Day and Scott to lead the charge at Shinnecock

Whilst most eyeballs will be observing the start of a small event kicking off in Russia, the golfing fraternity will be focusing on Shinnecock Hills, New York, host course of the 118th US Open.

Golf’s profile is once again going through a period of change and is very much on an upward curve which looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. The young guns of both the European and PGA’s respective tours are generating a new interest in the game. This coupled with the return of the ‘Tiger’ has given Golf a much needed lift and the latest news of the PGA Tour securing a $2bn rights deal with Discovery might just be the start of a new era for golf commercially.

There is even a rumor of a new Global Tour generating $20m prizepools being proposed. With the game on the rise in Asia, superstars like Shubhankar Sharma raising the awareness in India, this really is an exciting time to be associated with Golf.

A True Test of Golf

The US Open is renowned for providing great winners who are often referred to as ‘complete’ golfers after lifting the trophy come Sunday afternoon. With the tournament returning to Shinnecock Hills for the 5th time in US Open history, whoever manages to become victorious will have definitely earned it.

Referred to as ‘Golf’s Holy Grail – a genius course’ by Johnny Miller, Shinnecock Hills has always been one of the tougher US Open Venues.

It has always been a challenging Par 70, back in 2004 Retief Goosen finished -4 Under Par after 72 holes to lift the trophy. The difference this year being that they have extended the course even more taking the length to 7445 yards in total.

Tiger Woods, playing a practice round before the recent Memorial tournament, had this to say about the course changes – ‘I believe there’s over 500 trees that are gone since I last played it. They added 500 yards to it. So it’s quite significant’.

Emphasis on accuracy has always been a must to win the US open, this year length will also come into play. With fast greens guaranteed, the golfer that has the best all round game at the end of the 4 days will undoubtedly prevail.

Outright Winner

Can you believe it was 38 years ago when Men At Work released the song titled ‘Down Under’, I couldn’t either. It gets better though, because in that same year a certain Adam Scott was born. If you ever believe in random stories, stars lining up etc etc this one is fantastic, but there are also a few stats that make my selection for the US Open 2018 a little more believable.

Having won the Masters back in 2013 and owning a brief spell as the No.1 ranked Golfer in the World in 2014 we all know Adam Scott can play. Granted he has had a couple of lean spells and hasn’t won a tournament since 2016. However a lot of this was mainly linked to his long to short putter adaptation to adhere to regulations and if he finds a going week on the greens he is going to surprise a few people.

I love course form and although the first time Scott played at Shinnecock as a young pro, was in the 2004 US Open where he missed the cut, Scott actually holds the unofficial course record. Following his Masters victory 2013, later that year Scott played Shinnecock on his way to Chicago and off the back tees shot 63 which hasn’t been beaten since.

Showing Some Form?

Scott had to qualify to get in this US Open, you may think ok, so his official Golf World Ranking is not good, or he is not playing well enough to qualify automatically but actually its the complete opposite. During May he was -36 Under Par for his 4 tournaments with two top 11 finishes and showed he is still in good form with his two rounds to claim one of the 14 qualifying spots for the US Open at Columbus. Scott was quoted saying, ‘The form has been coming around, so if I can have a nice week this week preparing and get myself in shape, I am really looking forward to Shinnecock — it is one of my favorite venues so I am really happy to be there.”

Shinnecock will be set up with quite a links approach and will suit not just Scott’s game but all of the Australians playing this year. So far on the PGA Tour in 2018, Scott is 29th in Driving distance and 3rd in Greens in Regulation, if he can keep his game together tee to green and find some magic once on the short stuff as I mentioned his price of 66/1 looks enticing

To quote Men At Work, ‘You better run you better take cover’ because Adam Scott is coming.

Contenders Corner

I mentioned that the course set up should favour the Australians, this also goes for the Europeans, all eager to get into that Ryder Cup team. Here are the players that should have some sort of say in this years US Open come Sunday afternoon.

Jason Day

When you are No.1 in putting stats, looking to set new records, 3rd in scrambling and still 14th in Driving distance, your Golf is in good shape and I just love the way Day goes about his business. Having played 11 tournaments this year, securing 8 Top 25’s and 2 victories along the way it’s been a tremendous year already for ‘JD’.

For the last 5 years Day has finished outside of the top 30 in any Major only once bar the 2017 US Open, when he was dealing with personal family issues. He is the epitome of consistency and with the course set up to suit his style of play he has a massive chance to add to his majors tally.

Henrik Stenson

A Major winner that just seems to be getting better with age and with 7 Top 25’s in 8 PGA Tour tournaments this year it’s no wonder he will be fancied again this week. Holding 1st position in Driving accuracy and Greens in Regulation gives you a fantastic platform to take on a US Open course. It’s often not how good your good shots are but how bad the bad shots are and eliminating mistakes in a Major is No.1 priority.

My only reservation with Stensen is getting over the line, he will definitely be up there but often finds one or two too good for him, maybe this week things will be different.

Other Notables

As I mentioned earlier, Golf is in great health and many great players could win the 2018 US Open. Here are a few others that may have a run at the trophy this year…….

Justin Rose – Playing superb, patient, a previous US open Winner.

Tiger Woods – I would have liked to have seen a little more competitive Sunday Golf under Tiger’s belt but when arguably the greatest golfer of all time says ‘Overall, my game is where it needs to be heading into the U.S. Open, and that’s something that’s very positive’, stand up and take note!

Lively Outsiders – Shane Lowry and Luke List.

Selected First- and second-round tee times for the 2018 U.S. Open (all times ET)

Thursday, No. 1 tee / Friday, No. 10 tee

7:29 a.m. / 1:14 p.m. – Louis Oosthuizen, Jimmy Walker, Justin Rose

7:40 a.m. / 1:25 p.m. – Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka

7:51 a.m. / 1:36 p.m. – Tyrrell Hatton Danny Willett, Ian Poulter

Thursday, No. 10 tee / Friday, No. 1 tee

8:02 a.m. / 1:47 p.m. – Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson

8:13 a.m. / 1:58 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Marc Leishman, Rickie Fowler

Thursday, No. 1 tee / Friday, No. 10 tee

1:03 p.m. / 7:18 a.m. – Tony Finau, Luke List, Gary Woodland

1:47 p.m. / 8:02 a.m. – Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods

Thursday, No. 10 tee/ Friday, No. 1 tee

1:47 p.m. / 8:02 a.m. – Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer

2:09 p.m. / 8:24 a.m. – Shane Lowry, TBD, Chez Reavie