Ahead of the 125th US Open at Oakmont Country Club in June, both Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland have criticized the 290-yard par 3 eighth hole.
The eighth hole at Oakmont could play as long as 300-yards at the 2025 US Open, which both Hovland and Thomas are not fans off at all.
Justin Thomas Criticize Oakmont’s Par 3 Eighth Hole
Ahead of the 125th US Open in mid-June, some of the world’s best golfers have weighed-in with their thoughts on the infamous eighth hole at Oakmont Country Club.
The last time the US Open was held at Oakmont was back in 2016, where Dustin Johnson, who has the tied second most LIV Golf wins now since leaving the PGA Tour, triumph to capture his first major championship.
Now, Scottie Scheffler aims to go back-to-back with another major success having securing $3.42m in PGA Championship prize money for winning at Quail Hollow in early May.
However, all of the world’s best players will have to overcome the par 3 eighth hole at Oakmont. Standing at around 300 yards, Hole 8 is a daunting par 3, even for the best players on the planet.
Justin Thomas are just one of the world’s best golfers who aren’t exactly huge fans of these long par threes, instead preferring the shorter par 3 holes.
Ahead of Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, both Thomas and Hovland were vocal in their criticizm of long par 3s, in particular the eighth at akmont:
“I couldn’t tell you a par 3 over 250 yards that’s good, I would say, architecturally,” said Thomas.
“That’s not my favorite hole in the world. I think you could do some other things with that.
“But everyone’s going to have to play the same hole and going to have to execute the same shots, and I would love four 3s on it right now if I could take it,” admitted the two-time major champion.
Viktor Hovland Agrees With Thomas In Oakmont Hole 8 Criticizm
One fellow elite golfer who agrees with Justin Thomas in his criticizm of the par 3 eighth hole at Oakmont is former FedEx Cup winner Viktor Hovland.
The Norwegian golfer hasn’t been in the best form of his career this past year or 18 months, but is slowly getting back to somewhere near his best.
Ahead of Jack Nicklaus’ event at Muirfield Village, where there is $20m of Memorial Tournament prize money up for grabs, Hovland was also critical of Oakmont’s eighth hole when asked by the media:
“I just think all the best par 3s are under 200. You can maybe have it just over 200, but as soon as you start to take head covers off on par 3s, I just think it gets a little silly,” admitted Hovland.
“Yeah, man, that’s a hard hole because it’s, like, you got to be so precise from back there, and you’re hitting a 3-iron or I hit a 7-wood a couple times. I just don’t think when you have to make a hole that long, it just doesn’t become that great,” concluded Hovland.
Hole 8 At Oakmont Is The Longest Par 3 In US Open History
With Oakmont Country Club hosting the 125th US Open golf tournament, the infamous par 3 eighth hole could end up having a huge baring on the final standings come Sunday.
You can guarantee that almost every player in the 2025 US Open field would bite your hand off for four pars across the four days of action at holy 8.
Standing upward of 290-yards, and perhaps even over 300-yards in length, the eighth hole at Oakmont is officially the longest par 3 in US Open history.
Golf fans do enjoy seeing the best players in the world struggle from time to time of course, but this length of par 3 is borderline ridiculous. You might even find some players hitting driver!
All of the 125th US Open action gets underway on Thursday June 12, with all of the world’s best players hopeful of capturing the third major championship of the year.
To do so, they will have to navigate the daunting par 3 eighth hole perfectly.
