Jordan Spieth didn’t just win the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational this week. Instead, slammed the door shut with three straight birdies to finish, shut the critics up, and set up a U.S. Open that, while three weeks away, looks to be an absolute classic.
The Golfers:
Men’s golf is loaded with talent right now. The new “Big Three” are, of course, Spieth along with Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. The three fantastic golfers not only come in claiming the top-three spots in the world, but will all enter the U.S. Open playing good golf.
Day, the World No. 1, already has three victories in the still relatively young PGA Tour season. He has not only won three tournaments, but won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Match Play, and The Players Championship — annually three of the best non-major fields on tour.
Spieth has had some issues this year, especially when compared to his brilliant 2015 season. But even with his struggles and challenges closing tournaments (notably the Masters), he has two victories. If you were to offer every player on tour two victories before the beginning of June, you could count the number of “no’s” you’d get on one hand. Chances are, you’d have plenty of room to spare.
Just last week, McIlroy won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Europe, tearing through the K Club at twelve-under in his three-shot victory.
Not only have all three won, but all have won since May 15. The three best golfers in the world are all coming in hot, even if they don’t do anything of note between now and the beginning of the U.S. Open.
Mind you, that’s only three guys. With golfers like Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Danny Willett lingering near the top of the world rankings, we have plenty of golfers to give us a load of excitement.
Now, think about how exciting it would be to have a few of those guys contending on Sunday. Now, think about how fun the tournament would be if, say, Tiger Woods returned or Phil Mickelson was competing for his first U.S. Open championship and the career Grand Slam.
So, even if this U.S. Open was being played at your local municipal track, the number of great golfers and storylines would set this tournament up to be a classic. Obviously, it won’t be played at anyone’s local municipal track, which only adds to the drama.
The Venue:
Oakmont has already hosted a record eight U.S. Opens, and so far, they haven’t exactly disappointed.
Three of the eight National Championships held at Oakmont went to playoffs. One of those three playoffs required a playoff.
Of the remaining five U.S. Opens, three were decided by one shot. One of the other two were two-shot victories. Only Ben Hogan’s 1953 victory was decisive, as The Hawk won by six strokes.
If one were to call Oakmont the toughest course in the United States, he wouldn’t get many passionate arguments against him.
The unfortunate part of that is that unlike the Masters, you won’t get many high-risk/high-reward shots. We won’t likely see many birdies, and really, a bogey is not a bad score. The U.S. Open is oftentimes more about surviving and avoiding the blowup holes than anything else. Nowhere is that more the case than at Oakmont.
While birdie barrages can be fun, they also lend themselves to one golfer getting hot, running away from the field, and turning the last few holes into a glorified victory lap. Don’t bet on that happening here.
With a little more than two weeks to go before the U.S. Open, it’s safe to say that whatever happens at Oakmont will be memorable. If you bump into a person who identifies himself/herself as a golf fan that is not looking forward to this U.S. Open, rest assured that that person is lying to you.