2025 U.S. Open Preview: At stately Oakmont, carnage awaits (plus our picks to win)

OAKMONT, Pa. — There are mountains, and then there’s Everest. There are tournaments, and then there is the U.S. Open. There are golf courses, and then there’s Oakmont.

If you’ve managed to score an invitation to play here, in this tournament, at this moment, you may think you’re ready.

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You’re not ready.

This week, Oakmont hosts the 125th U.S. Open, the 10th time this venerable old battleship has hosted the national open. No course has hosted more U.S. Opens, and no American course outside of Augusta National has hosted more majors.

Oakmont has been the site of some of golf’s finest moments — Arnold Palmer lost in a playoff in 1962 to a beefy youngster winning his first tournament, an Ohio kid by the name of Jack Nicklaus. Eleven years later, Johnny Miller authored one of the greatest Sunday rounds in major championship history, carding a 63 to capture the U.S. Open. Most recently, Dustin Johnson overcame a mid-round rules controversy to win the 2016 U.S. Open.

The Course

Designed by Henry Fownes, a steel industry magnate and amateur architect — he designed just this one course — Oakmont opened in 1904, immediately establishing itself as one of the toughest courses in the country. The course initially played to a par 80, even featuring a par 6 hole. For the 2025 U.S. Open, the course will run 7,372 yards and play to a par of 70.

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One of Oakmont’s most notable features is its sloping, ultra-slick greens. The entire green surface slopes either toward or away from play, posing a challenge no matter where approaches land. Sam Snead once joked that when he put down a dime to mark his ball, it slid all the way off the green.

The course’s signature elements are its two distinctive bunkers, the Church Pews — islands of fescue in the middle of a bunker between the 3rd and 4th holes — and the Piano Keys — similar peninsulas adjacent to the 15th. They’re visually distinctive, and fortunately for today’s players, they don’t still have one of Oakmont’s most diabolical creations: long furrows, carved in the Allegheny River sand by a hundred-pound rake called the “Devil’s Backscratcher.” Oakmont delights in tormenting players, but that was too much.

Key Storylines

Can anyone stop Scottie?

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No one is riding higher right now than Scottie Scheffler, three-time major winner and golf’s reigning alpha dog. He’s flirted with the U.S. Open — he has three top-seven finishes in his last four Opens — but even he will need to be at the top of his considerable game to bring this one home.

Rory’s next act

After completing his life’s mission by winning the Masters back in April, Rory McIlroy has, understandably, slowed down considerably. He posted unspectacular rounds at the PGA Championship in May, and missed the cut last week in Canada — not exactly the way you want to come into a major.

The Bryson Empire

There’s nobody in golf — heck, nobody in sports — quite like Bryson DeChambeau, who has completely remade himself from sullen nerd to affable YouTube star … and, amazingly enough, he’s one of the best players in the world besides. He won last year’s U.S. Open in one of the most dramatic finishes you’ll ever see, and he’s primed to delight his millions of social media viewers with an encore.

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Career salvation

Several recent U.S. Open champions — Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa — have found themselves unexpectedly adrift in recent years. All three could use another win to realign the trajectory of their careers. Another missed opportunity — or, worse, another missed cut — and the already-loud questions will grow deafening.

The Great Unknown

Since Tiger Woods captured that epochal U.S. Open victory in 2008, a few future Hall of Famers (McIlroy, Rahm, Koepka) have captured titles — but a whole lot of one-major champs have had the best week of their lives on the biggest week of their lives. Guys like Graeme McDowell, Webb Simpson, Lucas Glover, Gary Woodland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Wyndham Clark have stepped up when the spotlight was the brightest. Will we have another champion come from out of (almost) nowhere this week? He’ll earn it, no matter who he is.

Expert picks

Jay Hart: Collin Morikawa — Have you heard the rough is thick at Oakmont? If you haven't, you will within 30 seconds of the start of Round 1 on Thursday. So it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're going to have to stay out of trouble this week to survive. For that reason, I'm going with Morikawa, who's ranked second in hitting fairways this season. A win would also put him one leg (The Masters) from the career grand slam.

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Ryan Young: Scottie Scheffler — This is the easiest pick out there, and it doesn’t need much of an explanation. Nobody in the golf world is playing better than Scottie Scheffler right now. Not even close. He’s won three of his last four starts without much of an issue whatsoever, so why would things be any different at Oakmont? It’s only a matter of time before Scheffler breaks away from the field this week. By Sunday afternoon, he’ll have won his second straight major championship.

Jay Busbee: Bryson DeChambeau — This is what I get for picking last. I don’t have confidence in Rory McIlroy’s driver or Jon Rahm’s closing speed, so they’re out. I also am not entirely thrilled about the state of Bryson DeChambeau’s iron play — he effectively shot himself right out of both the Masters and the PGA Championship with his balky approaches — but distance is a serious weapon at Oakmont, and DeChambeau appears willing to just blast the hell out of the ball and figure out what to do next when he’s down in the shadow of the flagstick.

How to watch

Since this is a multi-day sporting event in the year 2025, naturally all coverage is spread out over a range of networks and streamers. NBC has the broadcast rights this year, which means you’ll need to locate USA Network on TV and sign up for a free preview — er, log in to your Peacock account in addition to watching on broadcast NBC. Full day-by-day schedule is right here; naturally, no two days are anywhere close to alike.

The U.S. Open begins Thursday morning. But if you happen to miss this one, don’t worry. The tournament is coming back to Oakmont in 2034, 2042 and 2049. Oakmont is going to be part of the U.S. Open story for a long, long time.