Oakmont crews work around the clock to undo storm damage

Although play was suspended in the first round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, the course maintenance crew at Oakmont Country Club never stopped working.

Literally, never.

“A lot of guys have not had sleep probably in two days, so it’s just trying to get this caught up, get a lot of golf caught up,” course superintendent John Zimmers said Friday. “The staff and the volunteers have done a remarkable job just working all kind of hours.”

“I don’t even know what day it is right now.”

While Oakmont prides itself on always being Open-ready, nothing can prepare a course for 2.93 inches of rain it endured from Wednesday through Friday morning. Zimmers said the weather was as “bad as I’ve ever seen.”

“It probably undid a lot of our work where we were at Wednesday,” Zimmers said. “I’m still very positive. I think we’ve done the best we can, and the staff has done the best they can, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Gerry Dulac looks back on the second day of action at Oakmont. (Video by Matt Freed)

The first priority for the Oakmont crew of 150-160 people was to manage the playing surfaces. Zimmers said the bunkers had to be repaired four or five times as the water kept pouring in, requiring the traps to be pumped out and shoveled.

“We had probably close to 80 or 90 people working on bunkers,” he said.

On top of that, a lightning bolt struck a rare Oakmont tree, went through the ground and hit the main water line.

“It then traveled underground through those pipes and wires, and it caused additional leaks,” Zimmers said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that.”

The resulting geyser-like leaks — at the 17th hole, in front of the range tee and at No. 12 — shot out water at a rate of 1,500 gallons per minute, Zimmers said, and the crew worked “all night” to repair them.

“We’ve been very fortunate to get everything repaired and fixed, so it’s not going to impact play,” he said.

With this much rain pouring on Oakmont’s parade, the crew couldn’t give the greens their usual treatment of mowing and rolling. That would come Friday afternoon, between the first and second rounds, when the crew also cut fresh holes for each green. Zimmers hoped to do additional mowing Friday night. Once the crew members are caught up on the tees, fairways and greens, they’ll be able to focus on the rough over the weekend.

Wet weather also affected spectators, and entry gates did not open until 8 a.m. Friday, 30 minutes after the first tee time of the day. To help the crowds, the Oakmont crew added wood chips covering muddy paths and cleaned up the viewing areas, Zimmers said. Spectators had to navigate some soggy or muddy patches in the sloping pathways, but there were many fewer mud-streaked legs on Friday than on Thursday. The sun was also doing its part to burn up the lingering moisture on the course.

“I’ve been to a lot of tournaments with a lot of rain, and it looked worse than this,” said Terry Roberts of Upper St. Clair, who joined the crowd Friday. “This is actually better than I expected, so they did a pretty remarkable job.”

Dede Foreman, who traveled from Owensboro, Ky., to watch her daughter’s boyfriend, Kent Bulle, play in his first U.S. Open, said Oakmont held up “very well” given the circumstances.

“The course looks perfect,” she said, watching Bulle compete on the ninth hole.

Her own strategy for navigating muddy spots? Stay on higher points on the course.

“Haven’t seen too many people fall,” she said.

Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1750 and Twitter: @BloomPG.