Lawn lovers, behold the wild scenes playing out at the US Open golf tournament this week.
The US Open has long been renowned as arguably the most difficult of the four golf majors, with birdies hard to come by on the course chosen for the major.
It’s no different at this year’s course, the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, where keeping the ball on the fairway will be more important than usual.
US Open organisers are notorious for keeping the rough on the edge of the fairway so tall that it’s nearly impossible to find your ball if it lands in the long grass, and even harder to hit it out of there.
Footage shared by the US Open this week of the thick rough being tamed by greenkeepers shows just how tricky it will be to play at Oakmont.
An army of Oakmont Country Club greenkeepers armed with lawnmowers have been wading through the rough to try and make things slightly easier.
Videos circulating on social media show that a ball dropped from knee height into the rough is almost completely lost in the thick stuff.
Sportswriter Chris Harlan described the scene: “Oakmont Country Club has a fleet of lawnmowers out today for the US Open.”
Golf fans were stunned by the rough grass, as well as the fact the ground staff opted to used push mowers instead of tractor mowers.
One person commented: “I can’t think of a more inefficient way to do things than mowing a golf course with push mowers.”
Another said: “There’s gotta be a better way in today’s world.”
Golfer Jhonattan Vegas wrote on X: “Good news guys, they are cutting the rough but, it’s still unplayable. Have fun.”
Fox Sports golf expert Paul Gow told news.com.au he expects it to a golfer’s nightmare this week, and the player that keeps their cool the most will come out on top.
“This is the best week of the year, you get to watch golf pros get upset with themselves,” Gow chuckled.
“Oakmont is one of the hardest golf courses in the world. It requires a player to hit so many different shots.
“It’s a frustrating golf course because there’s a lot of different angles and 175 bunkers around the golf course. You’ve got to navigate yourself around
“The rough is nice and deep so there’s an emphasis on hitting it on the fairway.
“Some of the scores to win the US Open here have been over par.
“It’s one of those golf courses the players love to hate because the greens get up ridiculously quick — quicker than Royal Melbourne.
“The greens will be running at 14 and a half to 15 on the stint meter. That will make difficult putting. And they’re big, large greens that move the ball around a lot. And there’s these little subtle breaks that will really frustrate the players.
“It’s one of those places that a player needs to turn up with a really, really good attitude. If they don’t, well, the most will pack their bags on Friday afternoon and go home.”
Fresh off his PGA Championship win, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is chasing his fourth major title and first US Open victory.
Scheffler is in a stellar patch of form having won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the PGA Championship and the Memorial Tournament in the past month.
“You can’t go past Scheffler,” Gow said.
“I like Jon Rahm, he definitely is trending towards a better week. He played well at the PGA Championships at Quail Hollow. He fell over the last couple of holes, but he drove the ball really well.
“But you can’t go away from Scottie Scheffler, it’s just ridiculous how good he’s playing, he’s definitely the in-form player.”
Australia’s Marc Leishman will play his first major since 2022, while Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Cameron Davis and Jason Day are the other Aussies playing this week.
It will be Scott’s 96th consecutive appearance at a major.
Players have voiced their concerns for just how difficult it will be to play in the conditions at Oakmont this week.
Rory McIlroy, chasing his second major of the year after his Masters triumph, struggled playing the course during a practice round last week.
“Last Monday felt impossible,” McIlroy said.
“I birdied the last two holes for 81. It felt pretty good, it didn’t feel like I played that badly. It’s much more benign right now than it was that Monday. They had the pins in dicey locations and greens were running at 15.5 (on the stimpmeter measuring green speed).
“It was nearly impossible. This morning it was a little softer. The pins aren’t going to be on 3 or 4 per cent slopes all the time.
“If you put it in the fairway, it’s certainly playable. But then you just have to think about leaving your ball below the hole and just trying to make as many pars as you can. You get yourself in the way of a few birdies, that’s a bonus.
“I’m glad we have spotters out there because last Monday you hit a ball off the fairway and you were looking for a good couple of minutes just to find it. It’s very penal if you miss. Sometimes it’s penal if you don’t miss.
“The person with the most patience and the best attitude this week is the one that’s going to win.”