Golf major championships similar to tennis Grand Slams, according to Scheffler, as the US Open approaches.
Golf's Majors: A Struggle Between Finesse and Brute Force 🏌️♂️💥
Scottie Scheffler, the world number one and two-time Masters champion, views the major tournaments like a tennis Grand Slam, with the Masters representing a delicate dance and the US Open at Oakmont as a raw strength test.
Coming off a victory at last month's PGA Championship, Scheffler has set his sights on Oakmont, seeing new challenges there that mirror the distinctive tennis tests presented by different surfaces, such as clay versus hardcourt.
"I kind of equate some of the major tests to the majors in tennis," Scheffler shared on Tuesday. "You're playing on a different surface. You've got grass, clay, and then the hardcourt, and it's a different style of game."
The Masters vs. Oakmont: Two Different Animals 🦄🐸
While Augusta National boasts undulating greens and minimal rough, encouraging shotmaking, Oakmont brings the US Open with deep rough, tricky bunkers, and fast, sloped greens. To Scheffler, the US Open at Oakmont is a completely different animal from the Masters.
At the Masters, the emphasis is on shotmaking since there is more fairway, with pine straw and less "rough factor," as Scheffler puts it. In contrast, Oakmont requires hacking out of the rough, with a premium on power and precision.
Both courses, however, are equally tough, and it's not a matter of one being better than the other—rather, they present unique styles.
The Numbers Don't Lie 🔢📈
Indeed, the winning scores between the two events can be drastically different. Rory McIlroy took home the Masters trophy on 11-under 277 in a playoff with Justin Rose, while par might just be considered lucky for the winner of this week's US Open at Oakmont.
"When you miss the green at the Masters, the ball runs away and it goes into these areas, and you can play a bump, you can play a flop. There's different options," Scheffler explained.
"Here when you hit the ball over the green, you just get in some heavy rough, and it's like, let me see how I can pop the ball out of this rough and somehow give myself a look."
**Powering Through Oakmont's Challenges 💪
- Despite the need for finesse at Augusta National, the US Open at Oakmont demands a different approach, focusing on power and precision due to its deep rough and tricky bunkers.
- For Scheffler, the winning scores at the Masters and US Open can differ greatly, with par potentially being a lucky number for the US Open winner, compared to Rory McIlroy's 11-under at the Masters.
- The unique challenges presented by both golf courses require strategic adaptation, but neither is inherently superior; they offer distinct testing styles instead.
