U.S. Open

When we last saw Phil Mickelson, he was sparking a 3 wood off a cart path after a wayward drive at the Memorial.  When we see him again Thursday, he'll be teeing it up at the U.S. Open, and he'll be four days away from accomplishing a lifelong dream.  Just getting you prepared for the wave of pro lefty coverage that is coming our way.

Phil's the favorite this weekend at Pebble, sure, but the three hottest players in the world actually all hail from the other side of the pond.  Lee Westwood has contended in several majors in the last two years including the last U.S. Open to be played in California, with a third at Torrey Pines in 2008.  He's in contention seemingly every week, and he's coming off a win in Memphis.  Honestly, the only reason to take Phil over Lee is that Phil is a finisher at big events (just not at the Open).

Luke Donald is also playing the best golf of his career.  Donald has a first, second and third place finish in his last three events on the European Tour, and has four top 20s at the Pebble Beach event on the U.S. tour.  Look out for Luke.  The third Brit I speak of is actually Welsh, and you may have never heard of him, but Rhys Davies has climbed into the top 50 of the world golf rankings with back-to-back second place finishes in Europe.  He actually has three seconds, a first, a third and a sixth place finish on the Euro Tour this year.  Davies is a nice wild card this week.

And then there's Tiger.  We all know he won by 15 here in 2000, and we all know he'd be happy with a one stroke victory ten years later.  Can he do it?  I think he'll play well, and I think the course is going to be difficult enough to keep him in the hunt Sunday.  He needs to find the fairway.  If he hits 60% of fairways this week he's in the top five.

Obviously all the big names are here (with apologies to Fowler, Kim, and Rose), so it's who plays well, as the talent between the non Tiger/Phil wave is pretty equal with the next 20 or so guys.  I think Els' short game will help this week.  Stricker has always been labeled a U.S. Open kind of player.  He should play well this week.  I think Goosen can play well here, and his experience on this course helps.  I also like Tim Clark.  He got the monkey off his back at the Players, and this shorter layout should suit his game.  Poulter too.

If you are looking for darkhorses, I think Ryan Moore is a good choice.  He seems to hang around at majors (I don't have stats to back it up, it just seems that way).  Also, Sergio has been AWFUL this year, but I just have a hunch that he is going to be in the mix this week.  I also like Grahme McDowell.

Finally, the younger U.S. contingent includes Dustin Johnson, who has won the Tour event here two years in a row, that has to at least get a mention.  The course, supposedly, plays way different in June than February though, so proceed with caution there.  Also, Nick Watney and Hunter Mahan are always guys that are hyped in the U.S. before majors, I'm just waiting for one to step up.

Most Talent
Woods
Mickelson
Els
Westwood
McIlroy

Course History
Woods
D. Johnson
Mickelson
Weir
Els

Who's Hot?
Westwood
Donald
Davies
Van Pelt
Crane

Who's Not?
Woods
Glover
Garcia
Duval
Weir

My Picks
Mickelson
Westwood
Donald
Woods
Garcia
Els
Clark
Davies
McDowell
Moore

Cheers,
TFAM