2025 Tour Guide: 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont
When the 2025 U.S. Open tees off at Oakmont CC in June, it will be a full-circle moment for grounds superintendent Mike McCormick. After all, he experienced the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont as an intern during his college days at UMass Amherst and the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont as an assistant superintendent.
Now, he’ll experience the U.S. Open as the man in charge, responsible for the impeccable conditions that Oakmont is famous for.
“I met my wife in Pittsburgh. Her family is from Pittsburgh,” McCormick says. “Oakmont was always certainly at the top of my list in terms of a dream job. I never thought I’d get the opportunity, but when it came knocking, I ran as fast as I could.”
An outstanding culture
McCormick grew up obsessed with golf. His mom has a photo of him as a youngster in the backyard, hitting balls while wearing a Greg Norman straw hat.
There was a public, 36-hole course nearby: Stow Acres CC in Stow, Mass. McCormick felt like it was a second home.
“I started working there pretty young — 11, 12, picking range balls and washing carts,” McCormick says. “I noticed the grounds guys and then became infatuated with that. The superintendent, Erick Koskinen, who is now with Aquatrols, asked me if I wanted to join the team. I fell in love with it.”
McCormick says he’s been fortunate in his career that he’s had several mentors who have helped guide him.
“Erick is really the one who got me going — he’s the one who suggested I go to the University of Massachusetts,” McCormick says. “That crew, from when I was working there in middle school and high school, there are still eight or 10 guys who are still in the turf industry.”
As for the pressure of now being in the captain’s chair, he says he’s got a lot of confidence because of the team at Oakmont.
“We have an unbelievable team. The culture amongst our team, our leadership, is outstanding,” he says. “Max Claassen, our director of agronomy, he’s just an absolute stud. And then, the membership, the leadership at the club, has been unbelievably supportive toward our team. It’s an exciting time at the club. We’ve done a lot of work to the golf course and the surrounding facilities. Oakmont is an anchor site with the USGA now, so we’re really excited about that and to continue Oakmont’s championship legacy and traditions.”
McCormick says he takes the job day by day while not getting too excited when things go bad or even when things go well.
“Ultimately, I’ve been through it before — obviously not in this role — but I think at the end of the day, our team, the support of the club and the guys that are going to come back and help support us during the championship week, I feel pretty good about all of that,” he says.
David Delsandro was the previous superintendent at Oakmont, working at the club as the director of U.S. Open operations and projects from 2013 to 2017, then as the superintendent from 2017 to 2022. Now the co-owner of Agronomic Advisors, Delsandro says McCormick is “built for this stage.”
“He’s a rare breed who not only has the leadership and presence, but also the technical acumen to produce elite agronomic conditioning,” Delsandro says. “It’ll be inspiring to watch him operate under the brightest lights in the game of golf.”
What’s new in 2025
For this U.S. Open, McCormick says to expect some new looks to the greens and bunkers. In 2023, Gil Hanse was brought in for a comprehensive restoration. About 250 yards were added to the course and some of the grassing lines were changed back to what Henry Fownes did in his original design.
“Oakmont is known for its iconic greens, but what had happened over the years, from all the sand splash, aerification and topdressing procedures, is that the perimeters of the greens had built up in elevation,” McCormick says. “Gil came in and referenced historical photos and did some excavations around greens. All the hole locations we had in 2016 are still there, but on every green we have a plethora of new hole locations as well.”
He says it’s the same Oakmont, the same bones, but the closest it has ever been to the original Fownes masterpiece.
In terms of his own job, McCormick says he’s enjoyed utilizing the new tools from the USGA, specifically the GS3 and the Deacon app.
“Some of the data that we’re able to collect now, with smoothness and trueness, it’s a different data point that we’ve never had before,” he says. “To pick up your cell phone and see it right there is exciting.”
He also heaps praise on Quali-Pro for their support with the conditions of the Pennsylvania golf course and for supporting the championship.
“We’ve been using Quali-Pro for several years now, and it’s slowly been built into the platform of our chemical program. We use a wide variety of their products, like QP720, the tebuconazole, all the way up to their proprietary products like Suprado,” McCormick says. “The more we work with their products, the more that trust exists. The support we get from their team is unique and special. When they approached us to support the championship, we were excited. And they’re great people.”
McCormick says building relationships has been an integral key to his success in the industry. He advises others in the industry to find the right mentors and to work hard on building relationships.
“I think the No. 1 thing is finding the right mentors, finding guys that were going to challenge me and push me to be the best version of myself,” McCormick says. “But secondly, just building relationships, networking, going to trade shows, meeting as many people as you can. A lot of my own support system, they’re not guys that I worked with … they’re guys I met at trade shows and stayed in touch with. Those relationships build. And that’s what’s most unique about our industry.”
All of our coverage from the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont is being brought to you by Quali-Pro!
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