Men’s golf continues to feature fascinating storylines as the U.S. Open begins Thursday at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, probably the most famous (and certainly the most photographed) golf course in the United States. The TV audience may be particularly large this week because three of those storylines are so eye-catching.
There’s the renewed hype over Tiger Woods, whose comeback to win the Masters was the most-watched golf event in history. Woods won both the Pebble-Beach pro-am and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2000, and finished fourth the next time the U.S. Open was played there, in 2010, in the first year after his scandal erupted. Could Woods once more find glory in Monterey?
There’s the grinding dominance of Brooks Koepka, with four major titles in just 23 months and gunning for his third consecutive U.S. Open win, a feat not accomplished since before World War I. The only two golfers ever to win five professional majors in nine attempts were Woods and Ben Hogan. Is the powerful Koepka in their league?
There’s also the long-running saga of Phil Mickelson, the U.S. Open runner-up an astonishing six times without a victory. In 1999, he lost to a 72nd-hole putt by Payne Stewart as Mickelson’s wife neared labor with their first child; in 2006, he lost through being, in his own words, “such an idiot” on the 72nd hole; he lost two other times after late three-putts and twice lost after multiple late bogeys.
Still, a conglomeration of indicators points to this week being a storybook capstone to his storied career. His grandfather was a caddie at Pebble Beach when the course first opened in 1919. Mickelson has won a record-tying five times at the Pebble Beach pro-am with two other second-place finishes, plus a fourth in the U.S. Open there in 2010. One of those wins was this very year — and two other times, with Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Woods in 2000, the winner of the winter pro-am there also won that summer’s U.S. Open. Finally, Sunday’s final round will be played on Mickelson’s 49th birthday. Could the long-awaited, long-elusive title actually come along with birthday cake, at the place where his grandfather began a rise from near-poverty?
But those are hardly the only plotlines this week. Five other players in this year’s field have won before at Pebble Beach: Brandt Snedeker (twice), Dustin Johnson (twice, with two other seconds, plus a third-round lead at the 2010 U.S. Open), Jimmy Walker (a former PGA champion as well), Jordan Spieth, and Graeme McDowell. Spieth has emerged from a deep slump to finish in the top 10 in his last three events; McDowell and Snedeker both finished in the top 10 just last week in the Canadian Open; and Johnson has finished second in each of the first two majors this year, plus third in last year’s U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, a resurgent Rory McIlroy, owner of four major titles of his own, is coming off a whopping seven-stroke victory in Canada, plus a title earlier this year at “golf’s fifth major,” the Players’ Championship.
All of that doesn’t even touch some good sub-plots, including ones involving Hall of Famer Ernie Els, Aussies Adam Scott and Jason Day (both former holders of the world No. 1 ranking), former U.S. Open champ Justin Rose, enigmatic Spaniard Sergio Garcia, crowd favorites Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar, and Japan’s young samurai, Hideki Matsuyama.
With ideal weather forecast for the Monterey Peninsula this week, with waves crashing alongside Pebble Beach’s famous 18th hole and sometimes whales cavorting near the shore, this could be a U.S. Open for the ages. Enjoy.
