Pillow Fight Playoff and Looking Ahead to Oakmont

The countdown to Oakmont is officially on. In four days, players will take the toughest test they’ll face all year, whether they’re prepared for it or not.

Potentially playing his final U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson enters the championship in peak Phil form, at least in some sense of the expression. Around 7 p.m. ET, shortly after Saturday’s second round of LIV Golf Virginia wrapped up at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Mickelson weighed in on X about an ongoing dispute between Sable Offshore Corporation and the California Coastal Commission. On Sunday afternoon, he holed out an insane flop shot en route to a T-4 finish. Opining on the internet about California politics and firing a low Sunday round in a lucrative, low-stakes golf tournament. For a lot of 54-year-olds, that’s called living the dream.

Moving up a few spots on the leaderboard, Joaquin Niemann captured first-place honors for his fourth LIV win of the calendar year. The 26-year-old continues to demonstrate that he is truly an elite talent with an unfortunate tendency to lay eggs in golf’s four biggest events. Coming off his first career top 10 in a major, a T-8 at the PGA Championship, Niemann should feel confident about the state of his game entering the season’s third major championship. Whether or not he’ll show up at this major? Well, that’s the question.

Up North on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox took the trophy at the RBC Canadian Open after prevailing in a four-hole playoff over Sam Burns at TPC Horseshoe Bunker.

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Fox entered the final round with a share of the lead, but needed three birdies over his final five holes, including a clutch 17-footer on the 18th, to force extra holes. In a playoff duel that could only be described as a pillow fight, both Fox and Burns failed to birdie the par-5 18th in any of their first three attempts before Fox sealed the deal on the fourth playoff hole. The win marks Fox’s second victory in his last four PGA Tour starts. In case you’re looking for a reason to fancy his chances of a strong performance at Oakmont, Fox currently owns the third-longest consecutive made-cut streak (nine) at major championships, trailing only Scottie Scheffler (12) and Xander Schauffele (13).

Wet conditions early in the week softened the test in Toronto. By Sunday, drier weather increased the firmness, yielding a better though still underwhelming test of golf. From the hockey-inspired “rink” on the 14th hole to healthy fan support and excitement for Canadian players participating in the tournament, the RBC Canadian Open does an admirable job making the most of the hand they’ve been dealt on the PGA Tour schedule. Is it a tournament that would benefit from a different spot on the calendar and perhaps a more inspiring venue? Absolutely. At the same time, building the PGA Tour schedule is a nearly impossible balancing act with a million competing priorities and trade-offs. For better or worse, Canada’s national open bears some of the brunt of those tradeoffs.

Outside of the top finishers, the biggest story coming out of the Canadian Open was Rory McIlroy’s unsuccessful attempt to get comfortable with a new driver after his gamer failed random testing back at the PGA Championship. McIlroy shot an 8-over 78 on Friday to miss the cut by double digits, but a couple of poor rounds shouldn’t raise much concern for the world No. 2. He’s played outstanding golf all season and bad rounds happen. The bigger concern is that McIlroy hasn’t yet found a replacement driver that he trusts.

“I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn't…Still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee,” McIlroy said on Friday. “Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn't. Yeah, that's a concern going into next week.”

With just a few days remaining until one of golf’s most brutal tests, it’ll be imperative for McIlroy to get comfortable with a new driver before tackling a golf course that’s very unkind to inconsistent ball-striking.

As all eyes turn to the U.S. Open, you might as well keep the Oakmont weather forecast bookmarked. The golf course has taken a deluge of rain over the past few days and weeks, and more rain looms in the forecast. The gnarly rough will be juicy and penalizing, but for the golf course to play to its potential, some bounciness and roll would be ideal.

Let’s hope the weather trends in a positive, drier direction for the championship, which will undoubtedly produce one of the most exciting weeks of the year. U.S. Open week is officially here.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.