Highlights from historic Oakmont Country Club, home of the 2025 U.S. Open, golf's third major tournament of the year.

All across Oakmont, there were plenty of tales from the rough. The U.S. Open came to what might be its toughest venue and players faced difficult lies in the 5-inch rough and lots of chances to hack and pray.

On Wednesday at Oakmont, a fan captured footage of Mickelson just beyond the fringe of one of the 2025 U.S. Open venue’s tight, tricky greens. Mickelson dropped several balls in the Internet famous rough and was working on a few delicate pitch-and-runs. Unfortunately, the devil’s lettuce had other plans. Watch it and wince.

Three days after taking a 45-minute scolding from short-game coach Pete Cowen, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka finds himself back in major title contention at the US Open.Koepka works with Englishman Cowen on his short game and with coach Jeff Pierce on his putting.

Koepka's mood should be better if he can produce three more rounds like this. He shot a 2-under 68 at Oakmont, which left him in a tie for third, two strokes behind leader J.J. Spaun. Koepka made a 42-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 fourth, and after falling back to even par, he finished with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18.

The sky at Oakmont Country Club was somehow both hazy and bright, and the contradiction was a nice accidental framework for what we saw from Rory McIlroy in his opening round of the U.S. Open on Thursday.

Coming into the 2025 U.S. Open, much of the conversation centered around the difficulty of Oakmont Country Club. On Thursday, despite some solid scoring early, we saw just how difficult Oakmont would be as the average score in the early wave was more than 5 over par despite the best conditions players will see all week.

Rory McIlroy made a couple early birdies at the U.S. Open. That encouraging start was short lived for the slumping Masters champion. A poor second nine left McIlroy with a 4-over 74 in Thursday's first round at Oakmont.

J.J. Spaun’s first-round 66 held up for the early lead as Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and a host of others were simply overmatched by the course.