Robert Trent Jones Golf Club offers tough test, good prep for next week’s U.S. Open

GAINESVILLE, Va. – Phil Mickelson captured one of his six major championships at Baltusrol. He set the course record of 62 at Spyglass Hills. And he’s celebrated four Presidents Cup wins as a member of the U.S. team at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

All of those courses were designed by legendary architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. So, no surprise that Mickelson has a fondness for his work.

“I've had good success on his courses,” said the HyFlyers GC captain. “I think they just fit my eye. I like the way the courses kind of flow with the land and integrate naturally into the environment."

This week, Mickelson is reunited with RTJ Golf Club, the host venue for LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden. He knows the course better than anybody else in the 54-man field.

“This land is spectacular, and he’s created really what he calls his masterpiece. So, you know it’s going to be great,” Mickelson said, praising the course’s aesthetic and architectural brilliance.

“What I love is the challenge of the greens. The greens are very difficult. They’re very contoured, fast, perfectly maintained, and tee to green, it’s a real challenge. And then when you get on the green, it’s just as challenging. It never eases up. There’s no easy part to this golf course.”

Of course, when Mickelson played the course for the Presidents Cup, the format was match play. Now, the six-time major winner is interested in seeing the challenge of the golf course in the stroke play format.

“I really enjoyed it in match play because you can make big numbers here," Mickelson said. "In stroke play that’s going to be a challenge, to try to minimize the big mistakes, because around the greens it’s pretty penalizing if you put it in the wrong spot.”

Yet, he sees opportunity amid the difficulty: “It’s nothing short of a great golf course, incredibly maintained, and it’s going to be a very difficult challenge for us. But it’s also fun. If you play well, it also gives opportunities to score.”

Crushers GC captainBryson DeChambeau echoed Mickelson’s sentiments about RTJ, highlighting the rough as one of the course’s main defenses.

“Well, the rough out here at RTJ is really long,” DeChambeau noted. “You’ve got to drive the ball well out here. It is a bit of a bomber’s paradise, but you have to hit the fairway.”

Like Mickelson, DeChambeau acknowledged that once you get to the greens at RTJ, the challenge is just beginning.

“The greens are in great shape," DeChambeau said. "They’re rolling well. They’ll get faster as the week goes on.”

The course’s layout rewards both strategy and power. DeChambeau sees the course as a timely test, given that he’s set to compete as the defending champion at next week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. He’s one of 13 LIV Golf players who will compete in the season’s third major.

“It’s going to test our driving ability for next week, which I think will play nicely into the U.S. Open,” DeChambeau said.

Mickelson will be playing his 34th U.S. Open and acknowledges that it could be his last one. His five-year U.S. Open exemption for winning the 2021 PGA Championship – and in the process, making golf history as the oldest major winner at age 50 – expires after this year, so there’s no guarantee of future appearances.

It’s not something the HyFlyers GC captain is really contemplating; he’d rather concentrate on playing his best at Oakmont and having a chance to complete the career grand slam. He thinks playing at RTJ this week will be beneficial for next week.

“We have greens that are rolling 14 to 15 on the stimpmeter just like we will next week,” Mickelson said. “We have contours, undulations just like we will next week. I think it's a great way to prepare for next week without minimizing the effects of this week because this is the first tournaments of our second half of LIV, and we all need and want and are working hard to getting off to a good start and making the second half of LIV great.

“It's also a great way to prepare for next week. Short game, touch, chipping around the greens, rough, speed, lag drills and speed and touch on the greens, all of that's critical here same thing as next week. It couldn't be a better spot to get ready.”