U.S. Open Preview: Can Jordan Spieth Defend His Title or Will Jason Day Continue to Dominate?

It’s U.S. Open week. This year the tournament will be held at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Oakmont and the U.S. Open have a long history together; this will be the ninth time that the course has hosted the event. In those previous eight tournaments, the winner has finished with a score no better than five-under.

The Course

The course is tough. Unrealistically tough. “It’s the hardest course we’ve played,” says Phil Mickelson, and Phil would know considering his long history of close finishes at the U.S. Open. The greens are fast, like blazingly fast. According to the USGA, they will be set up to run between 14 and 14.5 on the stimp meter, but as the day goes on, if there is no rain, that number will rise, so expect just a few three putts. If you were thinking that the fairways would be any slower, you would be wrong. They are pretty fast; fast enough to putt from 118 yards out on a downhill slope. This will benefit the long hitters who will be getting a lot of roll on their drives. Of course if those drives miss the fairway, the players will have to deal with rough that’s thick enough to drop a ball right in front of your feet and lose it as Justin Thomas and company showed us earlier this week.

The Favorites According to Vegas

Jason Day

Odds – 7/1

Jordan Spieth

Odds – 8/1

Rory McIlroy

Odds – 17/2

Dustin Johnson

Odds – 16/1

Adam Scott

Odds – 24/1

Rickie Fowler

Odds – 24/1

My Favorites

Jason Day
Jordan Spieth
Rory McIlroy
Dustin Johnson

Phil Mickelson

Odds – 35/1

Patrick Reed

Odds – 40/1

Brooks Koepka

Odds – 50/1

Just Missed the List

Justin Rose
Hideki Matsuyama
Sergio Garcia
Danny Willett
Matt Kuchar

My Pick

It would be dumb to pick anyone not named Day, Spieth, or McIlroy, but where’s the fun in that? I want to see Dustin Johnson finally win a major tournament, and what better tournament than the U.S. Open on one of the toughest courses? Johnson has played spectacular golf in his last nine starts. Those six top-five finishes tell me that his game is good enough right now to break through. Like I mentioned above, if he can get over the hump and win the U.S. Open, he would instantly become one of the big three’s scariest opponents.

If not DJ, I’d love to see Phil win. Why? Because he would complete the career grand slam and cement what has already been a spectacular career as one of the best golfers ever.