In his quest for a breakthrough Major, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre has opted for a rodeo ride where most others are looking for some peace away from the madness.
MacIntyre has had top-10 finishes in The Open and the US PGA so far in his career, but not yet in a US Open.
The left-hander’s opening round 70 at Oakmont had him in high spirits, even if his caddie, Mike Burrow, was left questioning some of his shot selections.
“I like hitting crazy shots,” said MacIntyre. “I can hit some wild shots. I said to Mike, ‘there’s going to be some shots that I’m going to say I’m going to hit’, and you’re going to be like, ‘there’s an easier shot’ . . . I’ve just got to ride the horse and just let the horse go at times.”
MacIntyre was true to his word in a round of three birdies and three bogeys that finally left him finding some level of balance after the wild ride.
Dates for the diary . . . for next 17 years
We know that the Masters has a permanent home at Augusta National, but the United States Golf Association (USGA) has made a pretty good fist of giving golf fans plenty of time to plan future trips to the US Open. Venues have been determined all the way up to 2042, when Oakmont will again be host.
More immediately, Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York, will play host to next year’s championship for a sixth time. Brooks Koepka won on its last staging at the iconic links in 2018.
Looking ahead, the 2027 US Open will be held at Pebble Beach in California, the 2028 championship will be at Winged Foot in New York, the 2029 championship goes to Pinehurst, North Carolina and the 2030 event will head to Merion in Philadelphia.
Number: 90
The thick and heavy rough at Oakmont has resulted in 90 volunteers – at a time – being assigned the task of ball spotters.
Oakmont trickier than pulling teeth
Dentist Matt Vogt will be back to the day job, perhaps sooner than he’d have liked, after a tough old day on the course.
Vogt, an amateur who qualified through the regional and final qualifying tournaments, said his dental practice in Indiana had probably benefited from the exposure of his appearance in the US Open. However, an opening round 80 left him searching for some ray of light.
[ US Open: Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry left battered and bruised from Oakmont slogOpens in new window ]
“It’s hard out here because you can’t make physical and mental errors,” he said. “Sometimes you can get away with one or the other, but you can’t get away with both.
“You just get behind the eight ball here and honestly, your head starts spinning. That’s what it feels like – your head starts spinning out here and it just gets away from you."
When asked what had gone wrong, he admitted: “Everything.”
DeChambeau’s close shave with the rulebook
It could have been worse for defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who was saved a penalty for inadvertently placing his ball for a free drop from a spectator pathway rather than dropping it from knee height.
DeChambeau’s drive on the par-five fourth found thick rough and his next shot finished up on the pathway, from where he was entitled to take a drop.
The player asked caddie Greg Bodine to pick up his ball, which he did. However, when DeChambeau decided to play the ball from the pathway, he couldn’t, because Bodine hadn’t marked the spot.
On getting relief back on the fairway, DeChambeau placed the ball, only for an eagle-eyed USGA rules official to intervene. The official informed him of the need to drop from knee height.
“I think the rough is incredibly penalising,” said DeChambeau, who opened with a 73. “Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie. It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.”
Quote
“It just puts so much pressure on every single part of your game constantly, whether it’s off the tee, whether it’s putting green, whether it’s around the greens or it’s the iron shots into the green. Luckily, the wind wasn’t too much up today, but it could be a bloodbath out here if it suddenly starts to blow” – Thomas Detry acknowledges life could get very tricky on the Oakmont course
