LostGolfBalls.com BLOG

Information and tips on everything golf ball related from the largest recycler of used golf balls in the world

2018 U.S. Open: Players you need to watch & our picks

Read More →

Posts by Tag

see all
All Posts

2018 U.S. Open: Players you need to watch & our picks

usopen-1

The U.S. Open has historically been the most challenging of the four Majors on the Professional Golf Association tour. With its narrow fairways and pin placement, this is a tough, tough tournament.

As Phil Mickelson (Callaway Chrome Soft X) noted this week, it’s a very fine line between testing players to the highest degree and making it carnival golf.

“The USGA (U.S. Golf Association) are doing the best they can to find that line, and a lot of times they do, and sometimes they cross over it,” Mickelson added. “You do all this prep work and then you are left to chance the outcome, as opposed to skill. That’s the problem I have with it.”

Mickelson has finished second six times in the tournament, the most of any player on the current tour. He placed second in 2006 the last time the U.S. Open was played at Shinnecock Hills in New York.

There’s also the fine line about what players want to see and what viewers want to see. Is it a cumulative score of 16-under par, which was the winning score of upset winner Brooks Koepka (Titleist Pro V1x) last year in the U.S. Open? Or is it closer to 4-under par, the winning score of Dustin Johnson (TaylorMade TP5x) in 2016, and 5-under par, which was the winning score of Jordan Spieth (Titleist Pro V1x)score in 2015 (Johnson was tied for second at 4-under par)? Or is it somewhere in between such as the 9-under par winning score by Martin Kaymer (Titleist Pro V1x) in 2014? Or could it be really difficult, which resulted in Justin Rose (TaylorMade TP5x) winning the tournament with 1-over par in 2013, the same result as Webb Simpson (Titleist Pro V1) in 2012?

This is the fifth time Shinnecock has hosted the U.S. Open, and in the past three the results have been 4-under par, even par and 1-under par.

If you want to go by what happened last week at the St. Jude Classic in which Johnson totally obliterated the field and reclaimed his spot as the number-one ranked player in the world, he will be a strong candidate to repeat as a winner in this tournament. When he’s on his game, he is really difficult to stop.

But as I often do in the four men’s Majors, I handicap who I think will win and add a long shot I think can surprise. I also have criteria, beginning with I never pick a player who won the week before, which eliminates Johnson. And I never pick a player I touted for the last Major, which eliminates Jon Rahm (TaylorMade TP5x).

I also don’t like to pick the prohibitive favorite because anybody can do that.

I also don’t like picking players who played the week before.

So that’s why I’m going with Rickie Fowler (Titleist Pro V1) to win, with Tommy Fleetwood (TaylorMade TP5x) as my long shot.

Fowler has never won a Major, but he’s been close, including second at the Masters this year. In 2014, he tied for second in the U.S. Open, tied for second in the British Open and tied for third in the PGA Championship. He finished fifth last year in the U.S. Open. Call me stubborn, but I think this could be the tournament that Fowler sheds the title of best player on the PGA Tour not to win a Major.

That title was formerly held by Sergio Garcia (Callaway Chrome Soft).

Most betting sites have Johnson the favorite, followed by Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5x), Justin Thomas (Titleist Pro V1x), Justin Rose (TaylorMade TP5x), Spieth (Titleist Pro V1x) and Jason Day (TaylorMade TP5x).

Fleetwood has three top-10 finishes in 10 events this year and has made the cut in nine of them. Last year he made the cut in eight of 10 tournaments. Overall he has made the cut in 23 of 32 PGA tournaments. At least he figures to be around on the weekend. He happens to be one of those young players who seem ready to win. Maybe it will be this week.

Of course as has been the case throughout this season, there will be significant attention on Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS). You can’t ignore him as a possible winner. But as I’ve said before, the competition has caught up with him – actually has surpassed him – in terms of his driving distance. Surprisingly, it has been his putting which has let him down.

Come Sunday night we’ll see if I’m right with my picks and whether or not Woods wins, is in the battle for the start of the final round or whether he even makes the cut? As always, the focus will be on Tiger, followed by everyone else.
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko is an award-winning writer who has published nine books, three of them bestsellers. He has been involved in sports writing for more than 35 years and has interviewed many superstar athletes. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and enjoys watching golf and playing it.

Related Posts

Genesis Invitational Gives Us The Reality Of Sports

I’ve written this before and I’m repeating it because it never ceases to amaze me how televised sports is the ultimate reality show, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as the now-defunct ABC Wild Word of Sports used as its intro. On the final hole of the Pebble Beach Open, Jacob Bridgeman (TaylorMade TP5x) was hitting a shot off of pebbles on the beach on the 18th hole. His ball ended up in the ocean and resulted in a bogey, tying him for eighth place when he was close enough starting the hole for a much better finish. I thought his spirits were crushed and dismissed him for the Genesis Invitational. So what does he do? Goes on a tear and headed into the final day, chasing a tournament record score. But he nearly frittered away the win, coming undone on the back half of the back nine and eking out a single stroke victory, and only because he parred a four-foot putt that must have seemed much longer because of the pressure. That’s drama, real drama, not manufactured reality. He won the event for the first time in his 66th tournament on the PGA Tour and only 65 days after marrying.

It's Time To Talk About Tiger Woods Again

Some thoughts on the world of golf with the Masters less than eight weeks away: When Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS) speaks, we all listen. As the host of the Genesis Invitational this week, Woods held his annual address about his health, career, playing in the Masters and the PGA Tour at large. Woods is gradually returning to swinging his clubs from his latest back surgery last fall, which naturally had reporters asking him about his playing status. He did not specify when he will return to playing again, yet he tersely and emphatically did not rule out playing in the Masters. “No,” he said. Woods has always tried to play in the Masters, no matter his physical condition.

Chris Gotterup Making A Name For Himself

Who is Chris Gotterup (Bridgestone Tour B X), and why is he tearing it up early in the 2026 PGA Tour season? If you had asked golf fans heading into this year’s season, some may have known him and success he has had, but I don’t think there would be many who would say he was slated for a breakthrough season. But now the word is out: Not only is he a long-ball hitter off the tee and someone who can keep it in the fairway, but he also has a complete game and championship mettle. With two victories in only three tournaments in 2026, most recently last weekend beating two-time winner Hideki Matsuyama (Srixon Z-Star XV) in a playoff in the WM Phoenix Open, Gotterup is on a heater. Matsuyama, the tournament leader heading into the final round, was spraying his ball all over the course and was scrambling most of the day. Gotterup was quietly doing his own thing. In fact, while Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1) was making a serious run for the lead that just fell one shot short after a seven-under par, Gotterup was putting together a similar round. He had the tournament lead after round one with an eight-under par – Scheffler was just hoping to make the cut after opening two-under par – but shot one-under par in his next two rounds. Gotterup really turned it on in the final round. He was two-under after the front nine, but five-under on the back nine, including birdying five of the last six holes.