With just three players under par heading into the third round of the US Open, it is fair to say that Oakmont has lived up to its reputation as one of the most difficult courses on the planet this week.
Many expected that Oakmont would make many of the best players in the world look a little foolish. The likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Aberg will not be playing on the weekend, while Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are nine and shots back of the lead respectively.
Just one player in the current top 10 has previously won a major title. And it was noticeable that Oakmont seemed to be getting tougher and tougher as the Pennsylvania course dried out.
However, the conditions changed dramatically on Friday evening.
Paul McGinley thinks players will be left unhappy on Saturday at the US Open
With the second round taking an eternity to complete and some incredibly heavy rain coming late in the day, some players will have to come back early on Saturday. And they will be returning to a considerably different course.
The amount of rain is likely to make Oakmont play considerably longer. Meanwhile, while the fairways are going to be slightly easier to hold onto, the rough is going to be even more demanding.
Of course, one of the big talking points on Thursday at the PGA Championship was the decision to not allow lift and place at Quail Hollow. Scottie Scheffler expressed his frustration at not knowing where the ball was going when it was caked in mud.
And it seems that the USGA may be under a little pressure to allow lift and place on Saturday at the US Open.
However, when Brandel Chamblee told Golf Channel that he cannot see any way the USGA make that change, Paul McGinley predicted that there is going to be some anger if that is the case.
“Controlling spin, controlling trajectory [is going to be crucial]. But remember, as much as it’s raining right now, it’s going to be very difficult to do that. There’ll be some mud balls out there, it will be very, very difficult to do that. But you think about it, everybody who makes the cut is going to be within 10 shots of the lead. So when you talk about a wide open US Open, you couldn’t get anymore wide open than this going into the weekend. The complexity of this golf tournament in the last hour changed 180 degrees,” Chamblee said.
McGinley replied: “Brandel just makes a good point: mud balls. Placing or no? USGA, do they place with this rain?”
“Oh gosh, no,” Chamblee responded.
“We’re going to have a lot of bitching tomorrow night. Guys are not going to be happy. There’s going to be mud balls going into these greens. Let’s get ready for that,” McGinley added.
The problem the USGA may have introducing the lift and place rule for the third round
The USGA does have a real problem if they want to allow lift and place during the third round, and that is the fact that the second round was not completed on Friday.
It would be unfair to those concluding their rounds if they have to deal with the mud balls this morning, while the entire field does not have to worry about that later in the day.
Of course, it could be argued that the course conditions have changed so much that those finishing their second rounds today are at such a large disadvantage anyway.
But it may just be easier to leave things as they are – even if it upsets some of the field later in the day.
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