John, as an opener, can you share with everyone the development of your thoughts on Oakmont? I seem to recall you initially felt it was too hard to enjoy on a regular basis, but repeat play changed that opinion - perhaps you could expand on that.
The first time I played Oakmont, I was overwhelmed. It was so freaking hard that I thought it wouldn't be fun to play every day. But, as I got back there a few more times, I started to see that the challenge was great, but the feeling of exhilaration when you did something like landing your ball 20 yards short of #1 and see it roll down to the hole (or usually just beyond it) was great. I also loved the fact that you could be forced to play shots that tested your entire game, but that you wouldn't be pulling another ball out of your pocket when you failed. You would just be faced with another tough shot.
Also, after walking with some of the greatest players in the world for four days and seeing that the course challenged them in the same way I became convinced that it was at the top of the list of great courses I've seen. For the record, I walked with the following groups:
Thursday - Cabrera, Goosen, Donald
Friday - Stroud, Fickart, Dufner
Saturday - Westwood, Kim
Sunday - Janzen, Dougherty
Cabrera was amazing. He bombed it so far past Goosen who isn't short.
Westwood was the most fun. On the third hole, the hole was on the front right and a putt from the back of the green that was hit a little hard could go past the hole and 50 yards or more down the hill. He had a 30-footer from the back that he left 4 feet short (no surprise there). He really was grinding on that putt and made it. When we got to the fourth tee, he turned to me and said, "I'm sending my psychiatric bills to the USGA."