Favorites Heading into the U.S. Open
The 112th United States Open of golf tees off this coming Thursday at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and sets up to be an instant classic that could come down to the 72nd hole of championship for a champion to be crowned.
The tournament features the best players in the world, as well as a good friend of mine Nick Sherwood, most of who are playing some of their best golf heading into the coming week at Olympic Club. Let’s break down some of the favorites:
Luke Donald of England, the number one ranked player in the world currently, is poised to grab is first major after winning The Transitions earlier this year on the PGA Tour and grabbing a victory on the European Tour’s premier event, The BMW Championship. Donald is one of the best, if not the best, ball-strikers in the world and pairs that with a great short-game which are both keys in the “toughest test of golf”. The one knock on Donald is that he gets erratic with his driver and that could spell disaster as the U.S. Open possesses some of the tightest fairways and thickest rough during the season.
Lee Westwood, a fellow country-man of Donald and third ranked player in the world, has been so close so many times to winning his first major but his short-game has let him down time and time again. Westwood, like Donald, is one of the best ball-strikers in the world and is coming off of a victory this past week at the European Tour’s Nordea Masters by 5 strokes as well as a 3rd place finish at this year’s first major, The Master. If Westwood is to finally get his first major he will need his short-game to not let him down.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the defending champion of the U.S. Open and second ranked player in the world has had an up-and-down season ever since rising to the number one ranked player in the world several months ago. McIlroy, many believe, is the future of golf and has everything that it takes to win a major, as he has already proved. After a victory at the Honda Classic earlier in the year McIlroy has had two second place finishes, but has also had three missed cuts. If McIlroy can get a hot putter at Olympic Club then watch out because he could run away with the title again.
Dustin Johnson of the United States, the 20th ranked player in the world, is coming off a victory this week at the PGA Tour’s St. Jude’s Classic and has the power and momentum to pull out a victory this week as well. One of the longest hitters in the world, Johnson has an opportunity to overpower Olympic Club and take home the trophy. A win here would also be sweet redemption for his heartbreaking losses in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 2010.
Phil Mickelson of the United States, the 12th ranked player in the world, is a fan favorite everywhere he tees it up and already has 4 majors to his name. The left-hander is one of the biggest risk-takers in the history of golf which works in his favor sometimes, and has held him back in some cases. Phil possesses the best short-game in the world and if he can find the fairways at Olympic he could very easily walk away with his fifth major. With Phil you never know though what you are going to get week-to-week, except excitement.
Bubba Watson of the United States, the fifth ranked player in the world, won The Masters just a few months ago and has the shot-shaping ability to deal with the sharp dog-legs, slanted fairways, and difficult greens. He also leads the PGA Tour in driving distance at 314 yards per drive which is key for the length that U.S. Open courses generally play. Watson, though, like Phil has a knack to try difficult shots rather than playing safe which has the potential to spell disaster for him as well.
Tiger Woods of the United States, the fourth ranked player in the world, is coming off of a win last week at The Memorial in which he birdied 3 of the final 4 holes to win. Tiger has shown flashes of getting back to the old form that he won 14 majors with, but inconsistency has made him difficult to predict week in and week out. Woods also won earlier in the year the the Arnold Palmer Invitational but has also missed several cuts. The key for Woods this week will be how he attacks the greens and whether or not he can make the big putts that he has become known for over the years.
Several other golfers have to be considered “favorites” this week. They are listed below with their world ranking and wins this year:
Jason Dufner (9th, 2 wins in 2012)
Matt Kuchar (6th, 1 win in 2012)
Hunter Mahan (8th, 2 wins in 2012)
Rickie Fowler (18th, 1 win in 2012)
Zach Johnson (16th, 1 win in 2012)
Steve Stricker (11th, 1 win in 2012)
As for my predictions for the 112th U.S. Open:
Winner: Lee Westwood
In the hunt: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Hunter Mahan, and Keegan Bradley
Dark Horse: Sergio Garcia
Disappointment: Luke Donald
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| Will Tiger return to his Major domination this week at Olympic Club, or will someone else rise up? Courtesy of Chase McAlpine |
Oregon State Draws Final Blood Of 2011-2012 Civil War Series
The Civil War is one of the most historic rivalries in college athletics. It pits the Oregon State Beavers against the Oregon Ducks in multiple sports including basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, softball, and golf, to name a few.
This year, like most years, the Beavers and Ducks had many classic match-ups against one another, none more perhaps than the battle that took place yesterday morning at Emerald Valley Golf Course in Creswell, Oregon.
Two days ago Emerald Valley held the Northwest Sectional U.S. Open Qualifier in which two golfer would earn a spot in next week’s U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The qualifier included many amateur and professional golfers from all over the west United States and Canada. Two round were to be played, 36 holes, over the course of the day. The Oregon weather did everything in it’s power to make this impossible though, as the final group finished up their final round in darkness around 9 p.m. that night.
When all the scores were tallied and posted Casey Martin, former controversial PGA Tour player and University of Oregon head golf coach, had won the event by one stroke with a total score of 138 (-4). The problem was the two players had tied for the second spot in the U.S. Open and a playoff was going to be needed to determine who would get the final available spot. Those two players were Dan Miernicki, who just recently finished a decorated golfing career at the U of O, and Nick Sherwood, an Oregon State University Junior.
With the conditions too dark to have a playoff, the two competitors were asked to come back the next morning for a Sudden Death Playoff at 8 a.m.
The next morning the Civil War began with both players parring the 10th hole and moving to the par-3 11th at Emerald Valley. Miernicki missed the green with his tee shot while Sherwood hit his to around 60 feet. Miernicki chipped to a foot for a tap-in par. Sherwood left his putt 12 feet short and was faced with a do-or-die putt.
He made it!
On to the par-4 12th where Miernicki pushed his drive right and was blocked out by trees. Sherwood put his drive in the right center of the fairway and was the first to play from about 190 yards away from the pin. He hit his approach inside of 30 feet and Miernicki was forced to chip into the fairway. Miernicki then missed the green with his third and then chipped to a couple feet. Nick then hit his putt four feet by the hole. Miernicki made his 4-footer for bogey and Sherwood then had a 4-footer for the win.
He made it again!
Just like that the little known golfer from Albany, Oregon, who decided to stay close to home and play golf for Oregon State took down, not only a top-10 ranked amateur in the world, but an Oregon Duck. He is now on his way to the U.S. Open where he will play with the best players in the world, and he did it all by drawing the final blood in this year’s series of Civil Wars.
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