A Grip on Sports: If you like watching professional golfers brought to their knees in agony, this weekend’s U.S. Open at Oakmont might be perfect for you
A GRIP ON SPORTS • “Hard” is a word you hear thrown around in sports a lot, even when what’s actually happening isn’t all that, you know, difficult. In a couple cases this week, though, it is actually 100% true.
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• Is it possible to take out a bunch of trees and actually make a golf course harder? This weekend’s U.S. Open course, Oakmont Country Club, near Pittsburgh, will try to answer that question.
If you watch Johnny Miller’s Open-winning final round 63 at the place from 1973, one thing you may notice is all the trees on the course. Besides the awful quality of the broadcast, of course. There were no trees back when the course opened in 1903, and that was part of Henry Fownes’ design. He built the place by hand – or by the hands of the 150 people he had working for him – on an old farm next to the Allegheny River. All the trees had been removed years before and Fownes found other ways to make the course as difficult as he could.
Seventy years later the course had trees everywhere and looked nothing like Fownes’ dream. It was still one of the toughest tracks in America but his wide-open, heavily-bunkered, large-greened nightmare had lost some of its individuality and uniqueness.
Miller ate it up. Though he was alone in that regard that magical Sunday.
It wasn’t, however, the meal Fownes’ imagined. It is once more.
In 2023, the USGA and the club’s membership decided to bring in designer Gil Hanse. Give him the keys to the grounds, basically, and have him take the place back to the original design. The trees were already gone, removed in another renovation before Angel Cabrera’s 5-over won the 2007 Open. But the way their shade and roots had changed the place still needed fixing.
When Dustin Johnson won the Open there in 2016, finishing 4-under, the Fownes’ course proved not to be the same test.
Enter Hanse. Over the course of two years his crew, in a sense, took everything back to 1903. He built a modern/ancient course.
The modern? The sprinklers. The grass. The length. But the challenge is an ancient one, all rough and bunkers and large, fast greens.
Hanse’s rebuild brought the Oakmont of 2025 closer to Oakmont of 1903 than when Miller walked the grounds.
And it also should build on the course’s legacy. After all, this will be 10th men’s U.S. Open on the course and 21st major overall.
It was a monster back in the day, when the Fownes’ family controlled the club with an iron fist. The first U.S. Open played there in 1927 was won by Tommy Armour, who defeated Harry Cooper in an 18-hole playoff. His winning score? Thirteen over par.
Yes, it was a beast back then. And may well be this weekend.
• Another hard part of sports? Rebuilding a college conference. That certainly seems to be true at least as far as the Pac-12 is concerned.
In a little over a year, the conference will be back. But there is still much to be done. Two big steps have been taken in the past couple weeks, as new members Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State and San Diego State officially informed the Mountain West they were out. Those five, along with Gonzaga and the two legacy schools, agreed to grant their media rights to the Pac-12 as well.
What’s left? A media deal. The addition of another football playing member or two, to meet the NCAA-mandated minimum of eight. Other minutia, as in schedules and sports offered and playoff setups.
Nothing matters as much as the media agreement, however. That will define the conference’s financial strength. Its ability to keep moving forward in the modern world of pay-for-play and super conferences and unlimited transfers.
All indications are the basics of the agreement have been hammered out. Four companies are expected partner with the Pac-12 for football and basketball, the key components.
With that in place, expansion should follow quickly. It seems Larry Scott’s dream of adding a Texas component to the conference footprint may finally be realized, though it won’t be the University of, as he hoped in 2011.
No matter who the conference adds, the bones will finally be in place. And 2026 we will finally be able to welcome a full-fledged Pac-12 back.
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WSU: Yes, it’s true. Recruiting never pauses. Greg Woods has a story this morning on the Cougars’ latest 2026 football recruit. And throws in a note about bus service to home football games. … We linked Jon Wilner’s column on the media rights above. And do it again here in case you missed it. … Same with John Canzano’s column on the same subject. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, we have the local folks at the NCAA track and field championships covered in the Gonzaga section below. Here we want to highlight the event in Eugene, cover stories from teams and individuals such as Oregon, California, Colorado and Arizona State. … In football, Washington is once again proving the recruiting adage we expound. … So is Arizona State and Colorado State. … Deion Sanders has been dealing with some health issues recently. … Utah may already have its quarterback of the future on the roster. … Boise State’s athletic director is willing to answer questions from the school’s fans. … In basketball news, replay review in basketball is changing. No more time constraints, no more allowing the officials to check whether they made the right out-of-bounds call (though other calls are still covered). Now it will be up to the coaches in a challenge system remarkably similar to the NBA model. One challenge. Another if it is upheld. But if two are wrong? Too bad if the third one decides the game. … USC’s men picked up a transfer from Dartmouth. … David Greenwood, who starred in high school in Southern California and at UCLA in the 1970s, died this week. He was 68. … In baseball news, Oregon State’s luck as an athletic school seems to have finally turned. The Beavers are ready for Omaha. … So is Arizona.
Gonzaga: The NCAA track and field championships are in Eugene this weekend. The Zags will be represented with a couple distance runners. The Cougars will have a distance runner and sprinters competing. Greg Lee covers them all in this story.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, a men’s assistant basketball coach has left Montana for a head coaching position. … Weber State filled a couple spots in its coaching ranks. … Northern Arizona will make noise at the NCAA meet again.
Preps: Last night Spokane did one of the things it does best. Honor and recognize young athletes. Dave Nichols was at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox as the Spokane Youth Sports Awards were handed out for the 11th time.
Indians: Dave also spent time monitoring Spokane’s road contest at Vancouver. The Indians had a lot of opportunities they failed to cash in and fell 5-1 to the Canadians.
Kraken: Lane Lambert is going to start his Seattle tenure with a measured approach.
Mariners: Here it is, the morning of June 11 and the M’s have reverted to the mean. To .500, actually. They have won 33 times and lost 33 times after their 10-3 defeat in Arizona, their 14th loss in their last 20 games. … Logan Evans was called up from Tacoma as Bryce Miller was back on the injured list. Evans started and took the loss.
Storm: There has been a lot of emphasis on playing through Gabby Williams this season.
Sounders: The USMNT is still backpedaling under new coach Mauricio Pochettino. It lost for the fourth consecutive time last night, this one to Switzerland 4-0.
Seahawks: Seattle will have one distinction this season. The Hawks are paying their punter more than anyone in the NFL. Michael Dickson signed the largest-ever contract for his position. … The first day of a two-day minicamp yielded a lot to cover. And we have links to the stories we found.
Sonics: Hey, maybe they will be back soon. Until then, how about the NBA finals? Game three is tonight. It is crucial for both teams.
Golf: Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite this week. But we think defending champion Bryson DeChambeau is the fans’ favorite as he tries to overpower a course and tournament known for heavily penalizing wayward shots.
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• Sorry we are a little late today. The dog was uncontrollable. Ya, that’s the ticket. Blame the dog. No other reason, like watering the tomatoes because you had writer’s block for a while. It did work, though. Until later …