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 |
Saturday’s Slate of Sports Doesn’t Disappoint
Saturday’s slate of sports is one for the ages. We start in Women’s Tennis where Maria Sharapova will face Sara Errani in the final of the Women’s French Open. The action then shifts to the action in EURO 2012 and the Belmont Stakes. You can add the 3rd round of the St. Jude’s Classic on the PGA Tour where Rory McIlroy is in position to grab another win before heading into the U.S. Open at Olympic Club next week. Then , of course, we move to to Game 6 of the NHL Finals and Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Miami. All-in-all it is a great day to sit on the couch and watch a full slate of sports. To read more check this out: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spt–lebron–pacquaio–maria-sharapova–stanley-cup–euro-2012-and-you–welcome-to-a-saturday-of-sports-bliss.html
Sports Action 5-20-2012
This week on the show Jonnie Motomochi and myself will be playing a game called “Who’s It Gonna Be?” in which we will be talking about head-to-head individual match-ups in sports today and choosing who we feel is the better of the two athletes. Examples include Rory McIlroy/Rickie Fowler, Kobe Bryant/LeBron James, Andrew Bynum/Dwight Howard, Peyton Manning/Tom Brady, Matt Kemp/Josh Hamilton, and Steven Stamkos/Evengi Malkin. Leave comments of the player debate that you most want to hear and don’t forget to listen to 88.7 KBVR at 8 p.m. on Sunday night, or stream live on KBVR.com, to tune in to Sports Action with Kiger Plews and JTMoto.
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| Matt Kemp is having a great season but is he better than Josh Hamilton? Courtesy of Keith Allison |
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| Josh Hamilton might be the undisputed king of baseball right now Courtesy of kla4067 |
Sports Action Blog 