If last month’s US PGA Championship produced benign conditions and low scoring, then this week’s US Open at Pinehurst should be a sharp jolt back to the mental torment and gruelling challenge usually associated with major championship golf.
Notoriously dubbed ‘golf’s toughest test’, the US Open has built its brand off penal conditions that often mean a level-par round can have you right in the mix.
In that sense, last year’s tournament, won by Wyndham Clark at Los Angeles Country Club, was somewhat unusual, but Pinehurst No.2 will not offer the same respite, with firm conditions, fast greens and nasty rough penalises any and every misstep.
As 156 of the world’s best players prepare to tee it up on Thursday in the third men’s major of the year, here’s what to look out for.
Red-hot Scheffler the man to beat
It would appear that there are few things other than a jail cell that can stop World No.1 Scottie Scheffler from winning right now.
His bid for a second successive major at last month’s US PGA Championship was thrown into chaos when the American was arrested outside the gates of Valhalla before his second round.
The enormity of such a dramatic ordeal took its toll on Scheffler that week, but the 27-year-old hasn’t let it affect him too much in the following weeks: he’s got too used to winning after all.
Who are the favourites to win the US Open?
The latest odds from Betfair:
Scottie Scheffler – 5/2
Xander Schauffele – 15/2
Rory McIlroy – 8/1
Collin Morikawa – 11/1
Viktor Hovland – 12/1
Ludvig Aberg – 14/1
Bryson DeChambeau – 16/1
After a second-place finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge, Scheffler secured his fifth win of the calendar year at last week’s Memorial Tournament to underscore his remarkable dominance coming into this week.
Providing he doesn’t have another run-in with the authorities, the two-time major champion will be fancied, perhaps even expected, to add another trophy to his ever-burgeoning legacy.
Will McIlroy finally break his major hoodoo?
2024 now marks ten years since Rory McIlroy’s last major triumph, but the Northern Irishman appears no closer to ending his long-running drought.
Last year’s runner-up finish at the US Open represented his closest shave in recent memory but his first two attempts of the 2024 season flattered to deceive.
The four-time major champion will take confidence from his five successive top-ten finishes in this tournament going back to 2019, but this week’s course is not one that will necessarily suit the 35-year-old’s eye.
The lowering of expectations may free McIlroy up to play the fearless and rip-roaring goal that has so often characterised his career, but it may be quite the ask on a course as punish and demanding as Pinehurst.
DeChambeau aims to thrill again
Perhaps the greatest downside to the ongoing schism between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf is the infrequency with which the game’s best players play together.
Such a notion was on full display at last month’s US PGA Championship, where Bryson DeChambeau – the quirky, big-hitting American – delivered a captivating final-round display to push eventual winner Xander Schauffele all the way.
Golf is in dire need of needle-movers and DeChambeau is just that. Divisive he may be, but the LIV Golf star is must-watch TV and has matured into one of the sport’s great entertainers.
The 30-year-old won his only career major at this tournament in 2020 and should have plenty of eyeballs drawn towards him this week as he attempts to repeat that feat.
Father time catching up on Woods
Having been granted a special exemption into this week’s field, an ageing Tiger Woods will make his first US Open appearance since 2020.
Injuries and continued recovery from major ankle surgery last April have limited the 15-time major champion to just three competitive reps this year, with his last start a missed cut at last month’s US PGA Championship.
Fans will undoubtedly flock to get a glimpse of the legendary American in action but a long, brutal course like Pinehurst will push his physical capabilities to the brink.
Woods appeared in good spirits when speaking to the media on Tuesday but at this stage of his career, he will have to defy every ounce of sporting logic to be in contention come Sunday.
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