US Open tips: Avoid Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau and look at these outsiders
When he was running around Augusta’s back nine with his hair on fire, drinking enough water to force a hosepipe ban, it was pertinent to think Rory McIlroy was not only conquering his own demons but was on the verge of conquering the golfing world along with it.
Yet that memorable Masters moment when he joined golf’s most exclusive club of grand slam winners, has not heralded the new era of dominance that many expected.
For just two majors later, McIlroy arrives at the US Open nowhere near the conversation about who will win this week at the fearsome Oakmont.
As he recalibrates his goals and settles on a driver he is comfortable with, the only talk is whether McIlroy will even make the weekend.
“After chasing a certain goal for the better part of a decade and a half, I think I’m allowed a little bit of time to relax a little bit,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference.
“I think it’s trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened. Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I’ve been working.”
A recent reconnoitre of the course without ball-spotters and galleries to rescue errant drives offered an insight into his own form and just how hard Oakmont is set up this week.
“I birdied the last two holes for an 81,” mused McIlroy.
So we have to look elsewhere for contenders. Step forward Scottie Scheffler. If McIlroy’s Masters moment prompted anyone’s era of dominance, it is from the man who draped the green jacket around the Ulsterman’s shoulders in the Butler Cabin.
Scheffler has turned the frustration at failing to defend his Masters title into yet another period of form in which he looks invincible; winning three times in a row, including last month’s PGA Championship for his third career major.
No matter how fearsome Oakmont is looking - even more penal than other courses on the USGA rota with its thick rough and fast greens - Scheffler looks the man for all challenges, all courses.
Accuracy off the tee is essential, as is iron play that leaves a player with an uphill putt.
Winning scores are traditionally around four or five under, even when Johnny Miller shot a final round 63 to win in 1973. All of that is in Scheffler’s wheelhouse.
There are other contenders to watch. Xander Schauffele has yet to catch fire like he did when winning two majors last summer, but always contends at a US Open.
Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa have shown flashes of previous major-winning form.
Bryson DeChambeau has won two of the last five US Opens, famously edging out McIlroy last year, but his boom and bust approach off the tee jars with the belief that accuracy will be key at Oakmont.
There are a number of other Americans who fit the bill of potential winners of their national open; Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, the up-and-coming Ben Griffin, and a personal selection in Harris English.
And what of the British? Tommy Fleetwood has three top-five finishes in US Opens and the game to prosper, Tyrell Hatton is a firework who could explode at any time, Justin Rose is a winner of this event 12 years ago and runner-up in two of the last three majors.
Of the Europeans, Shane Lowry is a fast-starter, was runner-up at Oakmont nine years ago and bang in form. Ludwig Aberg and Viktor Hovland are up and down, Jon Rahm is rounding back into major conversations again, while Sepp Straka is the form horse.
And what of the Yorkshire contingent? Matt Fitzpatrick has a game built for the US Open as he showed at Brookline three years ago. His recent form, improved upon at last month’s PGA Championship, means he is a dark horse this week.
Then there is Sheffield lefty Sam Bairstow, still searching for his first DP World Tour win, but a serial qualifier for majors through the one-day, two-round shootouts. This is the fourth time he has done it, second at the US Open.
Tips to win the US Open at Oakmont
Harris English, Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa