Oakmont claimed another victim Friday at the U.S. Open.
Hoping to recover from a 6-over 76 in Thursday’s opening round, Justin Thomas faced a setback on the par-5 12th hole at the Pittsburgh-area course. A birdie opportunity from 26 feet turned into a disappointing double bogey on the challenging greens.
On his initial attempt to save par, Thomas misjudged the break, and the ball lipped out on the hole’s right side. On his next try, he missed to the left.
Thomas, 32, eventually sank his putt to put him at 9-over.
The front nine was not much kinder to the two-time PGA Championship winner, who carded three bogeys and two double bogeys on his way to a 41. He managed to notch a birdie on the par-4 14th.
Thomas, whose last major championship win was in 2022, shot even par over his final nine holes but it was not enough to salvage a frustrating two days as he finished 12-over and will miss the cut.
Leading up to this year’s tournament, Thomas preached patience when tackling Oakmont.
“It requires just patience and discipline… if you just get lazy, like on any drive, any wedge shot, any chip, any putt, you can kind of look stupid pretty fast, especially at a place like this,” he said.
Thomas’ best U.S. Open finish was a tie for eighth in 2020 at Winged Foot in New York.
Oakmont hasn’t been kind to the sport’s brightest stars this week.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau started his opening round Thursday by nearly committing a rules blunder while rival Rory McIlroy shot 4-over 74 and ducked the media afterward.
A microphone was a casualty in Shane Lowry’s dreadful opener of 9-over 79.
J.J. Spaun, in the hunt for his first-ever major, shot a bogey-free 4-under 66 to claim the top spot on the leaderboard.
He tees off for his second round shortly before 1 p.m. Friday.
