So, here we are. The week of the famed US Open. This year the Tour will take us to the Olympic Club in San Francisco, CA. The weather indicates we will have a beautiful sunny four days which should make the greens fast and true. Getting the ball to hold the green this week will be a lot like trying to make a marble sit still on a slightly tilted granite floor . I have a feeling that red numbers will most certainly be hard to come by.
Which leads me to my next question: Will Tiger win his first major after a 4 year drought?
Who knows? At this stage in his "comeback" do we really have any idea? He sinks impossible greenside chips one week to win and misses the cut the next. Its like trying to answer the question; why do they have braille on ATM drive-thrus? Why do your feet smell and your nose run?
We just don't know and - truth be told - isn't that why we watch sports? Isn't that what makes sports so great? Before his transgressions we knew who was going to win the tournaments he entered. Vegas' line would tell it all - Tiger, or the field? The real question was simply; by how much will he destroy the field?
Today, we wonder: will he win? Will he make the cut? Will he get a top 10 finish, or will he even make the top 40?
What we do know is this: Tiger is GREAT for golf! Golf needs Tiger more than Tiger needs golf and for that very reason we will all be watching intently to see how he makes out at this years US Open.
We also know that he led the field in GIR and fairways hit at the Memorial and he will need to do that again here at the Olympic Club. The fairways are more narrow than the hallways in an Oompaloompa's house and the greens are surrounded by more sand than a Pacific island. Accuracy is important this week but not as important as it is for him to stay calm.
His nerves will need to be steady but not as steady as his putter. On Tour so far this year, he is ranked 150th on putts from 10-15', 74th of putts from 5-15', and 41st on putts from less than five feet. NOT GOOD! Certainly not the mark of a Champion. With only 117 birdies to date, he is ranked 143rd. He must start sinking putts on a more consistent basis in order to look more like the Tiger of old.
We all know his putter has been a little "off" so far this year, but what better time to change that around than at this years second major?
Red numbers will most certainly be difficult for all this week and that is why getting to the green should be the number 1 priority for the entire field. Once on the green, I feel confident the putting will come; however, after looking at the flyovers of all the holes finding the green could be similar to finding the Great White Elephant.
You've got a 247yd par 3 , a 520yd par 4, and a 670yd par 5. Not to mention, this course has more doglegs than Cesar Milan's kennel.
The US Open is meant to be tough and this week will certainly holdup to the expectation. The last major Tiger won was the US Open in California and this Open is also in California. He is coming off yet another historic win and has all the momentum in the world behind him after winning two tourneys in less than three months. He has got to maintain that fire that you saw after he sank the chip on 16 of the Memorial and burn up the rest of the field. I can see him pulling off a win this week and I can also see him pulling his drive into the trees and donning a noisy spectator with a new Nike graphite necklace. We will watch for the unknown. We will wait with baited breath for Sunday at the Open and we will root like hell for the man that once was to reappear at the top of the leader board heading into the final round.
Happy Fathers Day to Dads everywhere and good luck to our beloved Tiger.
FIN
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