Rory McIlroy lashed out at the toughest golf course in the country Friday as Oakmont Country Club continued to bare its teeth at the 156 men competing in the 2025 U.S. Open. Though McIlroy was hardly the only golfer to be frustrated by the difficulties he faced in Western Pennsylvania, he was perhaps the most demonstrative of the bunch.
This despite the Masters champion and career grand slam winner birdieing two of his last five holes, easily sliding inside the cut line at 6 over, nine back of clubhouse leader Sam Burns with Moving Day ahead Saturday.
After starting with two double bogeys across his first three holes on Friday, McIlroy sat 8 over for the tournament while tackling the 12th. Trying to make the green from the fairway, he botched an approach striking it directly into the rough. Feeling he had no other recourse but to vent his frustrations in the moment, he tossed his iron like a tomahawk, resigned to his fate. (Rory ultimately made par on the hole.)
Though he steadied himself over the next few holes and actually birdied the 15th — moving to 7 over and back inside the cut line — McIlroy’s frustrations with Oakmont did not waver. His tee shot on the 17th did not go as planned, and while that was more a him problem than having anything to do with the course, Rory vented by absolutely obliterating a U.S. Open tee marker just behind his back.
McIlroy’s problems with his driver began at the 2025 PGA Championship when the USGA ruled that the club he had been using all season had become nonconforming. Both he and Scottie Scheffler were forced to make a change before the tournament began, and after McIlroy tried a different model at the RBC Canadian Open that led to a missed cut, he reverted back to his original driver entering the third major championship of the season.
He nevertheless made the cut by two strokes with this birdie on the 18th clinching his opportunity to play the weekend.
Rory has hardly been the only golfer bothered by the test Oakmont has presented through the first 36 holes. Scheffler took his frustrations out at the driving range. McIlroy’s best friend and countryman, Shane Lowry, became so exhausted by the course that he accidentally picked up his ball on the 14th hole Friday before marking it. He was also seen uttering, “f— this place,” after missing a putt in the second round.
