OAKMONT, Pa. – A general consensus had formed ahead of the 125th U.S. Open. Oakmont Country Club was going to be brutal, an unrelenting beast of a test that would rival any that players would see until the U.S. Open returned here again in eight years. The rough was going to be too deep, the greens too quick, and the mental test too strenuous for anyone to emerge without scars that told the story.

Oh, and nobody would be exempt. Well, except for one.

Given his form, major championship pedigree, mentality and course fit, Scottie Scheffler was thought to be the one man who would rise above. Sure, carnage was going to come for everyone, but not Scheffler. He hit it too straight, struck his irons too well and could evade trouble better than any with his unmatchable touch.

The U.S. Open and Oakmont share many similarities, but one universal truth binds them: they were created to test all the best players in the world. Yet still, an air of earned invincibility emanated from Scheffler.

Through 36 holes, Oakmont has dispelled that notion, and its best quality has emerged. It’s making Scottie Scheffler look human.

Scheffler sure appeared mortal when he four-putted the drivable par-4 17th, and again when he hit misjudged a wedge by 30 yards at No. 1 and again when his drive at No. 3 sailed into the famed church pew bunkers and again at his final hole, No. 9, when 5-plus hours of grinding nearly goaded him into hitting 7-wood from a thick lie before he smarted up, chopped up and made bogey.

Scheffler is still in this tournament, 4-over after two rounds, but for the first time in two months it doesn’t look easy for him. You could see it on his face and on the grooves of a wedge he slammed into the turf after a poor shot Thursday. You could see it Friday in his slumped shoulders and with the wear pattern on his driver, which he spent more than half an hour hitting after his second round. And most importantly, you could see it on his scorecard.

That’s a credit to Oakmont.

“It's challenging out there. I was not getting the ball in the correct spots and paying the price for it,” Scheffler said after a second-round 71. “Felt like me getting away with 1-over today wasn't all that bad. It could have been a lot worse.”

It’s a position of vulnerability we have seldom seen from Scheffler since the Masters. He felt a turning point in his swing in Houston the week before, finally knocking off the rust that plagued him after a late start to his season due to injury. He finished fourth at Augusta National, then eighth at the RBC Heritage. Then the floodgates opened. He won by eight shots at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson, setting a PGA TOUR scoring record in the process. He won his next start at the PGA Championship, too, vanquishing the best players in the field by five strokes. He placed fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge, then returned to his winning ways with a convincing four-shot victory at the Memorial Tournament by Workday. He not only was playing better than anyone on TOUR, but he was playing better than any previous version of himself.

Enter Oakmont, where Scheffler’s brand of golf matched up perfectly with the test presented. It still does, but right now, Scheffler doesn’t have all the answers.

“Mentally this was as tough as I've battled,” Scheffler said.

He needed the mental to make up for the physical. Scheffler lost strokes off the tee and hit just six fairways. Suddenly, one of the best drivers of the golf ball hovered right around average. And as a result of his poor driving, he hit only seven greens. That put a herculean weight on Scheffler’s short game, which largely held up.

He got up-and-down from 125 yards for par at the 11th, holed a 13-footer for par on 16 and back-to-back 5-footers on Nos. 5 and 6 to keep his head above water. Without that mental resilience and a hot putter, Scheffler could’ve been on the first flight back to Dallas. Instead, he’s on the outskirts of contention.

“Around this golf course, I don't think by any means I'm out of the tournament,” said Scheffler, who gained more than two strokes on the greens.

That didn’t mean Scheffler wasn’t perturbed. He spent an hour on the range after his round, paying particular attention to his driver. Scheffler was visibly frustrated as he, caddie Ted Scott and Randy Smith attempted to diagnose what was missing in his swing. After one swing, Scheffler swatted at the bag of range balls with his driver. After another, he dropped his club in disgust. Notoriously a feel player, Scheffler was using a Trackman and carefully analyzing its findings, another sign that something was off.

“I anticipated to hit it better,” Scheffler said. “I think with the way I was hitting it was easily a day I could have been going home.”

Scheffler is still here. As long as he’s on the property and has a tee time, he’s dangerous. But Oakmont is unforgiving, and it's pushing Scheffler to the limit. Consider the consensus squashed.