In the history of the US Open, the competition has only been played in Brookline, Massachusetts three times; 1988, 1963 and 1913. The 1913 US Open is arguably one of the most iconic in golfing history, as a result of ‘the cinderella story’ that occurred on the golf course leading to over triple the amount of people playing golf in the United States.
In 1913, the field of golfers featured legends of the game such as Walter Hagen, Jim Barnes, Ted Ray and Harry Vardon. It was a 20-year-old amateur called Francis Ouimet who fought his way to a final round playoff tie with Ted Ray and Harry Vardon, tied at 304.
In the playoff round to decide the eventual champion the young American; who had grown up on Clyde Street – directly across the road from the 17th hole of The Country Club, did the impossible and held his nerve to claim victory with an impressive 5 stroke lead. The amazing story of a local boy who managed to beat the best in the world to claim the US Open has gone down in history and is sometimes referred to as “The Greatest Game Ever Played".
Over the past two months we have seen a group of golfers fight it out amongst each other week after week. But, like with all sports you’re only as good as your last match and finding your groove before a Major could be the difference between fighting for the Top 10 and fighting for the win. With that, let’s take a look at some of those who are destined for victory to see how they’re shaping up.
Scottie Scheffler
The current world number one and the man who has been dominating in 2022 with four wins in 12 events so far, with one of those obviously being the incredible win at Augusta to claim the 2022 Masters.
This year has seen Scottie dominate in tightly contested battles and shown that he has the ability to block out the noise and focus on the win and has had plenty of top 10 finishes that have really put him among the elite in this year field of golfers.
However, even with all of the incredible form Scottie has been playing with he didn’t make the cut at the PGA Championship, could this be Scottie finally cooling down? It wouldn’t be the safest of bets to make because if he performs anything like he did at the Masters he could be staring down yet another victory.
Rory McIlroy
At the end of 2021 and the start of 2022, it didn’t look like Rory was going to be finishing near the top 10 for many of the competitions this year as his form wasn’t what you’d expect from one of the best golfers in the world who wasn’t coming back from an injury or recover.
But, since the Masters where he was narrowly beaten by Scottie Scheffler after storming back in the final round for a -8 finish McIlroy has carried his form in the Wells Fargo Championship and PGA Championship where he finished in the top 10, and then last week won the Candian Open, to bring home his 21st victory. Could this return to form be coming at the right time for Rory to win his first major in over 8 years, and create the same incredible performance that sealed his US Open win in 2011?
Jon Rahm
Can Rahm go for a back-to-back with US Open wins after dominating in the final round last year to take home the victory?
Rahm has been absolutely crushing the golf ball off the tee this year with some incredible drives that have really shown just how much power he has read in the chamber to release and shake up the standings in any tournament. However, while be has really been showing the true meaning of ball speed on his drives, he hasn’t been able to use that distance to his advantage when using his irons.
He hasn’t been playing bad by any stretch of the imagination, but for the man who is currently ranked number 2 in the world and outdriving everyone on a weekly basis, he just needs to put it all together when it really matters. The US Open seems like the perfect stage.
Justin Thomas
Winning the PGA Championship and finishing third in Canadian Open is a dominating performance over the last three weeks, and finishing in the Top 10 in 8 of your last 13 events is masterful form from Justin Thomas who looks set to really challenge for the win in Brookline.
With the current form that he is playing with, even in a loss in Canada, he was able to scorch the field on Sunday with a 64 that had Rory worried for a moment, Just Thomas could really make a serious challenge for his first US Open title and do something that is a rarely seen in golf, winning back-to-back majors.
