US Open Week!

The US Open is wildly regarded as the most challenging scoring test in professional golf. Brookline Country Club is a Par 70 golf course with a course rating of about 76, which means a scratch golfer would do well to score 76 (+6) on this golf course. The average PGA Tour players handicap is +5.4, which means a good score for them is between 70 (E) or 71 (+1). That’s assuming the weather conditions don‘t make the course any more challenging.

I looked through the footage of the golf course and my estimate for scoring per round is about 72.5 (+2/+3). That puts my estimated score to make the cut at +5. My estimate for the winning score this week is -1 (279), after 4 rounds. Look for a bunched up leaderboard after day 1, between dare I say, (-3) to (+1).

Stats that I believe will lead to a victory will be Fairway Percentage, Scrambling Percentage, and Putts made from Inside 10ft. These will be the greatest tests of the week for the players, in my opinion.

Other tournaments, you can get away with more misses, because of more opportunities to recover. Bogey’s will be made this week and you‘ll see some big numbers from even the best players in the world. The winner will end up overcoming the adversity of one bad score and recover relatively quickly.

*Below are my estimated scoring averages per hole.

This will be an exciting golf tournament! Based on the field this week my favorites to win are:

1) Rory Mcilroy

2) Justin Thomas

3) John Rahm

4) Matt Fitzpatrick

5) Jordan Spieth

6) Scottie Scheffler

7) Hideki Matsuyama

8) Shane Lowry

9) Brooks Koepka

10) Keegan Bradley

I know it’s a rockstar list, but I would recommend choosing players that have proven to be consistent but also have that extra gear to win.

I hope everyone is able to watch some of the tournament and be encouraged to practice or play this week. If you want to empathize with some of the difficult shots these players are going to face, go find some nasty, thick rough, to try and get Up & Down from. You’ll see those shots a lot this week!