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3 Key Things to Know About the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont
By Ryan Adams, PGA
Published on
Oakmont, famous for its toughness, is back hosting the U.S. Open. (Photo by Fred Vuich/USGA)
Oakmont and the U.S. Open. It's like peanut butter and jelly: the ideal combination for something really good.
And golf fans will be treated this week to yet another U.S. Open, this time the 125th edition, at the renowned course outside Pittsburgh, which is known for its demanding layout, thick rough and fast greens. Oakmont provides a serious examination of one's game and that's why it's hosting a record 10th U.S. Open this week.
In short, it was a course built to identify Major Champions.
There's a lot of storylines this week, as well as a few nuggets you maybe didn't know about Oakmont. We're here to help with three things to know about the 125th U.S. Open:
A serious test awaits
When the course designer's most famous line is, "a shot poorly played should be a shot irrevocably lost," you know you're in for a doozy. That's a quote from Henry C. Fownes, Oakmont's architect, who created one of golf's cathedrals with his masterpiece that'll be on display this week. Legend has it that Fownes would watch players take on Oakmont from the porch, noting where players were hitting quality shots and not encountering trouble . . . and then ask for a bunker to be installed in that same area.
While Oakmont has looked different through the years of hosting 10 U.S. Opens, six U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships, and two U.S. Women's Opens, the version players will face in 2025 is as close as it comes to the Fownes design in recent memory. Gil Hanse came in spring of 2023 to do a "best-of" restoration, wherein he and partner Jim Wagner took a stroll through Oakmont's archives during the time when Fownes and his son William - who played an equally important role in raising the course's prestige in its early days - were alive.
(Photo by Fred Vuich/USGA)
And if there's one course that deserves to be played as the best version of itself, Oakmont is in the running. For instance, when describing the restoration work, Hanse told the USGA that No. 1 in 1927 was ideal for the modern game. As was the 1935 version of the second hole, and so on throughout the course. What results is what the Fownes always wanted.
An unapologetically difficult test to determine the best golfer.
"I always describe Oakmont as the hardest place you'll play with one golf ball," says PGA of America Golf Professional Devin Gee, the course's Head Professional. "It's hard to lose a golf ball, but it's also hard to shoot good scores."
Plenty of coverage
One of the best things about golf Major Championships? The amount of TV coverage available is always a delight, and the U.S. Open, like the other majors so far this year, delivers.
Bryson DeChambeau is in search of consecutive U.S. Open titles (Photo courtesy of USGA).
Here's the viewing schedule from Oakmont (all times Eastern):
Thursday, June 12
- 6:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., USA Network
- 5-8 p.m., Peacock
Featured Groups AM
- Ludvig Aberg, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama; 7:17 a.m.
- Xander Schauffele, Jose Luis Ballester, Bryson DeChambeau; 7:28 a.m.
- Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy; 7:39 a.m.
Featured Groups PM
- Min Woo Lee, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka; 1:02 p.m.
- Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson; 1:13 p.m.
- Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler; 1:24 p.m.
Friday, June 13
- 6:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Peacock
- 1-7 p.m., NBC
- 7-8 p.m., Peacock
Featured Groups AM
- Min Woo Lee, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka; 7:17 a.m.
- Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson; 7:28 a.m.
- Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler; 7:39 a.m.
Featured Groups PM
- Ludvig Aberg, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama; 1:02 p.m.
- Xander Schauffele, Jose Luis Ballester, Bryson DeChambeau; 1:13 p.m.
- Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy; 1:24 p.m.
Saturday, June 14
- 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., USA Network
- 12-8 p.m., NBC
Sunday, June 15
- 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., USA Network
- 12-7 p.m., NBC
Note that there is also Featured Groups coverage and U.S. Open All-Access on Peacock throughout the four days, and the groups will be added to this page when announced. Grab your popcorn!
Oakmont uncovered with Bob Ford and Devin Gee
While golf fans have heard plenty of how big and bad Oakmont is, there's also plenty of extremely interesting holes to keep an eye on during all four rounds. It's what makes Oakmont such a well-respected course - the design is fascinating and each hole provides something unique.
Later this week, PGA.com will turn to Gee and his legendary predecessor at Oakmont, Bob Ford, for a golf fan's course guide to Oakmont. There was so much good intel from the duo and among the best was their key holes to watch:
Devin Gee, PGA: "First of all, let me say that if you could play all 18 of 'em for even par for four days... that'd be a really good place to be! But I'll go with No. 3 (home of the famous Church Pew bunkers), No. 7 and No. 15. Those are obviously some of the more challenging and longer par 4s. In particular, on those three, it's partly because of their length but an even bigger part is the green complexes on those three holes. They're just 3 holes where it doesn't take a lot to get out of position. And as soon as your out of position, it's hard to make up."
The finishing hole at Oakmont. (Fred Vuich/USGA)
Bob Ford, PGA: "Devin picked some good ones. I'll take No. 1, 10 and 18. No. 1 and 10, historically over the last five or six Opens I've been around for, are the two toughest holes on the golf course... and 18 is probably in the top 5. You have to get off to a good start, and you have to finish good. 18 is just a monster. I mean if you can play those six holes (1, 3, 7, 10, 15 and 18) well, you're doing pretty good."
