How to 'go low' at Oakmont? Make some putts, get some breaks, says Western Pa. native who once carded 66

Oakmont Country Club isn’t necessarily the place where a player expects to shoot the round of his or her life.

Certainly Johnny Miller’s 63 in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open comes to the forefront of any discussion of the best rounds there, but “going low” at Oakmont usually means simply breaking 70.

Robert Rohanna never played in a U.S. Open at Oakmont, but he did play in the 2009 Pennsylvania Open there as an amateur. After opening with a 74, the Waynesburg Central and Penn State product came back with a stunning 66 in the second round.

It stands as one of the lowest competitive rounds at Oakmont since the turn of the millennium.

“I putted really well,” said Rohanna, who lives in Sarasota, Fla., and works in medical equipment sales. “The first day … I played unreal, but I missed a couple of fairways and I got up against the lips of bunkers and made two doubles (bogeys).

“The next day, I played really good, but I felt like I played better the first day. But I shot eight shots better. I just made some putts and got some better breaks, better bounces and things like that.”

Rohanna won’t make it back to Pennsylvania for the U.S. Open this year, but, having played at Oakmont on numerous occasions, he knows exactly what the players are in for. In his mind, no course can measure up to Oakmont in terms of difficulty.

“I played Winged Foot, and I know there’s always a battle between who’s the harder golf course, Oakmont or Winged Foot,” he said. “Winged Foot is no joke. It’s pretty hard. But if you hit every fairway and every green, it’s going to stay on at Winged Foot.

“If you hit every fairway and the center of every green at Oakmont, you’re not going to stay on the green most of the time. So that’s the point that, to me, makes Oakmont harder than Winged Foot.”