What many Oakmont members have warned Gil Hanse not to do with the course ahead of the US Open

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Oakmont Country Club is once again playing host to the US Open this week, having last been held there in 2016.

Rick Shiels thinks Scottie Scheffler will win the US Open, a tournament the world number one has yet to win.

He finished T2 in 2022, the same year he clinched his first major championship, winning The Masters at Augusta.

Scheffler repeated that feat in 2024, and added the PGA Championship to his honours list just last month.

Justin Thomas has labelled Scheffler ‘unbelievable’ ahead of the US Open, the third major championship of 2025.

What many Oakmont members have warned Gil Hanse not to do before the US Open

But even Scheffler may fail to completely master the course at Oakmont this week, which could prove to be a very difficult challenge.

Scheffler has said Oakmont is ‘really hard’, with Dan Rapaport now giving his take on the Pennsylvania venue.

READ MORE: How Scottie Scheffler was looking on the driving range at Oakmont before the US Open starts

He said on Dan on Golf: “Consider this. The last six US Opens the winner has been at least six under par. The combined winning score is 47 under par. I get it par is a social construct and lowest score wins.

“I don’t really care about par for 51 weeks of the year but at the United States Open at Oakmont I want to see a plus sign.

“All the talk this week is making me excited. The rough is brutally thick, par threes playing 300 yards. I want it all.

“I am a little concerned by the rain earlier in the week. But this is another Gil Hanse renovated golf course hosting a major, we have seen that recently at the Country Club the winning score was six under, LACC was 10 under.

“I am not a fan of that US Open, I have made that very clear. I am going to enjoy that tournament no matter what but if the winning score is six under this week then something has gone wrong.

“I have spoken to multiple Oakmont members this week and they have said the same thing. The members have said to Gil Hanse don’t you dare make this golf course easier.

“This is part of the identity. This is the United States Open at Oakmont, it’s supposed to be f—— hard. Let’s get back to it.”

The highest under par score acceptable for the US Open winner at Oakmont

The conditions at Oakmont have dominated much of the pre-US Open talk, with those conditions set to become even more difficult due to the weather.

Comfortable temperatures are set to be in store for the star-studded field, but they will not want to hear about the expected showers and thunderstorms.

READ MORE: Johnson Wagner warns players are being tricked by Oakmont after what Tony Finau did out of a bunker in practice round

And the restoration of the course will also be taken into consideration, with Oakmont partially shut down in the spring and fall of 2023 for that purpose.

Hanse and partner Jim Wagner lengthened the course by around 125 yards, with every green expanded to its earlier shape.

Low scoring has been a common theme of recent US Open events, with Rapaport also sharing his verdict on that trend potentially continuing this time around.

Asked for the highest under par score he would accept for the winner at Oakmont, he responded: “One. I don’t want to see four under par or six under par this week.

“It is playing as a par 70, I want the winning score to be 280 or above. I think that one week a year, I get it, it’s not fun to play in.

“But the tennis match on Sunday was Jannik Sinner against Carlos Alcaraz and they were absolutely battling. They went five sets, it was five hours and something crazy and it was a battle.

“Would those guys say it was fun in the moment? They are battling. That’s part of the theatre. I want it to be hard.”