Submitted photo. Youngstown Country Club head golf professional Scott Sundstrom (left) stands on the 10th tee at Oakmont Country Club during the U.S. Open practice rounds with other former Oakmont assistant golf professionals Tim Bennett (middle) and Adam Brigham (right) on June 10.

OAKMONT, Pa. — Having hosted the U.S. Open now 10 times, Oakmont Country Club is a long-tenured club steeped in tradition.

One of those traditions involves bringing back each of the club’s former assistant golf professionals to be the starters on the 1st and 10th holes during the practice round days leading up to the start of the tournament.

Last week, Youngstown Country Club head golf professional Scott Sundstrom had the opportunity to be one of those starters on the 10th hole on the back-nine for the Tuesday practice rounds at Oakmont.

“It’s a nice tradition that (legendary former Oakmont head golf professional) Bob Ford was instrumental in starting for us,” Sundstrom said. “There’s basically one on No. 1 and No. 10 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for like half a day. So that would be 12 guys that were there — some you know, some you don’t know depending on their age. It’s a nice tradition that they have, and it’s a privilege to do it.”

This year marked the second time that Sundstrom has done the job after also being invited to be one of the practice round starters during the 2016 U.S. Open, the last time it was hosted at Oakmont.

In the tournament setup, Oakmont’s No. 10 tee is directly adjacent to the 18th green right in front of one of the largest grandstands on the course.

So at the start of the day, Sundstrom receives a list of tee times of players that are scheduled to play the back-nine for a round, whether they be in a foursome group or even just a pairing or a single. Sundstrom said that the most notable group he announced was a LIV Golf foursome of Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Tyrrell Hatton.

“When you’re on the golf course watching the tournament, it’s pretty hard to get up close to those guys because it’s always crowded. That’s why I enjoy going to the practice range or going down for the practice rounds because you can get a little bit closer to them,” Sundstrom said. “The biggest thing is just being right there on the tee meeting and greeting these guys, shaking their hands and watching them tee off close up.

“Usually during the practice rounds, those guys are a little bit more humorous, laid back. You can talk to them, and it’s amazing to me that a couple guys that I met, I said, ‘Have you played the golf course before?’ And they said, ‘No, just pulled in the parking lot, first time here, never seen the property,’ and they’re playing the U.S. Open 48 hours later. So it’s remarkable talent out there and to see those guys close up is pretty special.”

After graduating from Allegheny College (Pa.) in 1987, Sundstrom got his start in the golf world as an assistant golf professional at Oakmont under Ford, where he worked for five years.

During his time at Oakmont, he actually lived on the property in the upper levels of the main clubhouse, before eventually moving into one of the adjacent cottages next to the clubhouse.

“One thing I’ll say about the Oakmont membership is they were so welcoming and they really treated you like family,” Sundstrom said. “Bob was really good at all facets of the business. With today’s golf professional, you’re a player, you’re a teacher, you’re a merchandiser, you’re a tournament director and you’re a junior program guy, so I was very fortunate to work under him.

“He mentored me to become who I am today, so I give all the credit in the world to Bob. … I can’t say enough, and I was very fortunate to be able to start under him.”

From there, Sundstrom was selected to be the head professional at Wanango Country Club in Sugarcreek, Pa. After serving there for nine years, he made the move to be the head pro at Youngstown Country Club, where he’s been now for the last 25 years.

Unfortunately, due to his duties at YCC, Sundstrom was unable to be on hand to watch the actual tournament days of the U.S. Open in person.

But he enjoyed seeing how the tournament unfolded at the course he used to call home. He witnessed the challenges that Oakmont presented to the players all week and was riveted by J.J. Spaun’s thrilling final birdie putt on the 18th green on Sunday.

“Oakmont has always wanted that reputation of being potentially the hardest course,” Sundstrom said. “And what a spectacular finish. I don’t think you could have written something as far as Oakmont goes. … I think Oakmont got what they wanted for the most part — a truly tough test, maybe too extreme in some people’s eyes, which I understand, but a great finish. And you have to give hats off to J.J. Spaun to finish up as champion.”