Seton Hall
Preview of the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach
Date: June 7, 2019By: Jose Balderrama
Golf’s third major of the year, the U.S. Open, will be taking place at Pebble Beach this year for the first time since 2010. The course which is known as one of the toughest on the tour, will be hosting the best players from all over the world as they seek to earn a payday of $2.25 million which is awarded to the winner.
But more than the money, players will be competing to etch their names amongst the most prestigious in golf’s history. The Open will kick off this upcoming Thursday, June 13 and will go on throughout the weekend until June 16.
Brooks Koepka opens up as the favorite with 13-2 odds, while Dustin Johnson falls right behind him at 7-1 odds to be crowned champion. Tiger Woods is third at 10-1 after his top 10 finish at the Memorial Tournament last weekend.
The headliner for this tournament will be the question of whether Koepka will be able to win his third U.S. Open in a row, something that hasn’t been done since Willie Anderson in 1905. Koepka has been the most dominant golfer as of late, winning four majors in the past two years. Nobody has been this dominant since Woods in the early 2000’s.
No matter how good any player has been they will never be favored by the crowd more than Woods. Woods has had a very tough road to recovery to say the least. He has seen setback after setback, whether it be with his personal life or injuries.
There was a point last year where he said he wasn’t even thinking about golf and he wouldn’t be surprised if he never played again. Not even a year later he surprised the world by winning the Masters, his first major championship since 2008. He has been very competitive this year and a lot of people are expecting much more of the same this upcoming week.
My wildcard for this week is Rory Mcllroy, who I’m not sure can be considered much of a wildcard with all of his accomplishments. He has finished in the top 10 in nine of his 12 official starts this season, and he comes in as one of the hottest golfers on the tour. He is a consistent player who does not make a lot of mistakes on the course, which is key if he wants to win the Open.
The U.S. Open is known for how tough it plays no matter where they play each year, it consistently delivers some the highest scores for winners in all of the tour. As people often say, par is a good score in the U.S. Open.
Among other names to watch this upcoming weekend is Phil Mickelson who always puts on a show, and always has the potential to put up really low scores. Graeme McDowell, who won the Open the last time it was played at Pebble Beach. The last name to keep an eye on is Justin Rose, once he is hot there is no cooling him down.
There are so many popular players competing that no matter who is in top spots of the leaderboard it will be a very entertaining weekend of Golf.
Jose Balderrama can be reached at jose.balderramaornelas@student.shu.edu.
