Back where the passion started

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of trees framed every hole. A father was in his golf prime, juggling business rounds with raising three active children. His teenage son loved sports, yet struggled finding one to match his curiosity with a lack of natural athletic ability.

One sweltering Friday in 1994, at one famed golf course, attending one round of one major championship, altered the trajectory of the son’s life.

Thirty-one years later, the father and son returned to Oakmont Country Club for the final round of the 2025 U.S. Open. The current version of Oakmont possesses little resemblance to the mid-1990s version. One tree, a hulking elm near the multi-tiered second green and the fescue-surrounded third tee, rests on the sprawling property’s interior.

The father-son relationship has experienced multiple evolutions since they followed Bob Tway, Curtis Strange and Nick Price for 18 holes and observed relatable western Pennsylvania sports hero Arnold Palmer play his final U.S. Open round. Palmer’s U.S. Open run had to end somewhere, so it ended on June 17, 1994, at Oakmont, a bruiser of a tract 38 miles from his hometown of Latrobe.

And the son’s passion for golf had to start somewhere, so it started at the same bruiser 33 miles from his parents’ McMurray home. Everything about the day, including the verdant green turf produced by superintendent Mark Kuhns’ team, the pick-your-own spectating experience, the ruggedness of the walk and the silence between the pinging of balata balls off metal clubfaces, enthralled the son. Most importantly, he spent more than eight hours alone with his father.

The son became a caddie at nearby Chartiers Country Club, where “pap,” Guy Cipriano Sr., was an affable member. Guy Cipriano III then grinded his way onto a successful high school golf team and concocted a single-minded goal of working for a golf magazine. Guy Cipriano Jr. supported his son through every step of the journey.

I haven’t always been the best son. I shunned my father when my parents went through a divorce in the mid-2000s. I also demonstrated little life balance while chasing a career dream.

The U.S. Open returned to Oakmont in 2007, and my father and his buddies walked the grounds as Angel Cabrera huffed his way to an unlikely triumph on a fiery course produced by John Zimmers’ team. I was somewhere in central Pennsylvania covering sports that week. Dustin Johnson fulfilled vast promise by prevailing at a rain-softened Oakmont in 2016. I spent two days walking the soggy grounds as the associate editor of this publication.

Something more unlikely, at least in my mind, than J.J. Spaun jarring a 64-foot putt on the 18th hole occurred on June 15, 2025: I attended the final round of the U.S. Open with my 75-year-old father. Golf eventually brought us back together, with a splendid collection of public courses along the Pennsylvania-Ohio border serving as meeting points.

My father was diagnosed with lung cancer in June 2023. He was playing golf again less than four months later. The product maintained by the readers of this magazine gave him the determination to prolong his life.

Doctors detected a tumor on his lung during a pre-operation appointment days before a scheduled hip surgery. His hip still throbs, but he’s too tough — and stubborn — to admit weakness. Hip surgery looms this winter.

I observed pain and heavy breathing as he hobbled around Oakmont during the final round of the 2025 U.S. Open. He settled in the front row of the bleachers behind the 10th green midway through the 90-minute rain delay. I drifted from him for 25 minutes to observe superintendent Mike McCormick’s team frantically pushing water from the ninth and 10th fairways, part of a Herculean effort to ensure a Sunday finish. I posted a few photos and videos of the scene on our social media feeds.

Teardrops flowed between raindrops. I didn’t return to the bleachers until gathering my emotions.

I received a text message a day later: BEST FATHER’S DAY EVER. I left my office, the one filled with golf books, clubs, balls, flags and memorabilia. I cried for a second straight day.

The U.S. Open returns to Oakmont in 2033. We’re both leaving June 16-19 open on the calendar.