Shane Lowry knows more than most how difficult Oakmont will be at next week’s US Open and it’s not because he had a four shot lead heading into the final round in 2016.
In fact, if you had asked Lowry after five holes of a practice round he would have snapped your hand off just to make the cut or even avoid an embarrassing 36-hole score after he was overwhelmed by the apparent difficulty of the golf course in a practice round nine years ago.
Lowry recalled how he was bamboozled by the golf course and was left wondering how he was going to be able to play it in competition.
“I’ve got a good story about that,” quipped Lowry. “The first time I played Oakmont was the Sunday before the U.S. Open 2016, and I went out to play with — my coach was with me and we teed off on 10. We got around to 14, which is up beside the clubhouse, and I walked in. And I sat there in the locker room going, I have no idea how I’m going to play golf around this place.
“And then six days later, I had a four-shot lead going into the final round. But, obviously, we got a bit of rain — that was before the rain. It was firm and fast when I played it that Sunday, and it was windy. We got a bit of rain that week. Which helped us. But, yeah, Oakmont, I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s going to play like, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of it.”
The Offaly man has long been associated as someone who plays tough golf courses or tough conditions well, highlighted by his Open Championship victory in 2019 and overall strong performances in major championships since and he is one of the favourites heading into what is traditionally known as the hardest tournament in golf.
“It wasn’t that I felt like I couldn’t play it, but I was just like, This is too hard, I’m going in. You know what I mean? It was like it was one of those and, honestly, if it didn’t rain — I remember it rained on Wednesday and Thursday that week. If it didn’t rain that week, God knows what the winning score would have been.”
Oakmont’s par-3 8th hole is expected to play up to 300 yards long and it has already been the centre of attention this week, coming in for widespread criticism from players who are unsurprisingly not relishing the prospect of hitting timber into a par-3.
“Yeah, we played it in 2016. It’s, you know, it’s probably going to be a wood for most players. It is what it is. Is it going to be the greatest par three we ever played? Probably not. But it is what it is and it’s going to be on the scorecard and we need to play,” added Lowry.
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