Andrew Landry is not a highly ranked player, but he almost had his day in the sun on Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in the first round of the U.S. Open. Landry was a good story at 3 under par through 17 holes. That is, until Mother Nature came in and stole the show.
Play was halted twice because of heavy rains and finally called for the day at 4:25 p.m. (Eastern) with only nine golfers finishing their first round. Another downpour came Thursday night, leaving head golf course superintendent John Zimmers and his staff to deal with cleaning up after 3 inches of rain and a few lightning strikes so close that it left him also double checking all of the irrigation lines to make sure they weren’t damaged.
Outside the ropes, spectators were told to stay away Friday morning until further notice because of wet grounds, but inside the ropes, Zimmers and his crew had Oakmont ready for resumption of first round play at 7:30 a.m.
Zimmers had said earlier in the week, “We're trying to get into the 14-and-a-half range for green speeds, but I don’t recommend other clubs do that. It’s not sustainable. And when you get the firmness on top of that, that’s what makes it so difficult.”
Hopefully, by the weekend, Oakmont will have its teeth back and the 190 staff and volunteers on the grounds crew can get back to business as usual.
— Craig Smith, GCSAA director, communications and media relations
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