U.S. Open |
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The U.S. Open, like any major in professional golf, is about personal accomplishment and, many times, potential fulfilled or established greatness enhanced. Players don’t necessarily play for national pride or to settle a score. Yet as the 2011 Open heads to Congressional Golf Club in the shadow of the nation’s Capital, it would be at the very least understandable, at the highest level even expected that America’s finest professional golfers have some level urgency to end the recent international dominance on golf’s biggest stages. By the calendar, it’s been 14-plus months since an American born golfer has won a major championship. In terms of opportunities, it’s been four straight majors claimed by players born away from our shores. Couple that with the fact that the top three players in the world all hail from Europe, the top ranked U.S. golfer isn’t named Mickelson or Tiger and the Ryder Cup belonging to the Euros and you get a pretty good glimpse of the international dominance that is hovering over the U.S. Open this week. An even larger question as we head into Thursday first round at Congressional is whether there is even an American to favor. As we all know, Tiger Woods is sitting this Open out with a bad knee and Achilles. Meanwhile, Mickelson hasn’t necessarily been burning leaderboards lately and hasn’t been much of a factor in a major since winning the 2010 Masters, the last Yank to claim a major prize. Fresh off an impressive victory at The Memorial a couple weeks ago, Steve Stricker arrived at Congressional as the top-ranked American golfer, but I’m not sure how many really think the relatively short-driving golfer has a better than good chance to win this week. Essentially, that brings us to the younger set of American players that have performed well over the past several months. There’s the long-hitting Bubba Watson, who often struggles to find the fairway, not a good game plan for a United States Golf Association event. Dustin Johnson has performed better than most Americans in two of the past three majors, but the guy tends to be a dumpster fire come Sunday in majors. Don’t even get me started about the hype that surrounds young yet unproven players such as Rickie Fowler. Things are little different on the international side. No one in the world is playing better golf than world No. 1 Luke Donald and right behind him is Lee Westwood, who desperately seeks a major victory to validate his impressive career. Then there is reigning U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, who probably has the best game suited for an Open course setup. It’s been more than two decades since Curtis Strange won back-to-back U.S. Opens, but if there is a player out there prepared to do it, it’s McDowell. So where does that leave us then? On the verge of another major victory for a player not from our shores? Or, perhaps, is there an American poised to turn the tables on recent trend and validate that greatness or realize the potential? Well, the last time the Open was held at Congressional a South African by the name of Ernie Els won the title. Given the current state of American golf, I fully anticipate another international to do the same. The time feels right for Donald to add major champion to his growing list of accomplishments and to continue the recent European uprising in the very heart of the U.S. home base. It would be a fitting continuation of recent trends and yet another feather in the cap of golf away from home soil. TV Schedule
Thu, June 16 10 AM-3 PM ET 3-5 PM ET 5-7 PM ET |
