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U.S. Open 2025: Why this PGA Tour winner was wrong to get excited over seeing Oakmont's army of mowers
Warren Little
If you're playing a U.S. Open drinking game that involves hearing the word "rough," you'll be drunk before the tournament even begins. But allow us to interrupt the stream of videos being posted by tour pros showing Oakmont's rough by bringing you one tour pro's video of the gnarly long grass … being cut.
That's right, there are mowers being used at Oakmont, an army of mowers, in fact. And four time PGA Tour winner Jhonattan Vegas was happy to see them in action during a Monday practice round.
Quite a scene! But sadly for Vegas, he has it all wrong.
Those mowers are actually going to make the rough play more difficult. And that's why it's still "unplayable." Confused? Let us explain. Or, rather, let Oakmont's superintendent, Mike McCormick, explain.
McCormick was on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast last week and he talked about how the famed club has gone to great lengths to keep the rough at, well, great lengths.
"There’s a lot of thought and science that goes into producing rough like we have right now," McCormick said.
Here's a clip from the interview in which McCormick explains that the club has special mowers that cut the grass at a higher length—and why freshly cut grass actually makes a golf course more difficult:
Interesting stuff. So, the last thing these guys want to see this week is those mowers in the rough. And the last thing you probably want to hear about as this week goes on is more grass talk. Anyway, the more you know, right? Sorry, Jhonny.