Golf fans were left stunned on Monday as they got a glimpse of the tedious US Open preparations at Oakmont.
Venezuelan PGA Tour pro Jhonattan Vegas shared a video of the rough being cut, and fans couldn’t believe that the job was done by a large army of employees pushing around lawn mowers by hand.
‘These are the mowers they use… Is this AI?,’ one replied on X.
‘Am I the only one that find’s this video rolling on the floor laughing my a** off funny,’ a second added.
‘Neighbors at 7:30am,’ a third cracked.
And a fourth said: ‘surely there is a more efficient way of doing this.’
The rough at Oakmont Country Club is trimmed by employees pushing around lawn mowers
The course employs custom mowers to actually leave the length of the rough longer
Vegas himself called the rough ‘unplayable,’ with the mowers appearing to take little off in the video he posted.
However, that’s actually intentional.
Oakmont Grounds Superintendent Mike McCormick previously explained on the The Fried Egg Golf Podcast that the course actually uses custom mowers to cut the rough higher.
The reasoning for that, he said, was to make the course more difficult and prevent the ball from laying on top of the grass when it’s hit into the rough.
Oakmont, located outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is known to be notoriously difficult and that should remain the case as the world’s best golfers descend upon this year’s US Open.
Vegas last competed in the US Open in 2021, managing to make the cut and finishing tied for 57th.
The reason for the method is to make the course more difficult and have the balls fall to the bottom when they’re hit into the rough
Bryson DeChambeau will be looking to defend his US Open title from last year
Before that, he missed the cut in 2019.
Bryson DeChambeau will be looking to defend his US Open title from last year when the tournament begins this week.
Wyndham Clark (2023), Matt Fitzpatrick (2022) and Jon Rahm (2021) are all recent winners as well.
