Issue No. 216 | June 14, 2025 | Read Online

OAKMONT, Pa. — Tell me what you see here.

Is this …

1. Someone who just shot 78-84 at the U.S. Open to miss the cut by 15 shots? … or

2. Someone who has won three times in his last four starts, is playing the best golf since Tiger Woods in his literal prime and remains just seven back of the U.S. Open lead with two full rounds to go and very few proven champions in front of him?

Golf is insane. Expectations are difficult. Everything feels elusive.

This is life, parenting, marriage etc. too. You think you have it figured it out, and then you’re on the metaphorical range screaming at your swing coach of 20 years about how you’re trying to hit a 3-yard draw but the ball is cutting 2 yards instead.

You’ll never figure it out.

The delight is in the difficulty, of entering the arena over and over again.

Players talk all the time about how playing golf has taught them so much about life. Watching it has done the same for me.

Onto my thoughts on Round 2 of the U.S. Open.

But First!

Today’s newsletter is presented by Meridian Putters.

Given the putting of a few guys on the Euro Ryder Cup team who may or may not be in contention this weekend, they might need to visit Meridian founder Ryan Duffey, who’s live at Oakmont, to try some new flat sticks before their final 36. We recommend the Key West.

Major championships are canvases that allow artists to paint, and that speaks to exactly what the folks at Meridian are building as well.

Here’s what founder Ryan told me recently.

We're the putter company that thinks that when Tiger says he likes to hook putts, you don't get that with a torque-less putter. We're in that camp where feel matters, and we're sticking with it.
Ryan Duffey

Feel matters. I love that. It’s how I run this newsletter, what I love about golf and one of the many reasons I appreciate Meridian’s partnership.

OK, now onto the news.

Happy National Golf Cart Day to those who celebrate.

12 Thoughts on Round 2 of the U.S. Open

1. That 65 by Sam Burns may or may not sound impressive to you, but he gained an astounding 9.8 strokes on the field (which averaged 74.8) on Friday.

That number could adjust up to 10.0+ SG on Data Golf given the elite field strength of this tournament, but even if it doesn’t, it’s still a top 200 round of the last 40 years (you can see the full list right here).

We get roughly two of these ~10 SG rounds a year (this one is the best of the year so far), and getting one at Oakmont on Friday in the second round was a true delight.

2. I talked about this a bit on Thursday, and it’s something that was discussed for a while in the media center today … it will be difficult to root against Burns this weekend given his proximity to the guy I led off this newsletter with.

Always in his shadow, always being asked to give color about what Scottie is doing, what Scottie is like, how much you enjoy staying with Scottie on the road, where your families vacation together, what Scottie ate today, how many dumps did he take.

That is … it’s difficult.

It’s complex.

Burns handles it all very well, but surely it must be tiring to feel like you’re running PR for the top player on the planet. Seeing the opposite this weekend — Scottie being asked questions about what Burns is like and what makes him tick — that would be a nice reverse of the norm. For everyone, and Burns most of all.

Wave those terrible [golf] towels for The Bash Brothers!

3. Adam Scott, huh? I’m here for it. His 1.5 majors (a Masters and a Players) is not enough of a resume for somebody of his stature, somebody who’s been that good.

Here’s the list of Augusta-Oakmont champions.

• Dustin Johnson
• Angel Cabrera
• Jack Nicklaus
• Ben Hogan

Scott would fit nicely on there as one of the best ball-strikers who has ever lived.*

This is really where my mind goes at the start of every year and what I think about is … of course I'd like to win lots more tournaments, any of them, to be perfectly honest. I'd like to win something. I have put together a nice career, but I think another major more would really go a long way in fulfilling my own self, when it's all said and done.
This is all I'm really playing for are these big events. There's probably eight of them off the top of my mind a year that I really want to win.
Adam Scott

*I won’t apologize.

4. The scoring spread over the first three rounds was officially 38. Burns shot 137, and poor George Duangmanee shot 175 after putting up an 89 on Friday.

He gamely spoke after his round, and you could almost hear the shock in his voice.

This Gabby Herzig piece is worth the read.

The smile wasn’t particularly wide, but it was a smile. After playing in his first U.S. Open, after exploring every last inch of Oakmont Country Club, and after sinking one last putt to mercifully break 90, George Duangmanee deserved to grin as little or as much as he wanted.
“I knew it was going to be a hard test coming in, but I didn’t think it was going to be this hard,” Duangmanee said, standing outside Oakmont’s scoring area. With scores of 86-89, he finished his 36 holes at the U.S. Open at 35-over-par. Duangmanee stood in 156th place. Out of 156 players.
The Athletic

Walking around this place seeing guys with numbers that make you squint — surely, I’m not seeing that score correctly — it’s tough to watch at times. It makes you wonder if they’re humiliated, embarrassed, ashamed to even be in the field.

But I respect so much the willingness to grind to the very end.

Matt Fitzpatrick fist pumped a late putt to get in at +7. James Hahn, at +13 and playing in infirmary weather (sickos only), was smiling at the very end, even though he was T119 at the time he finished.

Guys are 15, 25, 38 shots back, just grinding their faces off.

Not only does making the cut really mean something here because of how difficult the test is, finishing with your best stuff and your pride as a competitor means something, too. It’s honestly inspiring to watch this from various players every single year.

Where the mind goes on 5.5+ hour rounds.

This post will continue below for Normal Club members and includes …

Some thoughts on Rory’s weird week few months.
Scottie’s chances of actually winning.
A preposterous normal sport moment from Justin Rose’s round.

If you aren’t yet a Normal Club member, you can sign up right here.

If you are, keep reading!

Welcome to the members-only portion of today’s newsletter. I hope you both enjoy it and find it to be valuable to your golf and/or personal life.

5. It’s difficult to imagine more uninspiring, less compelling two months from Rory following his Masters win and grand slam completion. All of it has been absolutely miserable during what should be the most joyous victory lap of his professional career.

I want to say I don’t really understand why this is the case, but then I think about The Duval.

You remember.

Coming back from Lytham in 2001, flying with the Claret Jug, asking … “Is that all there is?” Apocryphal or not, it gets at the very human condition that we are never fully satisfied with our achievements or the things we think will fulfill us.

I do wonder if that’s what Rory is experiencing right now.

In some ways, how could you not be experiencing that right now? This thing that has been built up for the last 10 years and then you accomplish it in the most unbelievably dramatic way imaginable. How could there not be a letdown?

It seems like he’s at least been trying to celebrate it — traveling the world, going to soccer matches, taking more down time. But then he rocks up for weeks like this, and he doesn’t seem very freed up. In some ways, he seems even more weighed down. Again, I think in a lot of ways this is a very human reaction. Not one I expected from him necessarily, but definitely one that makes some sense.

He’s pretty clearly disinterested in golf right now — he has more or less said he hasn’t been practicing or playing as much as he needs to — and he definitely needs a goal reset (as Adam Scott spoke to here).

That will come over time. There are few bigger sickos than him, but the interim has been weird and not very fun for anyone, seemingly him most of all, which gets at the bigger issue here.

6. Rory normally has such a gravity around him at these tournaments. Yeah, Scottie might be the favorite, but you can feel that Rory is the one around which the whole thing swings. That has not really been true this week.

He has felt — I cannot believe I’m saying this — irrelevant at times, in part because he refuses to speak to the media after his rounds (he’s now turned down requests after every major round since he won the Masters).

This is a bizarre and, if I may say, somewhat amateur way of going about things from someone who has been a tremendous professional — on and off the course — for nearly 20 years now.

This is also why I wonder if he’s experiencing The Duval.

Anyway, I thought of — another thing I can’t believe I’m saying — this Red Bull episode of the Founders Podcast as it relates to Rory.

[Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz] says the most dangerous thing … is low interest. That reminds me of Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid [and] Steve Jobs' hero …. He said something that was fascinating.
Edwin Land, like Mateschitz, would tell you that indifference is your enemy.
Founders Podcast

We are a long way from Rory actually being irrelevant. I’m only saying that he has felt irrelevant this week. That has been very odd. I haven’t found myself caring about his rounds, whether he makes the cut, whether he doesn’t.

I got a text from a good friend, who is a sociopathic Rory fan, and it said, Part of why I love Rory is because he was so engaging [with fans and people who enjoy watching him play], gave so much. This, though? I’m just kind of over it.

I thought that summed it up pretty well.

Strange times all the way around.

Future player media obligations courtesy of USGA x Normal Sport x HappyOrNot.

7. Speaking of not speaking! Paul McGinley had a really interesting segment on Thursday evening on Live From where he blamed “golf” for players not speaking with the media. He also popped Rory (and others) a bit, but he said “golf” needed to mandate it, require it.

Couple of things here.

1. I agree.

2. Who exactly is “golf?” There are four different major organizations involved with Bryson and Scottie over the next five weeks. We need to be more specific about naming names here.

3. I think there is a bit of a self-driving car problem here. What does that mean? When you talk to someone about whether they would use a self-driving car, they always say something like, Oh I would never do that. And when you show them the data that very clearly shows that the best thing for the entire population is to use self-driving cars, they retort that this is not the best thing for them because they are the 1-in-10,000 that is better than a self-driving car.

That’s how players pushing back on media feels right now.

I get that this might be best for you, but brother if everyone acted in their own self-interest, that would be very bad for the collective we. That doesn’t lead to a solution obviously, but it’s something I was thinking about on Friday morning while walking around the course.

8. The course. I set up shop on No. 1 on Friday for a while and just watched shots in as well as chips and putts. Impossible hole. Ridiculous landing area, balls feeding for 25, 35, 45 yards. Everything moving as fast as possible from front to back. I absolutely loved it. Couldn’t get enough.

Hovland, sicko that he is, couldn’t either.

Usually that's a pet peeve of mine. I almost automatically think it's a bad hole if it's sloped front to back. Somehow they make it work here. I think it's a fun challenge. It's a fun test.
Viktor Hovland

There are so many terrific spots to set up shop here at Oakmont to watch players take on a course that could not possibly — no matter what Viktor says — look less fun to play in these conditions.

Another major another Bryson meme.

9. You could partially understand what happened to Justin Rose on the second hole when he banged one of his many shots off a tree and it ended up here. But I am pleading with you to watch the video.

It’s the hardest I’ve laughed all week.

Screenshot via Josh Berhow

10. More normal stuff. I’m sitting in the media center, scrolling through transcripts, Oh Denny McCarthy, wonder what he had to say, OK there’s Rahm, I bet that was good, though he may have eaten his putter … wait Josh Shapiro?!

Like, the governor??

Correct, the near presidential candidate was here on Friday, talking ball with some Ohio State boys. And he apparently held a press conference!

11. Is Si Woo the best quote of all time?

It's just trying not to make big numbers. I think that's the very important for this week. If I have some chance, get some birdie, and try not to make double, triple. That's it.
Si Woo Kim

That’s it.

👑

12. Guys … I think Hovland might win. He’s leading the field from tee to green, is second in approach, fifth in ball striking and hasn’t made a putt.

I also think Scottie might win.

He was at war with himself (and possibly everyone within two club lengths of him) on Friday evening, but you know he’s going to find something over the next two days and then it’s just a matter if he’s too far back or if he can go full Rich Strike from the 2022 Derby.

Scottie is four back of fourth with just four other major winners (Keegan, Scott, Brooks and Jason Day) to pass. He’s 75th off the tee, but that won’t last forever. It would be less surprising if he won than if we didn’t hear from him at all over the next 36.

Last one … I don’t think Brooks will win, but I’ll say this: If you’re holding serve at the top of this board, don’t let him get a sniff on Sunday.

Killers just need a single whiff and for a bit of the oxygen to leave the room, and you don’t want to see what happens after that.

Thank you for reading until the end.

You’re a complete and total sicko for reading a newsletter about golf that is 2,688 words (!!) long, although not as sick as the guys playing Oakmont in a driving rain while +21 for the week late in the day on Friday.

We are grateful for your support of this business.