The U.S Open 2025 was not just a simple golf tournament; it was a survival thriller in action. Everything that happened at Oakmont was totally unexpected. Ahead of the tournament, fans picked top-ranking players like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and defending champion Bryson DeChambeau as their personal favorites. However, they were all disappointed with DeChambeau even failing to make the cut, Scheffler somehow grinding through to finish T8, and after four days of struggle, McIlroy managed to finish T8 with Scheffler. The talks on the U.S Open are still lingering in the atmosphere as fans and golfers alike are just getting their heads through the unconventional story of the underdog victory.
This time, we have former LPGA Tour Pro Mel Reid and Kira Dixon, the host of “Quiet Please! with Mel and Kira,” sharing their views on the disastrous happy ending at the U.S Open at Oakmont. In their conversation, they did a deep analysis of the happenings in Oakmont. Reid, through her observations, found the game of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Justin Rose to be quite bland. They talked about how McIlroy’s lack of enthusiasm affected his game. And how beaten down Lowry and Rose became after round 1, which resulted in making huge blunders in round 2. “I really enjoyed it as a spectator, I think that whenever you like, you know, some tournaments you’re just like ‘Oh that was a bit blah.” Like this one just wasn’t”
The ‘blah’ moments were mainly used to mention the performance of Rory McIlroy and Co. While Dixon empathised with Rory McIlroy for his lack of motivation and media escapism, as the career grand slam has left him drained. Reid, on the other end, said McIlroy should find a new purpose. Which is true regardless of sportsman or a commoner, we all search for some meaning to keep ourselves going. Even though they acknowledged the struggles of McIlroy, Reid was not able to contain her disappointment in their game.
Further in the podcast, she said “Now we’re going to get into our weeks. I was doing feature groups up in Stanford and it was kind of crazy, so I, who’s the first group that I think um I did Shane Lawry’s uh group, so it was Shane Lowry and Friday Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose. And for a group of players of that caliber, I cannot tell you how flat it was.” The group, which featured Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Justin Rose, gave an underwhelming performance, not doing justice to their status as top golfers. She also added the fact that even the crowd was flat, which is something unlikely to happen when such a good featured group is playing.
The World number 2 hardly scraped through to make the cut to the weekend. In round 2, McIlroy made a double bogey off the tee on the first hole. Followed by a par on the second, but then again, falls back to zero, making a double bogey at the third. Finally, at the ninth hole, a ray of hope shines with a birdie. Then, again, he hits the next bogey on the 11th hole, but he finally got his act together to finish the round with two more birdies with a score of 72(+2). But Rory had company to share his bad performance with at the same time.
His group members, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, had it worse. Lowry had a rough start in round 1, finishing with a poor score of 79(+9). He returned with the hope of bouncing back in the second round. But it turned out to be a nightmare. He started off the second round with a bogey, followed by another set of bogeys till the 4th hole. There was a flicker of hope after his shot at the par-4 7th, hitting a birdie. But the hope was short-lived, as he made a big blunder at the par-4 14th, when he picked up the ball from the green without marking. He got a one-stroke penalty, which resulted in a double bogey, eventually scoring 78(+8) to miss the cut for the weekend.
But something more amusing than Lowry’s blunder happened to Justin Rose.
Justin Rose hits the ball outside the course
The 2013 U.S Open champ Rose had an underwhelming performance in the first round. In the first round, Rose made a bad start with four bogeys and one double bogey. His final score for the round was 77(+7). Unfortunately, he repeated the same at the second round. But his second round saw him make a big blunder as he hit the ball off the golf course.
After hitting a double bogey at the par-4 second hole, he had to make a birdie on the next. But, he became a laughing stock as the tee shot at the third hole flew straight to hit a tree, then went towards the spectators. The shot went between the audience, prompting a Marshal to shout, “Move Back! Move Back!” in an urgency of rescuing someone from an accident. The fall finally came to rest at the bottom of a senior citizen’s scooter.
After this embarrassing moment, his next set of shots were all poor finishing at the same score as the previous round. Rose, too, unfortunately, could not make the cut for the weekend. After such performances at the U.S Open, McIlroy and Co. have moved to the Travelers Championship to reclaim their status as top golfers. Do you think this group can turn things around at TPC River Highlands? Let us know in the comments below.
