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Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
OAKMONT, Pa. — Midmorning Friday, a wave of golfers trudged off the Oakmont Country Club golf course, looking weary but happy to finally finish a round that for many had started 24 hours earlier. Stepping from grass saturated by a deluge the previous day, they stomped their feet on pavement near the clubhouse still trying to shed the dampness from their shoes.
Passing them on a path to the golf course for their first round of the 116th United States Open was a separate wave of golfers, a rested group that had watched Thursday’s downpours through the windows of secure shelter. Dozens of these players were doing something that would have been unfathomable a day earlier: applying sunscreen.
As more than a few golfers observed, the first two days of America’s national championship this year were as different as night and day. Although it might have been more accurate to refer to a sodden Thursday as…
