US Open: A Preview

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Another week, another big tournament in the PGA. This week, we head to North Carolina and one of the toughest courses in the US!

It’s that time of the year again, that’s right, it's U.S. Open time, which means fast greens, tight lies, and tucked pins. Let’s get into some of our picks and perspectives on how this year’s US Open will play out.

First and foremost, this is a very special US Open, not only because of the stacked field of contenders, or the deep history of the tournament. This year’s open will be hosted at the renowned Pinehurst No 2 course in North Carolina, which is one of the toughest tracks you could possibly think of for a golf tournament. Not to mention that the course will be in tip-top shape just for the US Open, which means that it will play even harder than normal.

Pinehurst has long been revered as one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world. But although it looks pretty, trying to keep your approach shot on the green is a completely different story. Designed by Donald Ross, who made improvements and tweaks to the course’s layout for nearly 50 years. With wide fairways, and a lack of penalty areas, the course puts a strict emphasis on the golfer’s approach shots into greens. Each green features the signature ‘turtle back’ shape that requires the golfer to control their distance and spin on the ball to almost the exact yard. The way the greens were created can turn even the slightest misses into a massive problem. Meaning the course will test every inch of the golfer’s short game, and their ability to scramble.

Now that we’ve given you a brief overview of how the course will play, let’s get into some of the heavyweight contenders for this year’s US Open.

First off, I know what you're thinking, Scottie Scheffler. The Texan has been basically unstoppable so far this year, and it would be idiotic of me to say he’s not the favorite for this tournament. He seems to be the golden boy of American golf right now as he comes into this tournament red hot off of five wins which include a masters title, a player’s title, and more recently a big win at the memorial. His win at the memorial gives me a lot of confidence that he can get it done this week at Pinehurst, being that Muirfield is an extremely tough track that also puts a lot of emphasis on approach shots. So, with that being said I think that Scottie’s chances of getting his first US Open title this week are better than most.

Now that we’ve gotten Scottie’s case out of the way, it’s time to talk about the rest of the field. Every time a major championship is brought up, the name Rory McIlroy is always a huge topic for debate. When will he get it done? Can he get it done? My answer is that I don’t really know, it’s been 10 years since his last major, and he’s always high up on the leaderboards, but for some reason, he just hasn’t been able to get the job done. I think that it’ll all come down to his putter and short game this week, and who knows? He makes a few putts, and he might just find his way into the winner’s circle at the end of the week. The only thing I know is that it will take a strong performance from the Northern Irishman this week to get the job done.

There are a couple other guys that seem to catch my eye as contenders this week, the first is Brooks Koepka. Koepka has won his fair share of majors, and he always seems to play well in the majors. Although he didn’t play all that well in this year’s PGA Championship, I expect him to be in contention this weekend.

Another guy I think will have a strong performance this week is the Irishman Shane Lowry, he’s played well this year and showcases strong iron play. He’s been right there in the mix in a lot of tournaments this year and I hope to see a strong showing from him this week. Speaking of iron play, how could anyone overlook the great play of Collin Morikawa so far this year? It seems like he’s been in contention in nearly every tournament this year. I mean, if Scottie Scheffler didn’t exist, he could be on top of the golfing world right now!

Those are some of my favorites for the tournament this week, but I have a slight feeling we might see some fireworks from the young guns this week. Watch out for players like Ludvig Aberg, Sahith Theegala, and Sam Burns to cause some commotion and maybe sneak out a major championship! Justin Thomas could be a guy to follow as well, if he catches fire, he could burn the place to the ground.

So those are just some of our players to look out for this week, but as usual, golf is a brutal game, and anyone could end up on top at the end of the week. Let us know your picks for this year’s US Open! It’s going to be a good one!

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