DeVonta Smith of the Eagles visits Spain as NFL ambassador ahead of 2025 game in Madrid

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — DeVonta Smith enjoyed his first international game experience last September, when the Philadelphia Eagles opened what became a Super Bowl championship season by beating the Green Bay Packers in Brazil in the NFL's first game in South America.

The fifth-year wide receiver is looking forward to the next one. With the NFL now able to schedule up to eight out-of-country games each season, there's a good chance that Smith will get another opportunity during his career.

The league's regular-season venue list includes Spain for the first time this year, with the Miami Dolphins giving up a home game to play in Madrid against an opponent to be announced on Tuesday.

Smith was doing some football ambassador work on a recent visit to Barcelona, where he watched his first soccer match — the latest edition of the famed El Clasico rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. He said he's confident the NFL game will catch on in Spain as it has elsewhere.

“It's just a different culture over here, so a lot of people may not exactly know what's going on," Smith said. “Just getting over here to showcase the talent so they can know more about the sport.”

The Eagles, who will host the Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 kickoff game on Sept. 4, will likely not be among the international participants this season for the seven games played out of the U.S. Their only 2025 opponent slated as the home team for an international game is the Los Angeles Chargers, who will play in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where the league is unlikely to send the Eagles for a second straight year.

The Dolphins are the home team for the game in Madrid. Others on the docket this season are Berlin (Indianapolis Colts), Dublin (Pittsburgh Steelers) and three games in London (Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets).

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Philadelphia Eagles DeVonta Smith holds the ball as he poses for a photo ahead of an interview with the Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Philadelphia Eagles DeVonta Smith speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Philadelphia Eagles DeVonta Smith poses for a photo ahead of an interview with the Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Philadelphia Eagles DeVonta Smith poses for a photo ahead of an interview with the Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Philadelphia Eagles DeVonta Smith holds the ball as he poses for a photo ahead of an interview with the Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Thriston Lawrence walked onto the 10th tee box at 2:20 p.m. to begin his second round at the U.S. Open with his name near the top of the front page of the leaderboard.

Nearly six hours and 73 shots later, the South African's name wasn't so high. And his round still wasn't quite over.

Welcome to Oakmont, where one of golf's toughest tests began with two — or three in the case of Lawrence and a handful of others still on the course when play was suspended at around 8:15 p.m. as a storm passed through — of the sport's longest days.

Lawrence was standing over a 4-foot par putt in the middle of a downpour for a 4-over 74 when the horn blew, 5 hours, 55 minutes after his scheduled tee time.

He turned to ask an official if he could putt out. When the answer came back “no," he marked his ball and hustled with umbrella in hand to the clubhouse.

"Overall, I played nicely, but frustrating day because it felt like we were out there for seven hours,” Lawrence said.

Close enough.

While the late dash of weather didn't help, the pace at the sprawling par-70 layout carved into a hilly slice of Western Pennsylvania so big it's divided by an interstate spared no one.

Not world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who admitted it "it felt long to me,” after taking 5 1/2 hours to put together a 1-over 71 on Friday morning that left him 4 over for the tournament, seven shots behind leader Sam Burns.

Not first-round leader J.J. Spaun, who needed nearly 5 hours, 40 minutes to finish up a 72 that put him in the final group with Burns on Saturday.

Yet Scheffler didn’t find himself checking his watch too often, not even during waits that stretched to 15 minutes or more between shots.

“I’ve got too many concerns other than the pace it takes to get around this place,” he said with a shrug.

By comparison, Scheffler and playing partners Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa might have gotten off easy.

It took Lawrence’s group well over an hour to get through three holes, thanks to a logjam on the tee at the par-5 12th. Players were frequently forced to wait 20 minutes or more to hit their tee shot while members of the group ahead of them either waited for the green to clear in hopes of reaching it in two shots or wandered through the 5-inch-plus rough in hopes of finding their ball. (Hardly a given).

Unless you stick it close (and you probably won't), there's no chance at making up times on greens so fast and so frustrating that Edward S. Stimpson invented his now-eponymous and ubiquitous tool to measure their actual speed.

Even seemingly innocuous approach shots aren't immune, as qualifier Will Chandler found out Friday in the second round when his wedge into the par-4 second hole landed a few paces from the back of the green, then hit reverse and kept rolling for 40 seconds before settling back in the fairway.

Part of the issue at Oakmont is the combination of the layout — where players literally have to cross a bridge over an interstate to get from the first green to the second tee, and again while going from the eighth green to the ninth tee — and the decisions the course forces you to make.

There's typically a backup at the par-4 17th, for example, because at around 300 yards (albeit uphill ones) it's drivable, meaning the group on the green typically has to putt out before the group behind them can go.

Throw in the stakes — the lure of golf immortality (or at the very least, a healthy paycheck for making the cut) for the pros and the walk of a lifetime for amateurs like dentist turned qualifier Matt Vogt — and yeah, things can drag on a bit.

Hovland's second trip through Oakmont was an adventure. His 1-under 69 included only eight pars. There was an eagle thanks to a pitch-in on 17, five birdies, three bogeys, and a double.

During a regular tour event, when scores are lower and the pace is a far more palatable five hours or less, Hovland isn't sure he would have been able to keep things from spiraling out of control after the second, when a poor drive into the right rough was followed by a mangled pitch into a bunker and eventually a double bogey that threatened to rob him of the momentum he'd build over his first 10 holes.

“If it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit,” he said. “But I felt like I kept things together very well.”

The fact Hovland had time to let his frustration melt away before his driver on the third tee may have helped. The 27-year-old Norwegian knows his game well enough to know that he tends to speed things up when a round threatens to go sideways, and not in a good way.

There was no chance of that on Friday.

“Yeah, you might have had a bad hole on the last hole and then you’re sitting on the tee box for 10-20 minutes,” he said. “At least it gives you a good opportunity to get that out of your system and reset and think about the next shot.”

Maybe the rhythm of the day will feel more like normal on Saturday, when the field goes out in pairs instead of threesomes. Or maybe not. Considering the lure of history, he's not going to complain.

“Honestly, we play pretty slow on Tour anyway,” he said with a smile. “So what’s another 40 minutes to go around Oakmont.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Taylor Pendrith, of Canada, waits tee off on the 12th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Thriston Lawrence, of South Africa, lines up a putt on the 12th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Scottie Scheffler plays out of the Church Pews bunker on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, reacts after missing a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, reacts after making double bogey on the second hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Brooks Koepka prepares to putt on the 10th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from a bunker on the second hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)