US OPEN – Five favourites (and a few more) that could win the US Open

The 2019 US Open heads to one of the world’s most iconic golf course this week and here are a bunch of golfers we think can win this week.

Pebble Beach Golf Links has had its greens tightly cut, its fairways striped and its rough not mown at all ahead of the toughest test in golf, the US Open.

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After Tiger Wood’s historic Masters victory and Brooks Koepka’s dominant PGA Championship win, we’re looking at form and specifically form at Pebble Beach in order to sort out the favourites this week.

Here are five favourites, and four more who could win the 2019 US Open.

FAVOURITES

Dustin Johnson
Nothing says Southern Carolina California like Dustin Johnson and the 2016 major champ warmed up with a lazy T20 last week at the Canadian Open. Johnson has finished second in both majors this year and loves Pebble Beach winning back-to-back in 2009/10, has two second place finishes and a whole bunch of top-5s at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Rory McIlroy
A missed cut at the Memorial had golf fans jumping off the “Rory at Pebble” bandwagon but McIlroy laughed it off with a fierce seven-stroke win at the Canadian Open last week. It means Rory now has nine top-10 finishes in his last 11 stroke play tournaments.

Brooks Koepka
Koepka is a major machine winning four of the last eight he has played in. That’s one in two. Most of us struggle to hit a fairway at that strike rate. A poor Canadian Open last week should be overlooked as he wasn’t really interested in his scores and he pretty much said as much to the media. But Koepka hasn’t played Pebble Beach much. Just a T8 in 2016. But when you hit it as far as Brooks, you only really need to see about 20% of the golf course.

Patrick Cantlay
Yep, Cantlay is one of the favourites.  He’s number eight in the world you know.
The 27-year-old won the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago and has chalked up two top-10 finishes in both majors this year. Should thrive in an environment where fairways are narrow and play is slow as Cantlay ranks high in ball striking stats and time it takes to actually his the golf ball.

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Tiger Woods
Tiger’s worst finish in 2019 was as T30 at the PLAYERS Championship. On the back of the Masters victory, the missed cut at the PGA Championship was a shock and arguably a result of no lead up tournaments. Woods hasn’t made the same mistake with a T9 at the Memorial  a few weeks ago. Barring any injury a 43-year-old with a history of back problems may encounter, Woods is primed for a shot at his 16th major and his second US Open victory at Pebble Beach.

A FEW MORE THAT CAN WIN

Brandt Snedeker
Best chance of his first major in a long time for Snedeker who has battled form for a few years. Looks back on track after a T4 last week at the Canadian Open and has twice won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Albeit on the same course with far less rough.

Adam Scott
We’re never really confident of selecting Scott to win anymore but his form is too good to ignore. Top-10s in his last two starts including the T8 at the PGA Championship and a decent T18 at The Masters. Looked solid, even on the greens at the Memorial where he finished second behind Patrick Cantlay.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson won at Pebble Beach this year. A three-stroke win over Paul Casey was his fifth AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am victory. So yes, Phil likes it at Pebble. But geez his form has been horrible since with a bunch of missed cuts to his name. Still, if anyone can tame a wild Pebble Beach, it’s Phil.

Jordan Spieth
The rough at Pebble Beach is thick with some nasty deep stuff lurking nearby the small greens. So you’re going to need a good recovery shots, and a good short game. Step right up Jordan Spieth. Spieth is T7, T8 and T3 in his last three starts and won here in 2017. It’d be a big story to see this guy bounce back this week. We’re giving him half a chance.

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