It's billed as golf's toughest test and the hardest course setup of any of the four Major championships, but does recent scoring indicate that the US Open is not as tough as it once was?
Oakmont will present another daunting US Open test, as the venue with the longest par 3 and par 5 in tournament history, and deep, gnarly rough that will be the talk of the week.
Finding long, narrow fairways then hitting to hard and fast greens is the trademark of US Open golf, with the USGA always looking to make par a good score.
But recently the trend has been for US Open winners to go lower more often than in the early days - with modern, athletic players and huge technological advances no doubt helping.
In post-war US Opens, just 14 of the first 34 winners finished under par, the lowest total was eight under par and the champions were a combined +7 during that stretch.
Things changed way back in 1980, which started a run of 26 consecutive US Opens with winning scores of par or better - and in total only five of the last 45 tournament champions have finished over par.
Tiger Woods carded the first double-figured winning score with his incredible 12 under at Pebble Beach in 2000, but there were a couple of tough US Opens in the next decade the reduced the average winner to just 2.35 under par.
The real difference has come in the last quarter of a century, with four double-digit winning scores in 24 US Opens - following on from 100 years with just Tiger's exploits breaking that barrier.
Rory McIlroy (-16), Brooks Koepka (-16), Gary Woodland (-13) and Wyndham Clark (-10) have all torn up US Open venues - where an average of 25 players finished under par per tournament.
So while we're now well used to seeing social videos of how bad the rough is, and players complaining about how rapid the greens are - these scores suggest the US Open is becoming more getable, relatively speaking.
Recent US Open winning scores
Year |
Winning Score |
Players under par |
|---|---|---|
2024 |
DeChambeau -6 |
8 |
2023 |
Clark -10 |
18 |
2022 |
Fitzpatrick -6 |
9 |
2021 |
Rahm -6 |
12 |
2020 |
DeChambeau -6 |
1 |
2019 |
Woodland -13 |
31 |
2018 |
Koepka +1 |
0 |
2017 |
Koepka -16 |
31 |
2016 |
D. Johnson -4 |
4 |
2015 |
Spieth -5 |
8 |
2014 |
Kaymer -9 |
3 |
2013 |
Rose +1 |
0 |
2012 |
Simpson +1 |
0 |
2011 |
McIlroy -16 |
20 |
However, while winners have been able to score well, overall the field have still struggled, with just two events this century seeing more than 30 players finishing under par for the week.
And you have runaway winners like Martin Kaymer finishing on nine under as one of just three players in red figures, while Bryson DeChambeau was the only man to break par at Winged Foot in 2020.
So while those winning totals may suggest an easier ride, the rest of the field certainly suffered at the hands of the USGA.
We've had seven US Opens where nobody broke par since the turn of the century, while even last year at Pinehurst only eight players were under par.
If we look across these last 14 US Opens since 2010 then, the champions are a cumulative -94, so an average of 6.7 under par for each winner - which would indicate that it's becoming an easier task.
However, in those same 14 tournaments just 145 players finished the week under par, so that average of just 10 from usually around 156 of the best players in the world managing to break par would suggest the US Open is still an almighty test of golf.
And it's actually ever so slightly tougher to break par over the last five years, with just 48 of the 768 players to tee it up at those US Opens managing to shoot red numbers.
So what we're seeing is that although the headline winning numbers are getting lower, they're generally separating themselves from the pack - so while it does seem easier for the winners to shoot a low score, the US Open remains generally the toughest test in men's golf.
