The 123rd US Open is almost upon us, with the best players in the world set to battle it out for the third men’s Major of the year.
Los Angeles Country Club is the venue as it hosts one of men’s golf’s marquee events for the first time and it promises to provide plenty of intrigue following Gil Hanse’s restoration of this George Thomas classic.
As ever, there are plenty of storylines in the build-up, but here we’re going to focus on the players most fancied by the bookies to leave LA with the US Open trophy.
Scottie Scheffler
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Scheffler comes into the US Open ranked as the best player in the world, in spite of his recent putting problems. The Players champion is on an incredible run of ball-striking that has somehow only yielded two victories in 2023.
On his last outing at the Memorial, he gained almost 20 shots against the field in getting to Muirfield Village’s greens, nine more than anyone else, only to give away more than eight of them with his misbehaving putter, ranking him last in that category. It’s little wonder then that he is considering a putter switch.
That has been a common theme for him of late and could make tasting victory at LACC difficult. However, the venue has been described as a second-shot course and there is nobody better at peppering pins in world golf just now, so expect him to at least contend. If his putter is anything but freezing cold he could walk away with it. It’s a big if, though.
Jon Rahm
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Rahm won the year’s first Major at Augusta National and has been trading the top spot in the rankings with Scheffler for the majority of 2023, with the pair establishing themselves as the clear one and two.
Rahm also suffered with the flat stick at Jack’s place, although that was more of an anomaly that isn’t expected to carryover to LACC. Like Scheffler, the quality of his approach play should stand him in good stead this week if he can improve his accuracy off the tee.
The fairways may look wide but catch the wrong side of them and you’ll quickly find yourself in trouble in the bermuda rough, scraggly traps or in the barranca. It’ll be hard to contend from there.
Brooks Koepka
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The resurgence of Brooks Koepka has been as stunning as it has been swift. The American missed the six-over cut at the Asian Tour’s International Series event in Oman in February before falling out of the world’s top 100 as LIV Golf’s wait to become OWGR-recognised went on.
A win on the…
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