Escaping Oakmont’s rough is exhausting work, even for one of the field’s strongest golfers.

Bryson DeChambeau, known for his power, took three hacks in the rough around the 12th green during his first round at the U.S. Open. His first hack sent the ball back over the green. The next two moved the ball about 10 feet each, setting up a 25-foot putt from the fringe for a six-shot bogey.

“The rough is incredibly penalizing,” said DeChambeau, who carded a 3-over-par 73 in the first round. “Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie. It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf. But one that I’m excited for tomorrow. If I just tidy up a couple things and get some momentum going my way, we’ll see where it goes.”

DeChambeau is the reigning U.S. Open champion after winning last year at Pinehurst. He is trying to become only the third player in the modern era to win the tournament in consecutive years, but he has work to do.

He tees off at 1:14 p.m. Friday.

The leader in the clubhouse after the morning tee times was 4-under, but DeChambeau hadn’t ruled out an over-par score winning.

“It depends on the conditions,” he said. “If it doesn’t rain on Saturday, there is probably a decent chance. But I’m looking to shoot under par (Friday) and give myself a better chance going into this weekend.”

DeChambeau’s first round had two birdies and five bogeys, including a five on the first hole when he hit a 355-yard drive into the left rough.

His first hole ended with three putts.

DeChambeau briefly rallied. He moved to 1-under after birdying Nos. 5 and 7 to move to 1-under before later making four bogeys in an eight-hole span. That included another three-putt on No. 9, negating a great drive.

But the roughest — literally — was the bogey on 12.

He blasted his drive 366 yards, and his second shot went 287 more but, ultimately, rolled into the rough behind the green on the 618-yard, par 5. His third shot flew back over the green, leading to shots four, five and six.

He called his lie “horrible” on the third shot.

“I should have just ran it up there instead of trying to get cute with it,” DeChambeau said. “That’s the U.S. Open for you. I’ve got to be more dialed in than what I was today.”

Among his highlights were two well-placed approach shots that set up his birdies. He made a 6-foot, 5-inch birdie putt on No. 5, followed by a 6-foot, 6-inch putt on No. 7 for another birdie.

DeChambeau is trying to join Curtis Strange (1988-89) and Brooks Koepka (2018-19) as the only players to repeat as U.S. Open champions in in the past 74 years. DeChambeau won last year’s U.S. Open by shooting a 7-under 274 at Pinehurst.

“This golf course can come up and get you pretty quick, and you’ve just got to be on your game,” DeChambeau said. “It got me, and I wasn’t fully on my game. Pretty disappointed with how I played.

“It’s not too far off. Just got to get the putting a little bit more dialed, and I’ll be right there because 3-over could have easily been 2-under today.”

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