their score? Focus on the process, not the results. The mind wants to 'Break 80' so badly it thinks in terms of 'I need to par this hole, then birdie the next.' That self-pressure only makes matters worse. Russell Henley was so mentally consumed with the numbers on his scorecard that his identity became what he shot for the day. 'When I first got on tour and won, and then had a lot of struggles, I realized that my identity was 100% my score, and then I read this book called 'Counterfeit Gods' by Tim Keller,' Henley said. 'And I realized that the misery and anxiety that was coming from golf was in my whole life, and if my identity wasn't fulfilled by earthly things I was kind of miserable.' Henley turned to God to bring his mental health into proper balance. His additional advice to amateurs who struggle with the mental side of their games is to develop a short memory. 'Forget the last shot,' he said, admitting it is easier said than done. 'Not letting a bad shot affect the moment, not letting it affect the next shot still is probably the hardest thing in golf. But you can learn it. Guys get better at it.' So you're saying there's a chance? No easy mental cure for a pitiful swing Max Homa isn't so sure, especially if you possess a janky swing, which cannot be perfected by online videos promising a quick fix. 'The physical is much harder to master,' Homa said. 'I do think that people like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, rightfully so, get dubbed as the mentally toughest and strongest, but it helps that they're really good at golf.' In other words, if the mechanics are A+ the mental tends to to grade out highly, too. Or is it the other way around? 'Is it the chicken or the egg?' Justin Thomas said, shrugging. 'You just never know, but you just hope they're both as high as possible.' When that happens, well, you just might win the Memorial. Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@ and on at@rollerCD. Read his columns from theBuckeyes' national championship season in "Scarlet Reign," a hardcover coffee-table collector's book from The Dispatch. Details at
NBC Sports
28-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Target Hovland, Jaeger bets in Memorial Tournament
Brad Thomas previews the 2025 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club, discussing why both Viktor Hovland and Stephan Jaeger are the focus of his player prop bets this weekend.
