Tournament Preview - U.S. Open

Tournament Preview - U.S. Open

Hello members,

We move to Southern California for the 123rd United States Open. This year, the major is hosted by the Los Angeles Country Club, which is one of the most exclusive and secretive clubs in the country. The USGA has setup the course to be firm, rough is thick, and greens are fast. The cream should rise to the top, but this is definitely going to have a winning score around even with bogeys and long par putts galore.

Some notable topics to know:

• Hometown boy, Max Homa, holds the course record of 61. He shot it at 2013 Pac-12 Championship.

• The fairways are deceivingly thinner than they seem. The slope on some of the fairways is very severe, which will cause more balls to end up in the thick rough and being penalized.

• The Par 3s are looooong, well 3 out of the 5 are. Average length is 219 yards.

  • No. 4 - 228 yards

  • No. 7 - 284 yards

  • No. 9 - 171 yards

  • No. 11 - 290 yards

  • No. 15 - 124 yards

• Brooks Koepka seems relaxed as he normally is during majors. He ended his pre-tournament interview with “see you at the Travelers next week”. And, if you don’t get the joke, he won’t be playing the Travelers event on the PGA Tour last week, but is poking at the PGA Tour / LIV merger.

• Speaking of jokes, the USGA has had a couple of them this week.

  • First, making fun of Netflix star Joel Dahmen (twitter)

  • Then, Adam Hadwin has a reflective vest to avoid being tackled this week (twitter)

• The coverage this year should have 19 fewer commercials than last year so that means more golf baby!

• Jon Rahm said some comments where the Internet folks think he’s ready to go to LIV… I don’t know about all that, but he did only play practice rounds with LIV players and these comments don’t necessarily deny that possibility.

Alright, onto major championship golf. Get ready for a great week!

Weather

Pretty mild this week in Los Angeles. Shouldn’t really have too much of an impact on the play, with the exception the course may be more firm than initially anticipated.

The tournament socials can be found here for Twitter, Instagram, and their own website.

Peacock coverage starting at 9:40am through 1:00pm EST
USA coverage starting at 1:00pm through 8:00pm EST

The full field can be found here. Probably the best field we will see this year on the toughest course.

• Previous Winners in this week's field:

  • Matt Fitzpatrick - 2022

  • Bryson DeChambeau - 2021

  • Gary Woodland - 2019

  • Brooks Koepka - 2018, 2017

  • Dustin Johnson - 2016

  • Jordan Spieth - 2015

  • Martin Kaymer - 2014

  • Justin Rose - 2013

  • Webb Simpson - 2012

  • Rory McIlroy - 2011

Betting Odds provided by Bovada.lv at this link (not sponsored)

Some notable players to consider:

• Scottie Scheffler - +650 - not the best odds but he is by far the best golfer stats wise on the PGA Tour so hard to pick against.

• Jon Rahm - +1100 - still can’t bet against Jon either. Not going to start this week!

• Tommy Fleetwood - +6000 - longer shot pick, and I think he remains hot from his play last week. And, he was 2nd in 2018, so he shouldn’t be intimidated.

• The Los Angeles Country Club is a private golf club located in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

  • Fun fact - Wilshire Blvd separates the two courses and the USGA built a walking bridge over the Blvd (twitter)

• The club was founded in 1897 and has two courses, the North Course and the South Course.

  • Golf course designer was George C. Thomas Jr. with an extensive renovation in 2010 by Gil Hanse.

• The North Course is the more famous of the two courses and has hosted numerous major championships, including the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and the Masters Tournament.

  • The North Course is where the U.S. Open is this year.

• Membership cost is estimated to be $300,000+ initiation fee and $20,000 annual dues. (article)

• The Playboy Mansion is on the backside of Hole No. 6 (twitter)

• Hole by hole walk through by The Fried Egg (twitter)

Notes and News

• PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, is recovering from a health situation and is out indefinitely. Prayers up. (twitter, twitter)

• Cool theme for ultra-exclusive clubs to renovate local munis for free, like Augusta National and now LACC / USGA (twitter)

• Last week’s RBC Canadian Open drew huge viewership numbers compared to the last few years (twitter)

• Netflix is in talks to live stream a celebrity golf event this fall… it’s first live streaming sports event (twitter)

• Phil Mickelson’s LIV team, HyFlyers, are being sued for trademark infringement (twitter)

• The United States Senate is still investigating the PGA Tour / LIV / PIF deal (twitter, twitter)

Twitter Roundup

May your rounds be filled with #oneputts.

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