The Opening Hole Could Be Oakmont's Cruelest

Anticipating a fluid third round leaderboard at Oakmont, a good crowd gathered around the first green at the storied club for the better half of the draw to pass through the opening hole.  With the pin lodged on the middle-back of the green and just feet from a patented Oakmont ridge line, the hole was clearly going to yield few birdies on Saturday.

Players hoping that the course was firm enough for their ball to take a good hop forward played their approach shots to just over the false front of the putting surface.  For group after group, though, those players were left with long putts when the false front proved too soft and left their shot well short of the cup.

From there, players had a nearly impossible two-putt for par.  Two players putted it off of the green from that position.  As Sophie Gustafson, the second player to do so, tracked her ball off of the back of the green, a fan shouted, "Yeah! That's fair!" toward the white shirts inside the ropes.

Some players were too aggressive with their approach, landing the ball perhaps ten feet further than the strategic group.  These players likely thought that the green could be soft enough to land a ball and hold Oakmont's first before it slid off of the back of the green.  Not true, though.  Almost every player that tried finished off of the back of the green.

What seemed to work best on the day was short-siding one's self on the right hand side of the green.  Ai Miyazato made a great up-and-in from there, and several of the pars came from chip shots that played from there. 

Others landed about 30 yards short and left of the green, either because of a poor drive or lousy contact on their approach.  The idea most players had was to bump the ball shy of the green and let the speed and firmness carry the ball to the hole.  It did that alright, but also past the hole and off of the green.

On the whole, just one birdie was made at the first hole on Saturday and none by the lead groups.  The hole was the toughest on the course, playing to an average of 4.662 shots.  Call it a par five.

With every group waiting in the fairway, helplessly watching what was likely to unfold for them on the putting surface, the third round started in a backup.  By the time the final two groups had reached the first tee, the start times had been delayed some fifteen minutes.

The brutal welcome at the first hole, though, paved the way to some much easier holes on Oakmont's front side.  The final four holes on the front were ranked 10th or higher, including the 17th ranked par five ninth.  The only hole to play more under par was the 228 yard par 4 17th - easier by 0.06 shots.

Pace of play improved, though was still slow because of the grueling conditions.  Still, it is easily conceivable that there was no amount of head shaking done on the course on Saturday as much as there was at the first.