The NBC announce team of Dan Hicks, Kevin Kisner, Smylie Kaufman, and Notah Begay have gone on the record with some thoughts regarding the upcoming U.S. Open. And according to that foursome during a conference call with the media, there are a few important things we need to know.
First of all, there’s the duo of Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler. Surprisingly, Rory McIlroy, who just had a dreadful showing at the RBC Canadian Open, was barely mentioned. Secondly, Oakmont has had a redo. And third, Begay had the best quote of the conversation about Tiger Woods.
Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau are two of the big favorites at the 2025 U.S. Open
Bryson DeChambeau, all seemed to agree, is still a big presence in majors.
“He’s done a heck of a job using social media channels to connect with viewers, connect with golfers,” Kisner said about DeChambeau’s new-found skills as a social media star.
Kisner thinks it allows DeChambeau to show his personality.
“I think he probably didn’t do a great job of that early on in his career,” Kisner added. “But I think he’s done an awesome job with it.”
DeChambeau is definitely a needle-mover with fans. He has 1.7 million TikTok followers, 1.99 million YouTube subscribers, 531,000 followers on X, 233,000 on Facebook, and more than a million on Instagram.
“A lot of players can learn from Bryson and how he’s been able to leverage his brand,” Smylie Kaufman added. “He’s been a major killer over the past couple of years now. He’s always near the top of the leaderboard.”
However, Begay pointed out one flaw in DeChambeau’s game.
“He’s going to need to get his wedges a little bit sharper because that’s going to be an element of the game that’s required here,” he suggested.
Nevertheless, there’s one shot by DeChambeau that Kaufman said will go down in history, and that’s the shot he hit from the bunker at the 18th in last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
“It was one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen, pressure-packed shots I’ve ever seen and maybe will ever see around the green,” Kaufman insisted.
All agree that Scheffler, who's won three of his last four starts, is also a player to watch.
“Scottie Scheffler coming into the U.S. Open has a lot of people excited to see if he can win two majors in a row,” Kaufman said. “He’s the best player that I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. I, of course, have watched Tiger on TV as a kid growing up.”
Kaufman said what makes it tough to play against Scheffler is that he makes so few mistakes. Even on a bad day, he shoots 70 instead of posting a 75 or 76 or 77.
“He turns those days into 71s, 70s, 69s,” Kaufman said.
“When he steps in, he has the most intense concentration that I’ve ever seen on every shot,” Kisner noted, saying it was comparable to Tiger Woods.
Oakmont is set to play extremely difficult
Then, there's the course itself. Just the mere thought of Oakmont brings fear to even the greatest of golfers.
Pinehurst, where last year's U.S. Open was held, is quite different from Oakmont, as it features many flat holes. Oakmont, meanwhile, situated in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, features slopes everywhere.
In addition, Oakmont has undergone a complete renovation from the first tee to the 18th green under the supervision of noted architect Gil Hanse. Kisner thinks that will change one thing in particular.
“They’ll have more hole locations than we’ve seen in the past,” Kisner noted. “Some pins will even appear they’re off the edges of the greens with the renovation.”
So, the already visually intimidating property will be more so. But it’s not just visual challenges that the USGA wants to see.
“One of the things USGA likes to accomplish -- I love this quote -- was get every club in the bag dirty,” Kisner added.
As with every U.S. Open, there will be a premium on driving accuracy. However, players like DeChambeau have ignored that in the past and elected to just hit the ball as far as possible. Rough or no rough. It was his strategy at Winged Foot five years ago, and it worked.
The difference is that Oakmont’s greens are more severely sloped than Winged Foot’s, which means they are harder to hold and, at U.S. Open speeds, harder to putt. Hitting from the rough, while possible, may result in a shot that just doesn’t stay on the green. The hit-it-long-anywhere strategy may not work.
Begay had an interesting point of view on how the approach to playing Oakmont will be different than other courses.
“In an era of analytics and looking over all the different information that players are evaluating on sort of how to best pursue certain strategies on certain holes, I don’t know that that necessarily is going to help them at Oakmont,” he said.
“Every week players are trying to use these numbers to help them factor in certain decisions, when to go for certain holes, and when to be a little bit more conservative.”
As to the winner, that’s up in the air, according to the four.
“There’s different types of games that can win on this golf course,” Kaufman said. “And even then, you’re going to have to have conservative targets. When you have a green light, which you don’t have much at Oakmont, you need to find a way to make a birdie.”
He said the course would be “crazy, crazy hard,” which could easily end up being an understatement.
Tiger Woods update
Begay was asked for an update on Tiger Woods' injured Achilles, and his answer was unexpectedly funny: “The only Woods playing good golf these days is Charlie. Those injuries take forever to heal. So definitely still in recovery mode.”