Issue No. 213 | June 10, 2025 | Read Online

I am headed to Pittsburgh early on Wednesday morning for what is sure to be — if the photos and videos coming out of Oakmont are any indication — a very normal and not at all strange or bizarre week.

Surely the place that last produced a champion whose score we did not know at the time he finished will be straightforward and without incident.

I cannot wait.

Probably my third favorite on-site week of any year, behind the Masters and Ryder Cup. U.S. Opens are magnificent, and Oakmont U.S. Opens in particular are about as special as championship golf gets.

Let’s get right to the news.

But First … a Giveaway!

Today’s newsletter is presented by Garmin.

We have partnered with the good folks at Garmin this week to give away one of their Approach S70 watches. I wear mine every single day and absolutely love it. The S70 may not have "finding-ball-in-Oakmont-rough technology”, but, for everything else, it’s got your game covered.

All you have to do is 1. Be subscribed to the newsletter (which you are) and 2. Be the closest to guessing my exact step count (Monday-Sunday) during U.S. Open week. You can make your guess right here.

A couple of hopefully helpful hints for our readers.

I won’t be on site until Wednesday around noon.
My number from last year is out there.
I am guessing I walk more than I did last year because I don’t have as many responsibilities.
I walked 10K steps at home on Monday and anticipate that number on Tuesday as well.

Good luck!

OK, now onto the news.

We’re in the thick of it now.

Normal Sport

Some jewels from the last week or so.

1. This is incredible. What a stupid, incomparable sport.

2. This video of 25 guys mowing in matching uniforms is also extremely amusing.

Especially when combined with this tweet.

3. I saw a comment somewhere on Twitter that the bunkers at Oakmont provide spectators with a fun “church pew grass or pickles?” game.

The closer you look, the funnier it gets.

A fun 100% true Oakmont fact [from Jason]: If you visit the Oakmont clubhouse, you’ll see Henry C. Fownes’ original inspiration for the church pew bunkers: a mug he received from William C. for Father’s day 1888. Talk about éclaircissement.

4. This was an amazing tweet from the Rockies after that stat about how Scottie had more wins than them over the last month started making the rounds.

They ripped this off after sweeping the Marlins last week.

Twitter really is perfect sometimes.

5. The following quote on a young phenom absolutely killed me.

He's the GOAT. I actually believe that. He's really good, man. He's been doing it for so long, and he knows [everything] in and out.
ESPN

Why did it kill me? Well because the young phenom is not Jackson Koivun or Ben James but rather … 13-year-old Faizan Zaki, who just won the national spelling bee.

I’m not sure why it got me so good. Maybe it was just totally unexpected as I was reading the article. Maybe it was thinking about how hilarious it would be for me to call one of my kids the GOAT at anything. Just an amazing quote about a dude who spells.

Plus, he won with éclaircissement: a clearing up of something obscure, which describes about 80% of what we do around here.

Big letter hats have officially gone too far.

Oakmont Notes

• This Xander quote got my attention on Monday.

Q. Have you had a look at the par-3 8th, and what strategy do you have on a hole that could reach 300 yards this week?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's just a golf hole. If you can peel a par away from it, you just figure out how best to make a score on it. I think you might hurt a few egos if you see guys pulling driver or some long clubs in there, but at the end of the day, however you feel you're going to make the best score in there is how you should play it.

Why are we so concerned with par? If you threw a 4 next to the par of the hole, would anyone feel embarrassed about hitting driver there?

I do understand the shame involved (I, too, hit driver here when I played the course in 2016), but at the same time I also think it’s the silliest thing in the world that we are so emotionally tethered to the par of a hole.

• I got the following question from a reader on Monday: What are you most looking forward to this week? (A certain player, a certain hole, Jordan inevitably hitting a shot from the turnpike, writing 2,500 words about what Rory says before the tournament even starts)?

I’d like to answer that by referencing a different Xander quote.

Q. You kind of mentioned how tough this course is. Where does that enjoyment come from in challenging yourself in places like this?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's a challenge. It's challenging myself to try and hit every fairway, to try and hit every green, to try and be disciplined like through and through. There's going to be a point where you lay up into a bad spot, and it goes to laying up again from that layup spot. If you have a decent lie, you might try to take some risk, and that's part of the fun.

I love the attitude of embracing the challenge of an Oakmont U.S. Open.

What Xander is describing is not even really about swinging a golf club but more about the emotional and mental toll of a national championship. That’s very compelling to me because I love to see great, great players put in positions that make them uncomfortable. Full examinations are better than pop quizzes.

And while I think this year lacks a truly singular storyline now that Rory’s major drought has been broken, so many superstars who are playing so well taking on this course is going to be terrific theater. A real U.S. Open without any need for tricks or illusions.

• That same reader also sent this question: Who wins in a perfect world at what score?

I think it’s Bryson at like +2 but after a lengthy Sunday tussle with either Scottie or Rory, right? A French Open redux but with cool bunkering and geometrically pleasing green shapes instead of crushed bricks and Dirk Nowitzki in the stands.

Rory-Scottie-Bryson as the first three major winners of the year would be pretty insane, and all of a sudden we’re into a “can Bryson get to five?” conversation after he joins Jack, Hogan, Tiger and Hale Irwin as the only post-WW2 three-time U.S. Open winners.

You could also talk me into Scottie getting to four and going to Portrush for the career slam as a perfect world winner. The hyperbole would be out of control (which you know I love) and also … kind of warranted?

Augusta
Augusta
Quail Hollow
Oakmont

At age 28?

In this economy?

One interesting note is that six straight majors have been won by multi-time champions. Technically, Xander won his first last May but he has since added to that one. In order, it’s …

Scottie
Rory
Xander
Bryson
Xander
Scottie

It’s extremely difficult to envision someone from outside that group winning this one, too. This makes for good fun because the more multi-time major winners who continue winning, the more historic each of those wins becomes.

• This short NLU video depicting every hole at Oakmont is perfect. If you’re going to watch any of the tournament this week, that is the perfect starter set for familiarizing yourself with the golf course. For the sickest among us, this Fried Egg video is the graduate version.

Quote of the Week

Justin Thomas on Scottie Scheffler is so perfect. I have not seen a better description of what Scheffler does than this one.

It's effortless. Every single aspect of his game is unbelievable. I think his mental game is better than anybody out here.
To be able to play with those expectations and to stay present as often as he has to me is maybe more impressive than even the golf he's playing.
I just think it's so, so hard to do, and it's also hard to explain if you're in his shoes. He just doesn't make any mistakes and almost kind of lets himself be in contention versus forces himself in contention. He just seems to be playing better.
Justin Thomas

JT has talked before about how difficult winning is when you have the burden of expectation that you will win. And Scottie is only making it look easier.

Also, I love that idea of letting himself be in contention instead of trying to Kool-Aid Man his way into the top 10 is a really good way to describe what championship golf is like.

Quote of the Week II

This Xander exchange was pretty bizarre.

Q. The reigning champ really loves being a YouTube golfer, and Tommy Fleetwood just started his own YouTube account.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Nice.
Q. Has any part of you ever wanted to create a Xander Schauffele YouTube account?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Is that like a serious question?
Q. What can you take away from that stuff?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Viewing YouTube?
Q. Yeah.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It can be helpful. I've been in dark places where I've looked up swing tip things on YouTube as well, trying to make sense of it, just like every golfer has. I'll confess to it.
I'm luckily not there anymore, which is probably healthy for myself and my family (laughter). Yeah, there's a lot on there, I can tell you that much.

A few thoughts.

1. You have your own app! How is asking about starting a YT page out of bounds?
2. Xander searching for swing thoughts on YouTube? He is truly …

Stat of the Week

Really good one from JRay this week.

Rory McIlroy has finished in the top-10 at the U.S. Open each of the last 6 years. The record is 7 straight years, done 3 times, last by Ben Hogan (1950-56).
Justin Ray

To add some additional context here, I looked at everyone who has played at least 16 rounds to see what their strokes gained were.

Here’s what that looks like.

These are your nine players at +2.0 SG or better over the last six U.S. Opens. Interestingly, only three of the six winners are on here (Rahm and Bryson 2x). The other winners (Woodland, Fitz and Wyndham) have not been as consistent as these nine.

I’m not sure there’s a massive takeaway here other than “great ball-strikers play difficult golf courses well” (shocker) and also Rory has low-key been almost a stroke better per round than Scottie and Bryson at this tournament.

But Bryson has two trophies and Rory has none.

Augusta National Celebration GIF by The Masters

French Open Notes

That’s right, I have a notebook full of Sinner-Alcaraz thoughts.

• First … my gosh. What was that?! What did I watch on Sunday?!

• I was tangentially interested in the outcome because I have found myself enjoying Alcaraz and appreciating Sinner, but those last three sets were what I imagine non-golf people felt like watching Rory’s back nine at the Masters this year.

• If we are measuring a sporting event by how many times my jaw dropped open after a specific moment, then the French Open finale has to rank near the top of the list of anything I’ve ever watched.

• Sinner is beautiful to watch. The length of Del Potro with the grace and quickness of a man half that tall. He is extraordinary, and his resolve to come back from Alcaraz’s demoralization of him in winning the fourth set after saving three championship points was not something I expected. Lesser champions would have lost the fifth set 6-0.

• Alcaraz is something else altogether. Five and a half hours, and he’s hitting shots that take your breath away. How? He has the inexplicable it. Honestly, Sinner might as well, but Alcaraz has more of it. Impossible to describe, unable to be explained but like Potter Stewart … I know it when I see it.

• This happens in golf, but it is more obvious in tennis: Getting into the arena with another great either elevates or crushes your disposition. Strap in for five sets with Medvedev or 18 with Rahm, and your will may be broken. But those are the lesser players, those who may be terrific pros but will never be considered champions.

So to see two of the best take each other to those uninhabited and almost incomprehensible places in the sports universe where it is difficult to breathe and even tougher to explain what is happening. Well, that is a true joy. It doesn’t happen often. So much must align (especially in golf). But when it does — when being in the moment with another all-timer — takes you further than any amount of training ever could, those are the ones we remember.

• This from Will Knights on the importance of golf’s stars delivering in the same way those in tennis are right now is good. To add to what he said, here are some numbers from Scottie, Xander, Rory, Rahm and Bryson since the start of 2020. I think those five are probably the five best in the world in that timespan.

102 majors played (~20 each)
56 top 10s
10 wins

This means in that timespan, those five guys have won 10 majors and everyone else in the world has won 11. That’s a little bit what I’m getting at above when I talk about multi-time major winners continuing to win majors as historically relevant and important.

• Jamie Kennedy posted a video about how good this tennis analysis is, and I 100 percent agree. Andre Agassi getting steep on how Alcaraz moved his backhand move down instead of having it as high as used to and using his twitchiness to move the ball around is excellent, excellent stuff.

The Infirmary

Might be?

Corrupt Golf Media

👉️ This on Fried Egg and their thriving multi-million dollar business is encouraging and exciting. Pumped for them and hopeful for my own future!

👉️ This breakdown of Scottie’s projected major total by Data Golf is so excellent. They have him at 6.8, which I think is incredibly fair. Here’s the distribution.

👉️ Jamie makes a compelling case that DJ’s 72nd at Oakmont in 2016 is the best hole ever played.

How is this App Free?

Some absolute gems this week.

• This on Elon and Trump was excellent and possibly a deep cut.

• Twitter really was unreal last week during Elon-Trump.

• Speaking of presidents!

Love Your Work

Another David Perell special this week.

The paradox of writing apps like Grammarly is that they improve the average piece of writing while stripping out the distinctiveness and individuality that underlies so much great writing.
David Perell

Unique and distinct > polished and perfect. Sounds like Oakmont.

Thank you for reading a golf newsletter that is 2,568 words long. We are sustained in part (in large part) by readers who are fans that decide to join the Normal Club. Get in now, and you can still play for $2,500 in our U.S. Open fantasy contest this week.

Pledge your fealty