Rough, tough and testing: Golf's US Open is how sport should be

Bryson DeChambeau's US Open starts at just about half-past seven on a Thursday morning with a loud call of "fore left." The American has the muscle to audition for the Reacher series, but this course doesn't care about power — only precision engineering.

- Rohit Brijnath

Bryson DeChambeau's US Open starts at just about half-past seven on a Thursday morning with a loud call of "fore left." The American has the muscle to audition for the Reacher series, but this course doesn't care about power — only precision engineering. "Every shot you're on a knife edge," says Robert MacIntyre. This course cuts.

"These guys are good" is the old US PGA Tour line and they most certainly are, but Oakmont Country Club, with a sneer, is asking: but how good? The rough in this acreage is exactly as advertised: it gulps the ball, snags clubs, covers shoes, mangles skill, inflames moods.

At day's end, Rory McIlroy didn't talk to the media, and it's understandable. Better to go straight to the hotel room and fume in private. At the par-three eighth, he takes two shots to get out of the rough. At the par-five fourth, he needs three to return to the fairway. He finishes with a four-over 74. DeChambeau is three over. Scottie Scheffler, who has over-par rounds in Majors as often as Rafael Nadal once had meltdowns on clay, has a 73.

Lovely, isn't it?

This is how sport should be, posing rude questions, driving champions into a state of bewilderment, asking them to reach deeper into themselves. And this day, the first day, is a fine day of even conditions. Imagine if the wind starts blowing? And what happens when the greens get firmer?