Pendrith battles brutal Oakmont layout at U.S. Open
Published
After getting out early and putting up a respectable score for the first round of the U.S. Open, Taylor Pendrith had just one thought.
“I’m happy to be done,” he said after a two-over 72 left him tied for 15th place at the time of his finish.
Pendrith was one of many golfers who battled an exceedingly difficult Oakmont Country Club course that refused to give up many under-par rounds to the morning wave. Thick rough, slick greens and long holes meant anything but a near perfect shot would be penalized.
When the morning tee times finished, only one hole was playing under par to the field and bogeys outnumbered birdies more than two to one.
“It’s a hard course,” stated Pendrith. “It was a grind.”
The difficulty started early for the native of Richmond Hill, Ont. Starting on the back nine, he pulled his tee shot into the rough and hacked it out just short of the green. A chip which appeared to be ready to settle near the cup, rolled some 50 past. His first putt went slightly long and although he was left with just a five-footer, he had to play it a foot outside the hole and just drift it in.
“It was not really what I wanted for 7:20 in the morning,” laughed Pendrith, who teed off at 7:07 a.m.
“Honestly, every shot is uncomfortable. Even the short putts.”
Pendrith added another bogey on the 12th hole and made his lone birdie of the day with a chip-in on the 17th. There was one bogey on the front nine, that coming on the second hole, but the other eight pars were far more eventful than they looked on the scorecard.
“I didn’t drive it very good early in the round and was just hacking out of the thick rough and really scrambling to make pars,” he admitted. “Then I kind of got in a groove mid-way through the round and on the second nine, I was hitting the driver good again and hit some good shots and it was good to make two putts on the last two to save par.”
Pendrith played with J.J. Spaun, who posted a bogey-free round of 66 to take the lead. It marked just the second bogey-free round in the last three U.S. Open championships held at Oakmont. Spaun missed six greens during his stroll around the historic course and managed to scramble for par every time.
No matter the score, one of the common comments heard from players coming off the course was just how fatiguing it was. That’s not surprising considering the heat, the difficult course and the five-and-a-half-hour rounds that kept players waiting on almost every swing.
“It’s really mentally draining,” Pendrith said. “You have to focus really hard on every single shot. There are no easy shots out there. I’m tired for sure.”
When asked what he was going to work on ahead of Friday’s second round, Pendrith had a quick answer.
“I’m going to work on some sleep.”