Justin Thomas gets honest about Oakmont after scouting through it: "It’s still tough"
Justin Thomas recently gave his honest take on Oakmont Country Club's condition after touring the course. The club is set to host the 2025 U.S. Open in June this year.
There have been rumors going around on social media that Oakmont had been testing experimental strains of rough to see which one grew to be the thickest. Now Thomas has confirmed that these rumors are in fact "on point".
"I actually went to Oakmont yesterday. I got in Monday. It's still tough. I would say all of the rumors and everything are pretty on point," Thomas said via The Golfing Gazette.
Justin Thomas was asked by reporters after he visited Oakmont whether he played the 299-yard par-3 8th hole from the back tees. While the ace golfer had indeed tested it out, he wasn't the greatest fan of playing that one.
"I did. Yeah, that’s not my favourite hole in the world. I think you could do some other things with that. But everyone’s going to have to play the same hole and going to have to execute the same shots, and I would love four 3s on it right now if I could take it," he added.
The 32-year-old had a disastrous outing at the PGA Championship two weeks prior. He wasn't able to make the cut at the Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club but it appears that he has already begun his preparation to script his redemption arc at the third major of the season.
"Generally, this place doesn’t change very much" - Justin Thomas on Oakmont
Speaking to reporters ahead of the U.S. Open next month, Justin Thomas gave his overall take on the Oakmont venue. He believed that whenever his poor past performance on the course was due to underwhelming "execution" rather than "lack of course knowledge".
"Generally, this place doesn’t change very much. I think that the years I haven’t played well here, I don’t think it’s necessarily from a lack of course knowledge. It’s more of an execution standpoint," he said.
Thomas mentioned also that especially at the U.S. Open, the practice rounds have gotten pretty long. He felt it became a "little difficult" to get all the work done in that week itself so the ace golfer decided to get ahead of his preparation by touring Oakmont this week, calling it a "better use of his time".
Before Justin Thomas heads to Pennsylvania in June for the U.S. Open, he will play at the Memorial Tournament this week at Muirfield. This will be his first appearance after his PGA Championship disappointment. He will tee off at 1:20 p.m. ET on Thursday (May 29) with Patrick Cantlay for his opening round.