U.S. Open 2019: Preview and predictions
By Luke Norris
The top five in the world
1. Brooks Koepka
History is on the line this week for world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who is looking to become just the second man in history to win three consecutive U.S. Open titles. The only man to do so was Willie Anderson, who won from 1903-1905, and the game has obviously changed a bit since then.
Koepka has won four of the last nine majors and four of the last eight in which he’s competed (he missed the 2018 Masters due to injury) and is obviously one of the big favorites coming in. His most recent outing saw him tie for 50th at the Canadian Open, but that’s not a major so I’m guessing he doesn’t really care. His focus is completely different in major championships and he’s dialed in right now. He’s already having a great major season with a win at the PGA Championship and a tie for second at Augusta.
2. Dustin Johnson
World No. 2 Dustin Johnson squandered his first chance to win a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach back in 2010 with a disastrous final round. Leading Graeme McDowell by three strokes after the third round following a brilliant 66 on Saturday, DJ found nothing but disaster on Sunday, shooting a final-round 82 to finish five strokes back in a tie for eighth.
He does have a couple of wins at Pebble Beach, winning the Pro-Am there in 2009 and 2010, and he does know how to close out a U.S. Open. With runner-up finishes at both The Masters and the PGA Championship this year, Johnson could break through for major win No. 2 this week.
3. Rory McIlroy
After missing a rare cut at the Memorial, Rory McIlroy came back strong with a dominating performance at the Canadian Open this past week, shooting a final-round 61 to win by seven strokes against a strong field. The 2011 U.S. Open champion got better every day, shooting 67-66-64-61 to finish at 22-under, meaning he’s certainly ready to go for Pebble Beach.
He missed the cut here as a 21-year-old back in 2010 but is certainly a much different player today. Including that missed cut at the Memorial, McIlroy has finished outside the top 10 just twice in 2019 and is playing excellent golf right now.
4. Justin Rose
After holding the top spot in the world rankings for a short time, Justin Rose has been in a bit of a slump. Or at least what a player like Rose would call a slump. After winning the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year, Rose missed the cut at the Saudi International and tied for 63rd at Bay Hill. He did bounce back at The Players, finishing tied for eighth, but surprisingly missed the cut at The Masters.
Rose finished third at Wells Fargo but had an average showing at the PGA Championship (T-29) and then tied for 58th at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He played decently at the Memorial with a solo 13th but his usual consistency has been a bit of an issue in recent months. He didn’t play the U.S. Open at Pebble in 2000 or 2010 so it will be interesting to see how he handles this course under major conditions.
5. Tiger Woods
Back in the top five in the world, Tiger Woods returns to the venue of golf’s biggest massacre. Woods dominated the field at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach as the only man to finish under par at 12-under. The next-closest competitors? Fifteen strokes back. It was an unbelievable performance that solidified Woods as the most dominant player in the game and to this day remains the biggest margin of victory in major championship history, a record that will likely never be broken.
Woods returned to Pebble for the 2010 U.S. Open and finished tied for fourth, so we know he’s comfortable on this golf course. After winning major No. 15 earlier this year at The Masters, Tiger never looked comfortable at the PGA Championship and missed the cut. But he bounced back nicely with a top-10 finish at the Memorial, making birdie after birdie on the final day. As always, he’ll get the most attention this week and it will be interesting to see how this version of Tiger plays a U.S. Open at Pebble.