U.S. OPEN

Hole of the Day, Round 2: Par-4 10th

By Ron Driscoll

| Jun 13, 2025

The downhill, 461-yard, par-4 10th hole at Oakmont features a narrow fairway with bunkers on both sides and a ditch crossing the fairway at about the 350-yard mark. The tee shot requires both precision and distance control, and the green slopes severely from right to left and front to back. It played as the 8th-toughest hole in Round 1 (4.31 stroke average), and Brent Paladino, senior director of Championship Administration for the USGA, expects the difficulty to ramp up in Round 2 because of the back hole location.

“Obviously, on Thursday and Friday, it’s the opening hole for half the field,” said Paladino, “and hitting the fairway is critical. I’ve seen players who drive it into the rough there sometimes having to pitch out sideways because of the ditch that runs across.

“However, I think the most interesting thing about No. 10 is the green. It sort of melts into the landscape as the property runs toward the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It’s one of the most severe greens on the course in that regard.”

For Round 2, the hole location is 32 paces on and 10 paces from each side on the 36-yard-deep putting surface.

“Because of the green’s pitch and the back hole location, players really have to think about landing the ball on the front and letting it run to the back. We could see some balls rolling and rolling for 10 to 15 seconds after they land, which is very unusual. You won’t see many of the typical one-hop-and-trickle approaches.”

“That wait can be a bit agonizing, particularly if a player is hitting from the rough, because over the green is a bad place to miss it. The prudent approach is to the right side, letting it feed onto the green. It’s almost as though they’re reading the green from the fairway like they would read a putt. I think it will be a fun hole to watch.”