There are no places to hide at a U.S. Open, particularly at Oakmont Country Club. There are no crevasses to crawl into or shadows to wait in. There are eyeballs on you the moment you first step foot onto the property.

Scottie Scheffler may have to do something special this weekend at the U.S Open if he wants to win his fourth major.

Scottie Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open. That was a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that’s made him the game’s dominant player the past three years.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, Nos. 1 and 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, respectively, will be competing in the Travelers Championship. Scheffler is the defending champion, having defeated Tom Kim in a playoff following a climate protest during the final hole of regulation.

Scheffler, despite not having his best stuff, grinded out a 1-over-par 71 in Friday’s second round to keep himself in contention, at 4-over par, to win his second major of the year, and the third leg of a career Grand Slam. He spent much of the day hovering around the cut line, which was projected to be 5-over while he was playing.

When you are the top player in the world in a given sport, you always have a huge target on your back with lofty expectations. When a highly-ranked player underperforms or appears more human with a rare bad day or round,

Top golfers like Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are expressing frustration with the challenging conditions at Oakmont Country Club during the 2025 U.S. Open. OAKMONT, Pa. – Oakmont Country Club is starting to get under the skin of some of the best golfers in the world.

Scottie Scheffler reacts after finishing the second round.

After dominating the 2024 season, Scottie Scheffler got off to a slow start relative to expectations in 2025. A ravioli-making incident around Christmas cost him a few months, and he didn't pick up his first win of the year until May, watching as Rory McIlroy surged to three wins and the career grand slam to become the talk of the golf world.

By Frank Pingue OAKMONT, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -Overnight U.S. Open leader J.J. Spaun got his second round underway on Friday at Oakmont Country Club where pre-tournament favourite and world number one Scottie Scheffler was unable to play his way into contention.