The 125th US Open Championship tees off on a course that ‘challenges your sanity’

All week in the build-up to the US Open, the course at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was touted as a beast – a track so difficult that the world’s best might look like weekend hacks trying to navigate it.

All week in the build-up to the US Open, the course at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was touted as a beast – a track so difficult that the world’s best might look like weekend hacks trying to navigate it. As Thursday’s opening round ended, just 10 players were under par and the course had lived up to its reputation. American JJ Spaun led the way with a 4-under 66, nailing his first-ever bogey-free round in a major. He entered the tournament having not played at Oakmont before, and he thought that helped. “I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even US Open-wise. This is only my second one,” he said after the round. “I don’t know if that freed me up in any aspect, but I just tried to kind of take what the course gave me. I hit a lot of good shots and tried to capitalize on any birdie opportunities, which aren’t very many out here.” “But I scrambled really well, too, which is a huge component to playing well at a US Open, let alone shoot a bogey-free round.” Chasing Spaun were South African Thriston Lawrence at 3-under; Si Woo Kim, Brooks Koepka and Sungjae Im at 2-under; and Ben Griffin, Jon Rahm, Thomas Detry, Rasmus Neergard-Petersen and James Nicholas at 1-under.