U.S. Open: What if these are the good ol’ days?

Over the course of the next seven days, you’ll see, hear and read a whole lot about the majesty of Oakmont — the depth of its viciously penal rough, the siren-like call of its Church Pews and Piano Keys, the miracle playoff between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in 1962 and the magnificent final-round 63 of Johnny Miller in 1973.

That’s what happens when you stage golf’s toughest test at one of golf’s finest, most revered courses — history swirls and surges, resurfacing memories of past glories and honoring the gods of the sport.

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No sport worships its past with fanatical devotion quite like golf. If you’ve spent any more than 10 seconds around the game, you’ve heard of Nicklaus and Palmer and Tiger Woods and all the other goliaths who strode the fairways of Oakmont and its fellow legendary tracks. The implication in all this reverence is obvious: Golf’s greatest days are in the past. Today’s players might play the same holes, but they’re nowhere close to the icons on the sport’s Grand Leaderboard.

Allow me to offer a different perspective: What if these are the good ol’ days we’ll be talking about decades from now? What if this is another golden age, and we can’t see the glow because we’re too close?

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Granted, no player today can match the breadth of popularity of Arnie’s Army, or the ruthless brilliance of Woods, or the all-encompassing excellence of the Golden Bear. But consider what we do have in this era:

• A generational player in Scottie Scheffler who’s drawing comparisons to the career trajectory of Woods and Nicklaus. It’s way too early to put him in their class, but with every win, every major, he stays in the hunt.

• An icon in Rory McIlroy who just engineered maybe the finest morality play in the game’s history, a journey from the mountaintop to the depths of the underworld and back to the mountaintop.

• A fascinating conundrum in Jon Rahm, a Hall of Fame-level talent who may have made the most foolish career decision in golf history.

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• A trailblazer in Bryson DeChambeau, who’s creating an entirely new brand framework for a professional athlete, combining talent, showmanship, social media savvy and niche obsessiveness in a way few people in any entertainment field have managed.

• A competition in the Ryder Cup that grows more vibrant, crucial and popular every time it comes around.

• A thriving golf ecosystem that extends beyond the PGA Tour of Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods to encompass everything from LIV Golf to YouTube influencers to an energetic independent golf media. Consider DeChambeau, for instance — his day job is as a LIV player, his most notable inside-the-ropes performances come at majors, and he’s a YouTube star. (His Oakmont preview racked up more than 2 million views in its first four days.) The world of golf continues to grow … just not in a way that, say, Arnie’s Army would have expected or predicted.

It’s all too easy to focus on the infuriating distractions, the obsession with purse sizes, the petty factionalism and bureaucracy that have shredded golf over the past four years. And yes, many of those tasked with protecting this game and shepherding it forward have sacrificed long-term stability for short-term pocket-stuffing.

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But as the latest major arrives, take a look at what we’ve seen over the last few years in the sport’s biggest moments. Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm and DeChambeau racking up victories. Dramatic finishes that raise spring and summer Sundays to the level of art. Epic tournaments — like Pinehurst 2024 and Augusta 2025 — that will rank among golf’s greatest ever. Regardless of what’s happening outside the ropes, the game, and its best players, are rising to meet the moment.

Another Oakmont element you’re likely to hear often this week: club president W.C. Fownes’ (alleged) declaration that at Oakmont, “a shot poorly played should be irrevocably lost. Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artist stand aside!”

That admonition applies to the game outside Oakmont, too. Golf’s best are stepping up and delivering, major after major. I’d say we should hope this glorious run continues this week … but at this point, I pretty much expect it.