'Mental test of golf': Attitude becomes as important as other skills to conquer Oakmont

The 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont produced no shortage of complaints from the players. Most memorably, Phil Mickelson groused that the rough was so thick that he injured his wrist hitting out of it.

Mickelson wasn’t alone in his angst. If the players weren’t expressing it verbally, their sour faces and body language told the tale of the toll Oakmont took on them 18 years ago.

A winning score of 5-over-par. Only eight rounds in the 60s all week.

In reality, no U.S. Open is easy. And amid the cries of “unfair” and “too hard,” many welcome the test and look at U.S. Opens through a different — perhaps more realistic — lens.

Accept that it’s going to be difficult and embrace the challenge.

In a U.S. Open at Oakmont — or any U.S. Open, for that matter — attitude is as important as any technical skill.

D.J. Brigman, 49 and now retired from pro golf, called playing at Oakmont “one of the highlights of my career.” Brigman finished tied for 30th at Oakmont in 2007, missing out on a top-20 finish only after making bogey on his final four holes of the tournament.

“It’s one of the few times a year when you make par — even on one of the quote-unquote easier holes — you’re not berating yourself saying, ‘I should have made birdie. I’m losing a shot to the field,’ ” Brigman told TribLive.

Or at least players shouldn’t berate themselves. That might be easier said than done on a U.S. Open setup.

“Oakmont asks much, physically, of the world’s best,” said Jeff Hall, USGA managing director of rules and open championships. “There’s a level of precision that’s required to excel at this venue. But I personally believe that these hallowed grounds … offer the most demanding mental test of golf of any U.S. Open venue. Mentally, this golf course will wear you out.”

Wedged between the past two men’s Opens at Oakmont was the Women’s Open in 2010. That tournament proved almost equally as confounding as the men’s Open three years earlier.

Winner Paula Creamer was the only player who shot under par for the week, and there were only 11 sub-70 rounds.

That didn’t seem to bother Brittany Lang, who tied for fifth and was the only player to break 70 twice.

“I was a big fan of that course,” Lang told TribLive.

Lang took her praise a step further, saying she loves the way the USGA sets up its championships. Perhaps that outlook is why she had her greatest success in majors at U.S. Opens: four top-10s, including a victory in 2016 and a tie for second as an amateur in her Open debut in 2005.

When facing down a U.S. Open course, Lang said, it’s easy for players to talk themselves out of contention after just a few bad holes.

“I feel like my attitude is so much different than other people,” she said, “because I have a lot of friends, and they haven’t necessarily had a lot of success (at U.S. Opens) and they’re always like, ‘It’s so hard! It’s so unfair!’

“We play every week where 900 million-under-par wins (on the LPGA Tour), and I love the U.S. Open week where pars are good, make a bogey if you get in trouble and birdies are rare.”

In his long career, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh has played — and won — all over the world. He was the 1993 NCAA Division II champion at Abilene Christian. He won the European Tour’s biggest event, the Volvo Masters, in 2006 at venerable Valderrama. He won the 2012 Scottish Open. He has won four times in Japan.

He also played in the past two U.S. Opens at Oakmont, finishing tied for 36th in 2007, and he was awed rather than frustrated by his experiences there.

“It lived up to every moment,” he told TribLive. “It was amazing to be there. And what a test of golf the way it’s set up.”

Singh, 53 and still active on the senior circuits in Europe and Japan, repeatedly used the word “patience” when talking about how to tackle Oakmont. He said there inevitably will be holes where players have to “take your medicine.”

That’s simply part of the challenge.

“For me, if I want to take a golf course on like that, I would say play it with the respect it needs to be given,” he said. “I always feel that if your mindset is like that, that it’s not going to be easy and it’s the same for everybody, half the battle is won.

“If you lose it, you’re giving away shots to the field.”

Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, 53, who finished fourth at the U.S. Open in 2007, acknowledged it is easy for players to get frustrated in major championships. But that, he said, is what sets them apart.

“It would be a shame if the majors were like any week,” Fasth told TribLive. “You know it’s going to be a battle. You know it’s not going to be easy. Would I like to play that way every week all year? No thanks.

“A few times a year is plenty. And I wouldn’t want to miss it.”

The women’s U.S. Open returns to Oakmont in three years. Lang, 39 and a mother, has scaled back on her playing schedule and is a longshot to be among the participants. But she looks back at her Oakmont experience as one of the best of her career.

“I don’t know if I’m a fair judge,” she said, “but (Oakmont) was fair and fun and amazing.”

Brigman said players simply need to adjust their perspective to cope with the grind of a U.S. Open.

When they step onto the first tee at Oakmont Country Club — or Winged Foot or Shinnecock Hills or any one of the USGA’s favorite venues — players have to understand they no longer have top billing.

“A U.S. Open, to me, it’s never about any of the players in a U.S. Open,” Brigman said. “It’s more about the golf course. That’s a testament to what the USGA does.”