U.S. Open 2018 preview: Predictions, picks and upsets

The U.S. Open pick

Okay, everyone, it’s time for the moment of truth. We’ve looked at 15 of the 156 names in the 2018 U.S. Open field and there are still plenty that I didn’t get to. For instance, the only major champion of the season thus far, Patrick Reed, has to be considered. He’s been playing great golf in 2018, even if he didn’t perform overly well in his two starts since winning at Augusta.

Then there’s a guy like Tommy Fleetwood, the 12th-ranked player in the world. He finished fourth at last year’s U.S. Open, took a top 20 at The Masters, tied for seventh at The Players Championship and the links course and weather conditions shouldn’t bother him a bit considering he spends a lot of time across the pond on the European Tour. The same could be said for a guy like 11th-ranked Paul Casey, who consistently spends a lot of time near the top of the leaderboard in major championships.

While I took a look at a few guys outside the top 25 like Tiger and Poulter and Adam Scott, there’s also names like Brian Harman, Tony Finau, Charley Hoffman, Matthew Fitzpatrick or Daniel Berger that could shake things up a bit.

However, I still think that the winner of this golf tournament is coming from the top 10 in the world and has been here before (obviously the pic at the top of the page gave it away).

And the winner of the 2018 U.S. Open is …

Rory McIlroy.

As i mentioned earlier, you just never know what you’re going to get with Rory and as hard as it is to bet against Dustin Johnson or Justin Rose, both of whom I think will be right in the thick of things, he’s my pick for the week. Sure, he’s been criticizing the USGA a bit about U.S. Open setups but I like him on this golf course. The length certainly won’t be an issue as he’s averaging 314.7 yards off the tee, good for third on the PGA Tour. So even if he’s off the mark with his accuracy (he’s ranked 153rd there at 57.54 percent), he’ll be down far enough and is strong enough to make up for it.

He knows links-style golf extremely well and I think watching these other youngsters on tour doing what they’ve done in majors since his last major win in 2014 will give him some extra motivation. He’s got a fun group with Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson for the first two days and I think he’ll feed off of some of the energy there going into the weekend.

Rory McIlroy at 8-under to win the 2018 U.S. Open. Book it. (Or don’t…we all know he might blow up and miss the cut. )

Enjoy Shinnecock Hills, everyone.

Next: Top 10 shots in Masters history

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