After a quick trip to Toronto for a thrilling RBC Canadian Open that needed extra holes to crown Ryan Fox the champion, the PGA TOUR is back in the States for the third major championship of the year. The 2025 U.S. Open will take place this week at Oakmont Country Club just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The course actually sits mostly in Plum, PA, with just a small part of the course in Oakmont itself. As we gear up for the final major in the U.S. until the Masters, let’s break down a quick history of the event and what to expect from the always-difficult course layout this week.
The History
This will be the 125th U.S. Open, dating back to 1895. The event that year took place in Newport, Rhode Island, on a nine-hole course at the Newport Country Club. The 36-hole competition took place on a single day and Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old from England, emerged with the win.
After international players claimed the first few Opens, American golfers have won most of the titles, especially since 1950. Americans have claimed eight of the 10 U.S. Open titles, including each of the last two years. Wyndham Clark won in 2023 at the Los Angeles Country Club, and Bryson DeChambeau edged out Rory McIlroy last year at Pinehurst No. 2.
The U.S. Open takes place on a wide variety of courses across the United States, but wherever the venue, it is known for some of the most difficult conditions each season. In four of the last five years, the winning score for the whole week has only been -6. Each of the last four years, the margin of victory was exactly one stroke, so the event has plenty of drama down the stretch.
Bryson emerged with the win last year, and LIV Golf has actually had several winners at this event, with Brooks Koepka winning in 2017 and 2018, Bryson in 2020, and Jon Rahm in 2021, just before moving to LIV Golf. If you’re a regular follower of the PGA TOUR, this is definitely a tournament to be sure to pay attention to the LIV Golf options as well.
This year, the final purse for the U.S. Open hasn’t been announced, but last year, the event purse was a record $21.5 million. It was the highest of all of the major championships, and the winner took home $4.3 million. The winner will add 750 FedExCup points to their total, if eligible.
A Closer Look at the Course
Oakmont Country Club will be hosting the U.S. Open for the 10th time, more than any other venue. 2016 was the last time it happened at Oakmont, and Dustin Johnson claimed his first major championship by beating Jim Furyk, Shane Lowry and Scott Piercy by three strokes. His score for the week was only -4, though, and this year the scoring conditions are expected to be similarly difficult.
The course is a par-70 layout that will stretch to 7,372 yards. It features poa greens, bent and poa fairways and Kentucky bluegrass rough. The course is designed to be a full test of every club in the bag. The main focus will be the rough, which is extremely thick and as Bryson said in a video post earlier this week, “cooked beyond belief.” Expect plenty of laying up and punchouts if shots wander off the fairway.
Here’s a look at Bryon’s full preview of the venue, which describes just how difficult this week will be for everyone.
Here’s another preview that walks through hole-by-hole what to expect this week:
Oakmont will be a tough test for the full field this week. Statistically, Total Strokes Gained and Bogey Avoidance will be key, along with the ability to perform well in majors and in difficult scoring conditions. This week will be the opposite of a birdie-fest, and you’ll want players to rank highly in 3-Putt Avoidance, Strokes Gained: Approach, and Strokes Gained: Putting on the fastest greens available. Finishing well at past U.S. Opens is also a key to success, even though the venue is different, enough is similar from year-to-year about the difficulty of the setup to still offer some good correlation.
