If you wished you could have watched the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont, don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. With the heavy showers that fell Wednesday night and into Thursday, the course was soggy and soppy and completely different from the treacherous Oakmont — considered the most difficult of all U.S. Open venues, which says more than enough — that the players experienced in their practice rounds.
Some were critical of the USGA’s decision to not allow the players to warm-up again on the driving range and practice putting green (OK, that’s a little extreme) after a weather delay that lasted 79 minutes on Thursday. (I mean, look, I get it, golfers are very OCD, and even a few years ago, the idea of NOT hitting balls before a casual round almost gave me a panic attack, but I’m sure the USGA was just trying to get in as many holes as possible.)