Patrick McDonald joins CBS Sports HQ to recap Round 1 of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
[00:00:00] Intro
[00:01:16] J.J. Spaun takes early lead
[00:03:07] Scottie Scheffler (+3) cards a 73
[00:04:41] Brooks Koepka seeks 3rd Career U.S. Open Title
[00:06:33] Impending Conditions
[00:08:00] Pick to Win
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Oakmont Country Club presents both beauty and beast. Day one of its 10th US open hosted belong to JJ Spaun. His bogey free 66. Eight shots better than field average and the only bogey free round in the field. World number one Scottie Scheffler. Three birdies offset by an uncharacteristic six bogeys. Work to be done after an opening 73 spawn in Scheffler. Not alone in their unexpected outcomes, if you will. Five time major champion Brooks Koepka seemed to have his swagger back despite carrying little form over the last two seasons. His 68 one better than his fellow expat, and Jon Rahm, who managed red numbers thanks in part to a birdie eagle run on his inward nine. Coming off form refound at the PGA. Could it be a second U.S. Open for Rambo? As for roars, well, they came and they went. McIlroy out in 33 with a driver once again cooperating. But oil leaked on the front nine, his back circles exchanged for squares and sometimes even worse for over a hair. Better than field average for the Grand Slam. Man. As you take a look at the first page of the leaderboard through 18 holes against Spaun, pacing the pack at four under par. But this test at Oakmont only expect to steepen. CBS Sports Golf analyst Patrick McDonald joining us from the grounds at Oakmont. After a day full of walking and analysis, I’m sure. But I want to start right there at the top of the leaderboard with JJ Spaun and a 66. Obviously prominent in his moment, a Monday playoff with Rory McIlroy. He’s he’s popped already this season. But to have popped this way at this place. How do you put into words the 18 holes for Spaun? JJ Spaun couldn’t even put it into words, so we asked him about it after his round and he said I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Not only is this his first U.S. Open at Oakmont, this is only his second U.S. Open ever. He does not have a ton of experience on the stage. The confidence that he does have, he does take from that Players Championship experience, losing to Rory McIlroy in that Monday morning playoff. He said that although he did not walk away from TPC Sawgrass with the trophy, he walked away with a lot more confidence than had he won a tournament at a Cognizant Classic or at another run of the mill PGA tour stop because he believed you can’t fake it around TPC Sawgrass and you certainly cannot fake it around Oakmont. Here’s his Post-round kind of featured everything I thought he hit for the cycle. He talked about how social media kind of scared him off. He talked about that confidence factor too. But moose, in a championship that has been labeled for the big brawny. Here we have a five foot nine, 34 year old who kind of quote unquote, bunts it out there and got the job done effectively. The only bogey free round, the second in the last three U.S. Opens held at Oakmont as well. And so this is a very confident guy, despite maybe lacking that pedigree in Spaun is in line for one of the biggest rounds of his life tomorrow, seeing if he can keep this run going into the weekend. It’s an astute observation. The places where he has contended are places that do punish the miss and punish it in the way that Oakmont does here. A 66, the only bogey free round in the field belongs to JJ Spaun, not world number one Scottie Scheffler, who post 73 on the opening day. And we could sit here and say one, it’s classic Scottie ball. He’s lying in wait patient in the way that he went about his business here in round one. You could also say meat left on the bone approach play not as sound as you’d like. A little bit worse than field average in driving. What do you make of the day for Scottie. And how does it project over the final three rounds of the US open? It was sloppy, plain and simple. Sloppy. Some loose swings, maybe some bad breaks. You think about hitting the pin there on number ten. Hovland. Morikawa put it close. Scheffler put a good swing on it too. From the middle of the fairway. He doesn’t get rewarded for that. Some poor three putts on the front nine didn’t take advantage of the par five. Loses a stroke there. Hits the green on 13, which is a diabolical complex mind you. Needs three putts there and then. He doesn’t take advantage of some scoring opportunities. Also we saw there in the middle of the fairway on 14 how upset he got when he did not hit his wedge close. He didn’t take advantage of the par four 17th either. But you put that all together. And Scottie Scheffler still only a touchdown and an extra point behind JJ Spaun. You want to talk about the true lead perhaps according to the oddsmakers that’s Jon Rahm at one under. So he’s only four behind him. And so there’s a lot to improve. If you’re Scottie Scheffler there’s no doubt that he’s coming back from the driving range making sure those fundamentals are correct. But it did not look good for him. It just simply did not look good for him. But I do expect him to bounce back early tomorrow morning. Patrick, you know, I always hesitate to sit here and measure surprise the outcome relative to the expectation coming in. I’m not sure there was any expectation for Brooks Koepka coming in. And you allude to the oddsmakers who have it at one. That’s disrespect again here. For Brooks, who posts two under an unexpected round, certainly that. But the 68 marked by all the hallmarks of play that made him such a stalwart at major championships. Where did he conjure this play from? He talked about it after his post-round, actually, and it’s quite the funny story where allegedly he was in the bunker here in the practice facility for 45 minutes on Monday, and Pete Cow and his swing coach was just laying into him, just ripping him a new one, telling him how he’s not doing things the correct way for 45 minutes. Cowan did this, and it actually got to the point where in a pre-championship event with Rolex, allegedly, I wasn’t invited to that. Apparently, Justin Thomas came up to Brooks Koepka and was like, are you doing okay, man? You did not look too hot in there. He’s like, it’s something that I needed. It’s a conversation I haven’t had since Aaron Hills. Lo and behold, the first US open title that Brooks Koepka one. And it’s something that I like from people in my camp. He doesn’t like yes men in his camp. He wants people to tell him how it is. And he said Cowan really laid into him as well as his putting coach too. And like you mentioned, it was typical Brooks Koepka, vintage Brooks Koepka, not a lot going on on that scorecard, right? That eagle that pushed him forward a couple bogeys okay a short missed there on 14. And then he finished in a flurry. We’ve talked about how Scottie Scheffler seems to finish every round on a high note. This was a high note type of finish from Brooks Koepka. But can he sustain it. Can those swing changes that he’s talking about? Can those last throughout major championship competition? Thursday is very different from the weekend, and no one knows that better than the five time major champion. They say don’t poke the bear. Don’t shake the cage. Well, poke him, shake it. It’s how you get the best out of him. And we saw the best here with a 68 by Brooks Koepka. Off and running and in the mix here through 18 holes. The biggest storyline coming into this championship. Not the world number one. And what’s in front of him. Not other storylines pertaining to players. More the golf course and what Oakmont asks of these players every time it comes here. A 10th playing at this famed club and the test apparent here on day one. How do you expect it to stiffen on day two or or vary from what we did here on day one? I think Adam Scott had the quote of the afternoon. He said, it’s not blow your brains out hard quite yet, but it could get there. He expects the winning score if the rain does hold off to be over par, to be around four over par, which is insane. That would mean JJ Spaun would have to give up eight strokes to where he’s currently standing. And so it really does all depend on that rain, because it was an absolute bear today for these guys. The scoring average just around five over par. Not a lot of breathing room. Yes, there are some scoring opportunities, but if you are out of position you are just battling back, trying to make bogey. And so it really does come down to that rain forecast over the weekend. If it does come around and this place does receive a bit more moisture than I believe the winning score will be in that under par range, maybe we’re J.J. Spaun is right now the same score that Dustin Johnson won this championship at in 2016. But as we saw, if you’re just slightly off in any aspect of the game, the driver, you’re missing fairways, the speed of the greens, you’re slightly off. You’re going to look like an idiot out here. Patrick. I try not to look like an idiot as often as possible on a golf course or in this chair. That’s why I defer to your knowledge. And I know in your business, as one of our great golf writers, once you hit publish, it’s out there. And I know you’ve hit publish on some picks already this week, but I’m offering you an opportunity to edit through 18 holes. Who’s your pick? I’m not going to. The editor doesn’t need to see this one. I’m rolling with the world number one. That was about as poorly as he could play. I think there’s another 66 out there in the morning, potentially, and I think it’s going to belong to Scottie Scheffler. He’s going to figure out the iron play a little bit. I thought he gave himself plenty of scoring opportunities, but the putter was really in a state of disarray and that’s not something I expect out of Scottie Scheffler. He had three three putts, I believe by my count that will go away. His iron play will come alive and Scheffler will be under par or around even par by the time tomorrow’s round ends, and that will put him very close to the lead entering the weekend, a basis of knowledge unmatched and a man of morals as well. Patrick McDonald. We’ll see you later throug
2 Comments
Brooks 2 backbat a us open is always interesting
What about Niemanns 4 putt from 40 foot or even worse a 3 putt from 3 foot ? Unreal 👊