Getty ImagesIain CarterGolf correspondent4 minutes agoCommentsPittsburgh, America’s historic steel city also famed for coal mining, is known as a hub for hard industrial labour.And these qualities extend to its most famed golf course. There are few, if any, tougher more uncompromising tests than Oakmont Country Club, the home of this week’s US Open.This is a place where players have to roll up their sleeves and get on with it despite the golfing environment’s stark harshness.Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau summed it up for his legion of YouTube followers when he said: “This course doesn’t just challenge your game, it challenges your sanity.”This is the latest in a long line of observations about a course that will stage the US Open for a record 10th time, starting on Thursday. Seven-time major winner Gene Sarazen started the trend when he said Oakmont possesses “all the charm of a sock to the head”.The US Open is meant to be the toughest test and of all the courses that stage the Unites States’ national championship, this appears the toughest. It is the ultimate US Open venue.’A poor shot should be a shot lost’Getty ImagesHuge undulating, sloped greens are lightning fast. Another legend, Sam Snead, joked: “I put a dime down to mark my ball and the dime slipped away.”It was seeing a Sarazen putt run off an Oakmont green at the 1935 championship that inspired Edward Stimpson to invent the measuring device known as a “Stimpmeter” to calibrate just how fast a green is running.Six times major champion Lee Trevino noted the difficulty of the greens when he observed: “Every time I two putted at Oakmont, I was passing somebody on the leaderboard.”The rough is thick and juicy and its 175 bunkers are harsh, penal hazards. Phil Mickelson, who this week plays his 34th and most likely final US Open, thinks it is “the hardest golf course we have ever played”.Geoff Ogilvy, the champion in 2006 at Winged Foot – another brutal venue, said: “Playing Oakmont was like the hardest hole you have ever played on every hole.”The course was built in the early 20th century by Henry Clay Fownes after he sold his burgeoning steel business to Andrew Carnegie. The Fownes family were among the best players in Western Pennsylvania at the time.Now they had the wealth to indulge their sporting passion and they transformed 191 acres of farmland at a place called Plum on the outskirts of Pittsburgh into one of the most feared pieces of golfing architecture ever built.It was the only course HC Fownes designed and it has more than stood the test of time. He did not see golf as any kind of beauty contest.”Let the clumsy, the spineless, the alibi artists stand aside, a poor shot should be a shot irrevocably lost,” he stated.When the course opened in 1904 it measured 6,406 yards and was par-80. This week it is stretched to 7,431 yards and the par score is 71.Dubbed “Soakmont” when it last staged the US Open, heavy rainfall softened fairways and greens, Dustin Johnson’s winning score was still only four under, admittedly including a controversial penalty for unintentionally moving his ball on the fifth hole of the final round.Joint runners up Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk and Scott Piercy, who were three shots behind, were the only other players to beat par.When Angel Cabrera won in 2007, the course was fast and firm and the Argentine was the only contender to break 70 on the final day. His 69 was enough to finish five over for a one-shot win over Furyk and Tiger Woods.’Bunkers not designed to be a bail out’Getty ImagesThis time we can anticipate a similar scenario to the one that yielded Johnson’s first major nine years ago because the Pittsburgh area has suffered its wettest spring on record.The greens will still be very quick but perhaps more likely to hold approach shots than they were in 2007. But the five-inch deep rough will be damp, lush and brutal.And unlike most recent US Open venues it will not be ‘graduated’ with shorter grass nearer the immaculate fairways. It will be short grass and then long grass with nothing in between – classically uncompromising in the finest Oakmont tradition.The bunkers are not designed to be a bail out. The sand is unsympathetic and forms a genuine hazard, as do strategic ditches that criss-cross the layout.Between the third and fourth fairways lies the famous ‘Church Pews’ bunker, more than 100 yards long and up to 43 yards wide with a dozen turf islands (the pews) striped across to punish wayward tee shots.The par-three eighth could be stretched to more than 300 yards and is the longest ‘short’ hole in championship golf. “I haven’t played it since they lengthened it to be a short par five,” Jack Nicklaus, the winner at Oakmont in 1962, recently joked.Some hate the idea of par-three holes playing at such length. Nicklaus called it “crazy” but it is a good golf hole and par is just a number, albeit one that can mess with a player’s head.And therein lies the ultimate aspect of US Open golf. Yes the United States Golf Association want to test every club in the bag but they also want to examine the 15th club – the one that resides between the ears.The winner will be the player who deals best with the inevitable setbacks inflicted by a course known as “the beast” but who also plays the best golf.That might seem an obvious statement, but accurate driving and unerring approach play can yield rich rewards. After a third-round 76, Johnny Miller fired a final-round 63 to win in 1973 with what is still regarded as one of the greatest rounds ever played.In 2016 Lowry shot a 65 to take the 54-hole lead, so low scores are possible.But over four long days, which may well suffer weekend weather interruption, there will be sufficient snakes to counterbalance the very few ladders afforded by this ultra-demanding course.In short, it is going to be very, very hard work; just as it should be at the US Open in this part of the world.Related topicsGolf

RexFrank KeoghBBC Sport Senior Journalist18 minutes agoLegendary racehorse trainer Peter Easterby has died at the age of 95.Easterby, based in Malton, North Yorkshire, saddled equine greats Sea Pigeon, Night Nurse and Little Owl to big-race victories.He was champion jumps trainer three times, won the Champion Hurdle on five occasions and the Cheltenham Gold Cup twice.The figurehead of a renowned racing family, he was the first British trainer to have more than 1,000 winners on both the flat and over the jumps.Easterby, whose brother Mick is also a successful trainer, retired in 1996 when he handed his training licence to son Tim.”It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of my father Peter Easterby,” said Tim.”He passed away peacefully in his own home with his family by his side. A true gentleman, legendary racehorse trainer, passionate farmer, lover of country sports and an incredibly proud father and grandfather.”While Sea Pigeon won both the Champion Hurdle and Chester Cup twice, Easterby said the biggest cheer he heard was was when the horse won the Ebor Handicap on the flat at York in 1979.”The announcer got ‘Sea’ out and you couldn’t hear the other word ‘Pigeon” because there was such a roar, so that was very exciting,” he recalled.Night Nurse was another two-time champion hurdler, who was narrowly denied a Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph in 1981, by stablemate Little Owl.Easterby had also won the Gold Cup two years earlier with Alverton, who was then sent off favourite for the Grand National but died after a fall at Becher’s Brook.He held a training licence for 46 years and won his first Champion Hurdle with Saucy Kit in 1967.Related topicsHorse Racing

Carlos Alcaraz says the French Open final against Jannik Sinner was “the most exciting match that I’ve played so far”.Spain’s Alcaraz saved three championship points in the fourth set before securing a 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-2) win after five hours and 29 minutes.READ MORE: Sinner and Alcaraz thriller proves rivalry here to stay

Getty ImagesLorraine McKennaBBC Sport Journalist2 hours ago6 CommentsShai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 in game two of the NBA Finals to level the series at 1-1.The Pacers snatched victory in the final second of the opening game on Friday week, but on Sunday the Thunder dominated from start to finish.Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket at Paycom Center in Oklahoma took him to 3,000 points for the season, making him the 12th player in NBA history to reach the milestone.Game three of the best-of-seven series takes place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 01:30 BST on Thursday, the first time Indianapolis has hosted a finals game in 25 years.”They play a full 48 minutes and you can’t just throw the first punch,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “You’ve got to try to throw all the punches all night.”That’s what we did. We threw enough punches tonight to get a ‘W’.”Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, added five rebounds and eight assists.The Thunder’s Jalen Williams scored 19 points, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren recovered from a disappointing six points in game one to score 15 points with six rebounds.The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was limited to 17 points, three rebounds and six assists.”It’s still a race – first to four,” he said. “We are going to our home court tied 1-1.”Haliburton walked out of the post-game news conference with a slight limp.Seven Pacers players scored in double figures, including Myles Turner with 16 points and Pascal Siakam with 15.Related topicsBasketball

.25 minutes agoFormer Northern Ireland and Leeds United wide man Stuart Dallas is part of BBC Sport NI’s coverage of Tuesday’s friendly with Iceland.Reaching the Premier League is a dream for any player.I know how Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard feel after they won promotion with Sunderland, it’s an incredible feeling and achieving it with Leeds was one of the highlights of my career.It’s a big step up from the Championship, not only on the pitch but with everything that comes with it. There’s more spotlight and every game you play is a big event that is shown all over the world. It’s literally a different ball game.On the pitch, you can see the difference between the top two divisions by how the promoted teams have struggled to bridge the gap after going up, but Trai and Daniel are more than capable of adapting and they’ve shown it at international level.That’s always what gave me the belief I could perform well in the Premier League. I wasn’t playing all the time with my club, but with Northern Ireland I was playing against some of the best players in the world and I always felt I held my own.Taking on some of the best players from Germany or the Netherlands, it only added to the belief that I belonged at that level, and I’m sure Trai and Daniel will feel the same.You could say the same for Conor Bradley at Liverpool and Justin Devenny at Crystal Palace too, as they were both playing international football before playing week in, week out for their clubs.It’s great for belief, and having more players at the top level can only benefit the national team as a whole.Getty ImagesI can relate a lot to Trai’s journey to the Premier League. Like me, he started off in the Irish League and had a lot of senior games under his belt before he moved across to England.I had played between 150 and 200 games of senior football for Coagh United and Crusaders, and I can’t speak enough about how much that prepares you to step up to professional football in England. I still had a lot of developing to do when I moved to Brentford, but it set me up so well.You can be in an academy in England from the age of eight, and in a pre-academy even younger. I look at some players who haven’t played a senior game by the age of 20 or 21 because they are stuck in youth football, and when they get their chance they struggle to adapt because it’s hard to bridge that gap.I look back at my career now and I wouldn’t have done it any other way, and I can see that Trai is reaping the rewards of that too.’It’s a new era for Northern Ireland’While the result in Denmark was disappointing, there are still positives to take from the game. Denmark deserved to win, and they are a level above where Northern Ireland currently are.But it is where Michael O’Neill wants his team to be, and it was another good learning experience for his young squad.Defensively, particularly in the first half, they were very good against a strong and creative attack but they will want to improve going forward. They needed to be more brave on the ball. They made a great start with the goal but didn’t really threaten after scoring, and I’m sure that will have disappointed Michael.In that regard, I think Iceland in the perfect game to follow it up on Tuesday. As the home team, the onus is on you to take it to the opposition and play with the energy and desire to win the game. The crowd will play a role in that too, and we know how important Windsor Park can be.I know Michael likes to play with a back three, but I think he will set the team up a little bit different to get his key players on the ball to try and make something happen.Iceland got a fantastic result in Scotland but they aren’t of the same calibre as Denmark. They are probably in and around where Northern Ireland are and that presents an opportunity to be more of a goal threat.Press EyeIt’s a new era for Northern Ireland, and that is highlighted by the fact that George Saville was the only player in the 26-strong squad over the age of 30. Paddy McNair would have been in there too if he wasn’t injured, but it just shows how young this team are.The Iceland game is the final chance to prepare for World Cup qualifying in September, and it’s hard because these players are effectively learning on the job. The only way to prepare for big games is to keep playing strong teams and learn from any mistakes.There aren’t any shortcuts in international football, and that is why Michael is keen to take on higher-level friendlies. The leadership group in the squad is young, but I’m seeing good qualities on the pitch. The turnaround for Tuesday will be a big test for them, but it’s a great opportunity to end the camp on a high and take some momentum into World Cup qualifying.Stuart Dallas was speaking to BBC Sport NI’s Andy Gray.Watch Northern Ireland v Iceland on Tuesday, 10 June at 19:30 BST on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two NI; listen on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster and follow live text and in-play clips on BBC Sport website and app.Related topicsNorthern Ireland Men’s Football TeamNorthern Ireland SportFootballIrish Football

Getty ImagesStephan ShemiltChief Cricket Reporter39 minutes agoBeau Webster is on honeymoon. Sort of.Married to Maddie in April, the newlyweds only had time for a few days away in Tasmania before Australia all-rounder Webster began his stint at Warwickshire. Maddie joined him in Birmingham.From there it is this week’s World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s, then three Tests in the West Indies. Webster could be back playing in the UK before the season is out. Only then, and before an Ashes summer back home, might the couple fit in a proper break.The schedule is an indication of how Webster’s life has changed, and how his career accelerated up to and beyond a Test debut in January at the age of 31.From club cricket in Cheshire and Birmingham, to T20 leagues in Canada and the Cayman Islands, there was a time when Webster thought he would simply “eke out a steady career”.As a youngster, Webster was a good enough Australian Rules Football player to have considered entering the draft. He was offered terms to become a professional cricketer with Tasmania at 18, then had to wait almost 11 years after his first-class debut to progress to the highest level.”There was a period when I thought I was stagnating,” he tells BBC Sport.”I was resigned to my goal of getting a baggy green not being there. If it didn’t happen, I was OK with that. I was happy with the fact I might just be a good first-class cricketer and would hopefully win some silverware with Tasmania.”Webster had thoughts of what life after cricket might look like. His father was once a builder, so Webster dabbled with an apprenticeship “on the tools”. He started and failed to finish university courses in journalism and business, then had more success with mortgage broking. He may do a diploma in the next year or so.His immediate task is to hold down a place in the Australia team at number six, a role that revealed itself when Webster learnt to use his 6ft 6in frame to become a more than handy seamer.Previously a batter who had been everywhere from one to eight in the Tasmania order, Webster would send down some part-time off-breaks if needed. From a young age he messed around in the nets attempting to bowl pace, but found the resulting back soreness had a negative impact on his batting.It was only during the Covid pandemic, when ‘Tassie’ needed a seam-bowling all-rounder, that Webster took it seriously and was helped by renowned pace-bowling coach Adam Griffith.”It was just lack of technique, feet and arms everywhere,” says Webster. “Unless you get the right run-up, technique and your back and legs are used to it, you can have some soreness.”I never had a run-up. Until you have a run-up, you do it in the nets and stutter in until you feel like you can hit the crease. You probably bowl at about 50% without a run-up. Once I sorted a run-up with Griffo and was able to focus on the other end, rather than the end where I was landing, it grew from there.”When Webster was ready to unleash his new skill in the middle, there was the issue of being taken seriously.”When you bowl off-spin for long enough, then you start coming off the long run, everyone starts looking at it as a bit of a gimmick,” he says.”I spoke to Usman Khawaja about it. We played Queensland, I got the ball and came off the long run and Uzzy thought, ‘What’s going on here?'”I bowled a couple and he thought, ‘Gee, that’s actually not too bad.’ I think I got him out caught at gully and it wasn’t until 12 to 18 months of bowling seam that I lost the stigma of it being a gimmick.”To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedWebster was developing into anything but a gimmick. Like a host of all-rounders, success in one discipline fed the other.In the 2023-24 season, his 938 runs were by far the most in the Sheffield Shield, supplemented by 30 wickets. Only one other player in Shield history had managed 900 runs and 30 wickets in a single season: the greatest all-rounder of them all, Sir Garfield Sobers.Webster was getting noticed, but from a recognition point of view, his timing was horrific. Australia have not historically been blessed with seam-bowling all-rounders, but were in a bountiful period with Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh.It took a back injury to Green and a dip in form by Marsh for Webster to get his chance in the fifth Test against India at the beginning of this year. His parents, Rod and Tina, were so caught off guard by his selection that they had to make a short-notice trip to Sydney and their plea for a house-sitter in Tasmania hit the headlines.With the series still alive, he top-scored with 57 out of 181 in the Australia first innings and followed up with an unbeaten 39, including the winning runs, in the second. He also took a wicket and two smart slip catches. In the two Tests that followed in Sri Lanka, Webster dusted down his off-spin to show his versatility.Green is fit again, albeit only as a specialist batter. Webster is hoping there’s space in the Australian XI for both of them at Lord’s, then in the Caribbean and the Ashes.”It breeds the best in me when I’m up against guys and competing,” he says. “I’d welcome the challenge. I can only keep scoring runs and taking wickets to keep my place in that XI, but no doubt it will only become harder and harder.”The marriage to Maddie came after the Sri Lanka tour.”Coincidentally with the seam-bowling stuff, Maddie came into my life at the same time as my career took off, so she’ll probably claim some credit,” says Webster.”Everything that goes with being a professional cricketer – there are more bad days than good – she’s my biggest fan.”I’m sure we’ll do something for a honeymoon. We’ll find a window at some point in the next few months.”Webster has already ticked off an Australia debut and a wedding. Now there is a World Test Championship final to win and an Ashes urn to retain.”That would be the perfect 12 months.”Related topicsWarwickshireAustraliaCricket