The U.S. Open is gearing up for potential weather woes that marred earlier majors this year, with apprehensions mounting as the prestigious tournament at Oakmont looms.
Rory McIlroy achieved a major milestone by winning the Masters in April, ending his drought and completing the career Grand Slam set of golf’s elite tournaments. Not far behind, Scottie Scheffler triumphed at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow a month later, notching his third major victory following his 2022 and 2024 Masters titles.
However, both the Masters and the PGA Championship were hampered by disagreeable weather leading to the dreaded mud balls—a serious irritation for any golfer. At Augusta, a vexed Jordan Spieth criticised the adverse conditions after his third round, railing against the mud balls that interfere with ball trajectory and spin by clinging dirt from poor conditions.
“My iron play killed me the last two days and to be brutally honest with you, it was primarily mud balls,” lamented Spieth. “It’s just so frustrating because you can’t talk about them here. You’re not supposed to talk about them.
“Mud balls can affect this tournament significantly, especially when you get them a lot on 11 and 13. They’re just daggers on those two holes.”
Rain disrupted play again at the PGA Championship, and though next week’s forecast for the U.S. Open appears more hopeful, inclement weather this weekend and the possibility of early-week downpours at Oakmont, Pennsylvania, may thrust the dreaded mud ball problem into the spotlight once more.
The ‘preferred lies’ rule, which permits golfers to lift, clean, and place their ball within a specified range on closely-mown areas, was notably absent during the event due to a PGA of America ruling, and it will also be missing at the U.S. Open.
Last month’s major champion, Scheffler, echoed Spieth’s sentiments of discontent regarding the regulations. “I mean, I don’t make the rules,” Scheffler remarked.
He elaborated on his perspective, saying, “I think when you’re looking at the most authentic forms of golf, like when you’re going to play links golf, there’s no reason at all to play the ball on a link golf course. It doesn’t matter how much rain falls. The course could be flooded with water, and somehow the ball is still going to bounce because of the way the turf is and the ground underneath.”
Scheffler contrasted this with American courses: “In American golf it’s significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball, and that’s just part of it. When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.”
Reflecting on the condition of the course, he added, “On a golf course as good of conditioned as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would be the least likely difference in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are all really good. So I understand how a golf purist would be, oh, play it as it lies.”
Xander Schauffele spoke candidly at the PGA Championship about the widespread frustration amongst players concerning mud balls.
“All of us. I’m not the only guy,” he pointed out, hinting at a collective discontent. “I’m just in front of the camera. I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there.”
He continued by expressing his views on the fairness of the course, saying, “I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out. It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.”