Hovland-mania, Scheffler’s son, a TikTok star playing at Oakmont

OAKMONT, Pa. — Hello, friends, and happy Saturday from the U.S. Open! It’s been an eventful day here at Oakmont. I made the 40-minute trek out to the media center to get some Father’s Day gifts (my dad will be receiving U.S. Open merchandise for the fourth consecutive year), watched the final groups warm up on the range and then followed Viktor Hovland’s and Adam Scott’s round. I’ve also improved my golf course photography game a lot this week, which I’m feeling particularly proud of.

There were a handful of players who missed the cut on site at Oakmont on Saturday. Justin Thomas, Alistair Docherty and a handful of amateurs were among them. I love when amateurs return to the course even if they aren’t teeing it up. Who knows if they’ll ever tee it up in a major again? Take advantage of the free lunch and inside-the-ropes pass!

He may have missed the cut on Friday evening, but that didn’t keep Justin Thomas from getting in a range session on Saturday afternoon. It’s probably easier to stay in Pittsburgh for an extra day or two than to go home to Florida, only to turn around to head to Connecticut for the Travelers Championship. And why not take advantage of Oakmont’s practice facilities while you can?

Scottie Scheffler’s son

Perhaps the most humbling moment of the day came when 14-month old Bennett Scheffler was seen making solid contact on the range at Oakmont. He may not be able to walk yet, but he has definitely picked up on some of his dad’s golf habits.

He’s already making solid contact, and the fact that he’s constantly surrounded not just by the World No. 1 but Ted Scott, Randy Smith and his dad’s pal Sam Burns only means one thing: The Scheffler golf takeover is going to last more than one generation.

Give it a few months and Bennett will have Scottie’s footwork down. And he’ll have a better swing than all of us.

Ben Griffin’s unique approach to social media

While some players try to spend less time on social media as their careers progress, U.S. Open contender Ben Griffin does the opposite. Many pros hand over their Instagram logins to agents or social media managers, but not the two-time PGA Tour winner. Griffin and his fiancee, Dana Myeroff, take turns editing and posting clips of their life on the road on TikTok, an app that I’d bet not too many other Tour pros even have downloaded.

Griffin has posted seven TikTok videos from Oakmont this week. Let’s take a look.

A lot of Griffin’s content this week has been focused around course conditions at Oakmont, but that’s not all he does. He often makes “day in the life” videos so the rest of us normal people can see what it’s like traveling from PGA Tour stop to PGA Tour stop. He also keeps up to date on the TikTok trends, as seen by this video of him calling his caddie and trainer to say goodnight, which lots of Gen-Z’ers have been doing on the app.

Professional golfers, here is my plea to you: download TikTok. It’s where all the young people are. It’s way less toxic than Twitter, and you don’t even have to watch it if you don’t want (although there’s a good chance you’ll be sucked into a hole on a random subject). You can create videos like Ben Griffin, share them and log off for the day. It’s low stakes! And you’ll grow your fan base.

An unexpected TikTok find

Speaking of TikTok, there’s another player who I’ve seen all over the app recently, and not by his own doing. Girls around the world are making slo-motion edits of another U.S. Open contender: Viktor Hovland. And he might not be too far away from finding out about them.

I can only imagine the content these TikTok creators will have if Hovland gets it done on Sunday at Oakmont.

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