Basketball phenom Caitlin Clark is no stranger to the golf course. An ardent fan of the spot, she was involved in the Pro-Am at the Annika just last year, where she played nine holes with World No.1 Nelly Korda and another nine holes with the Swede legend Annika Sorenstam. “It was so fun. Getting to see (Nelly and Annika) do what they do up front, people would pay for that. I got to do it for free and have fun with them. Definitely a fun morning. I feel very thankful that Gainbridge had me out here. Obviously, their support of women’s sports is tremendous. Very lucky and fortunate. Hung in there, did alright. It was a good day.” Caitlin Clark expressed her feelings after finishing one round of golf at the Pro-Am.

So, it is not a strange thing to hear her talk about golf. Especially considering the ongoing major on the men’s side. While watching the action unfold at the third major of the season, the Indiana Fever guard was pleasantly surprised to see how tough the Oakmont Country Club is. PGA Tour professionals were struggling to make par consistently, leading to very high scores throughout the leaderboard. She took to X to express her surprise at the difficulty level of the Pennsylvania-based course.

“Is Oakmont even fun to play? I’d shoot 130 easily.”  The Indiana Fever guard asked on X after seeing many top golfers on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf struggle mightily at the Oakmont Country Club. At the end of day 4, only 4 players had made a score below par, leading to her inquisitive question regarding the nature of the course and how she might fare on it.

The tweet did prompt a response from a PGA Tour pro. That happened to be a PGA Tour pro who is currently tackling the course himself for the first time on the PGA Tour. “Promise you it’s not “fun”, “ Michael Kim replied to Caitlin Clark’s doubt on X itself. Kim is currently at T5o after finishing his fourth round. His final score was 14 over par. Phew! Oakmont is indeed a crazy customer for golfers. And Kim is not the only one who is posting scores that look like point totals during a basketball game.

Top golf professionals, including Scottie Scheffler, struggle at Oakmont

The cut line for the major championship after two rounds of play was itself 7 over par. Six former winners, like Bryson DeChambeau and Gary Woodland, who both scored 10 over par across the first two days, were eliminated from weekend action. DeChambeau came to Oakmont as one of the favorites to win the title behind Scottie Scheffler, but has had to make a disappointing return.

The ones who made the cut have not fared much better as well. French golfer Matthieu Pavon registered a score of 22 over par across four days of play. Favorite Scottie Scheffler also struggled a lot at Oakmont and continues to do so. He has failed to card a single round below par and is currently at one over par with just a few more holes to play. In fact, his frustrations got the better of him as he lost his cool after his 1-over-par second round. Scheffler had gone to practice his swing after the disappointing outing and was involved in an animated conversation with his swing coach, Randy Smith. Cap askew, the World No.1, was gesturing vehemently and was talking continuously before stepping out of the box to cool down.

Scheffler also,  at two different points, made a mistake while registering Collin Morikawa’s score on his scorecard, something that happens very rarely in a year. The normally cool customer was not so cool after all. LIV Pros like Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm finished with above-average scores of 6 over par and 4 over par, respectively, which shows how crazy the Pennsylvania golf course truly is. Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy managed to improve to 7 over par after mustering a score of 3 under par on the last day.

What do you think of Oakmont Country Club? How much do you think your score will be after 1 round at the iconic golf course?