With the 2025 U.S. Open fast approaching, the spotlight shifts to Oakmont — one of golf’s most unforgiving tests. Ahead of the event, Golf Channel and Sky Sports analyst Paul McGinley sat down with myself, Gianni Magliocco, to break down some of the big talking points and storylines heading into the championship.

Within the discussion, McGinley reveals why he believes players must be required to speak to the media, the flaw in Bryson DeChambeau’s swing that’s causing poor iron and wedge play, and why Rory McIlroy might finally be equipped to handle a brutal U.S. Open setup.

Check out the full Q&A below.

Gianni: Rory McIlroy has come close at the last two U.S. Opens, yet he’s still never won a professional tournament where the winning score wasn’t double digits under par.

With this year’s U.S. Open expected to be a war of attrition with a winning score over par, what is it about challenging course conditions that McIlroy has historically struggled to overcome?

Paul: Rory plays best when he’s on the front foot, playing aggressively and taking on the golf course. It’s a style of golf that is charismatic, engaging, and exciting. It’s the reason he’s many peoples favorite player to watch. While it’s a style of golf that comes naturally to him, it’s also a style that leans away from the dog fighting, patient style that is often required to win a U.S. Open.

I do feel however, that he is much better equipped now than ever before to play this style of golf. The proof is that we now see him winning events with his B game, like he did this year at TPC Sawgrass — as he found a way to dig out scores when not quite on his game.

This U.S. Open will be a really good opportunity to watch and assess this newfound versatility as a player. His resilience has always been underestimated, and the fact that he is a more complete player now than at any other stage in his career gives reason to believe that he is more capable of winning on tougher setups now than ever before.

Gianni: You recently dismissed Bryson DeChambeau’s claim that he needs to find a golf ball that flies straighter following his PGA Championship performance. Instead, you said that he needs to change his swing—pointing to his poor play at the first two majors this year with his irons and wedges.

What exactly does Bryson need to change in his swing?

Paul: While Bryson ranked very high in driving, putting, and around the green, his iron play relative to the field was really poor at both the Masters and the PGA Championship this year. Now that we have the shot tracer available for TV coverage, we can see the prominence of a right-to-left shape with his irons and can see him struggling in a right-to-left wind as well as a right pin position.

While I’m no expert on the golf swing, particularly when it comes to a pioneer like Bryson, his swing does look too much in-to-out to me.

Gianni: Considering Rory’s lack of pedigree for winning on tough setups, and Bryson’s struggles with his irons and wedges, Scottie Scheffler is the undeniable favorite at Oakmont.

What factors—whether in his game or the way the course is setup—are most likely to prevent Scheffler from winning the U.S. Open given his current form?

Paul: Scottie has wonderful ball control and comfort in shaping the ball any way required from his driver to his wedge. That’s a huge advantage on a U.S. Open setup.  Throw in his brilliance around the green as well as the huge improvement in his putting, and technically it’s hard to find fault. However, the biggest asset that Scottie has is confidence in his mental game. He knows how to be patient and how to employ strategies to aid this mental mindset.

Let’s also not forget the importance that his caddie, Ted Scott, plays in the whole Scottie equation. Ted brings a lot to the table in terms of moral support, Scottie’s tendencies, and strategy. Remember, Scottie’s career exploded right after Ted became his caddie. 

Gianni: You’ve made your stance very clear on the issue surrounding players opting out of talking to the media, having been critical of both Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy recently in that regard.

At the Masters, Shane Lowry made the point that tennis players get 30-60 minutes to cool off before speaking to the media following a match and that it should be the same for golfers. Do you agree with Shane or should players simply face the music after a round like their predecessors did? 

Paul: The media is a huge part of professional sport, and I believe players have a duty and obligation to the game of golf in facilitating the media right after play. Other sports do it, and golf can’t give away that advantage in the competitive arena with other sports that golf competes with.

Whether that be after a cooling down period or not, I don’t have a strong view on that, but I do have a strong view on new norms being created for golf that will work away from its promotion as a sport.

Golf Channel has done research and found that Tiger always gave interviews or quotes post every round that he played, Jack Nicklaus talked at the Memorial this year on always engaging with the media, win, lose or draw, so it’s not a good new norm for current players to not engage with the media. For me, it should be mandated for the players in some form or other.

Gianni: It’s become common at the U.S. Open for players to become upset over the difficulty of the course setup. With heavy rough, greens running at 15 on the stimpmeter, and some pros already being critical of the 290-yard par 3, we could be in for a spicy week at Oakmont.

Are some players too accustomed to optimal scoring conditions, particularly on the PGA Tour, so that any real test feels like it crosses a line for them?

Paul: Yes, I can agree with that, but the U.S. Open has always been very different from any other tournament in terms of difficulty. I don’t think this current crop of players are any different from previous generations. As always, you’ve got to bring a different mentality to win a U.S. Open, particularly on a very demanding setup. 

Gianni: Brooks Koepka has dramatically gone from being the player in the majors to being a non-factor at these events in recent times. He hasn’t cracked the top 20 at a major since the 2023 U.S. Open and comfortably missed the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship this year. 

In your view, is Brooks done contending regularly for majors or is this just a blip?

Paul: I would never dismiss a player of Brooks‘ quality to win majors. He has proven that he knows how to get it done down the stretch, and also he has proven how much he loves the battle.

However, I would question how prepared he is for these major setups now, as he rarely plays outside of LIV. Judging by the scoring in the LIV events, it’s clear that their setups are, for the majority of their events, a lot easier than those on the PGA Tour.

I would never dismiss LIV players from winning due to the number of real quality players that they have. However, I do believe they are at a disadvantage compared to PGA Tour players for a number of reasons, particular as time marches on from when they played a full PGA Tour schedule and had a better balance in their schedules of tough versus easy events as well as less travel in major season. 

Gianni: Finally, you have a reputation for being one of the best minds in the game when it comes to data and statistical analysis. What’s a common myth about U.S. Open strategy that the data debunks?

Paul: More depends on the weather and ground conditions rather than the USGA setup. A soft golf course will bring a lot more players into the equation, whereas a firm golf course suits the big hitters.