Scatterplots: Saturday at the 2025 U.S. Open

While Friday night's rain at Oakmont didn't make the course that much easier, Saturday's wind and softer conditions affected the way players were able to attack certain holes. A particularly interesting one was the par-4 11th, a short hole that prevents players from hitting driver because of a ditch running across the fairway. The fairway short of that ditch is very wide but the right half slopes dramatically back towards the tee and to the right. When the wind shifted on Saturday and softer conditions prevented big first bounces, it made it imperative for players to hit a longer shot up the left side of the fairway in order to have a chance to hold the fairway.

A good percentage of the players were unable to drive it accurately up the left, resulting in many shots falling back off the hill or filtering off to the right.

Compare Saturday's drives to those on Friday, when the wind wasn't as much of a factor and those who missed to the right were largely still able to get over the hill in the fairway.

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Now, even if you don't hit a great drive on No. 11 you still have a pretty manageable shot into the green, especially if you're in the fairway. But it was really cool to see the 11th fairway put a real premium on accuracy on Saturday, rewarding those who managed to hold the left side.