Considering the year he’s had, a lot of the focus ahead of the 110th US Open will be on Tiger Woods and his return to a course where he delivered his most devastating performance in a major tournament ten years ago.
At Pebble Beach in 2000, Woods finished on a total of -12, a massive 15 shots ahead of a field that couldn’t even break par over four rounds at the Californian course. It was Woods’ third major title and just another step on the road to his domination of the sport over the next decade or so.
This tournament gives Woods a chance to get his game and even his life back on track after an extremely turbulent last eight months or so that has seen his personal life go into turmoil, while he has been eclipsed by Phil Mickelson as the main man to watch on the course, even if he is still clinging on to the number 1 spot in the world rankings.
The ten years since the US Open was last played at the venue is not the only significant anniversary that comes to mind this year, for it is now 40 years since Tony Jacklin became the last European to win the tournament, when he triumphed at the Hazeltine course in Minnesota way back in 1970.
Europeans have also struggled at the other two major competitions to be held on American soil. Padraig Harrington’s magnificent US PGA victory in 2008 remains the only time a European has triumphed in that competition while no one from this continent has won the Masters at Augusta since José Maria Olazabal donned the green jacket in 1999.
With as many as five Europeans now officially ranked amongst the world’s top ten, the time is nigh that the cream of the continent’s golfers justify their lofty status by making their mark more consistently on the biggest stage. So of the Europeans in the field at Pebble Beach, who is the most likely to end a 40 year drought and take the trophy across the Atlantic for the first time since Jacklin all those years ago?
Here are three we think could go close to doing so at this year’s event.
Lee Westwood
Westwood would seem the best equipped of the Europeans to make an impact at Pebble Beach. His victory at the St. Jude’s Classic in Memphis last weekend was his first in America in 12 years and he has tailored his game to peak for the big events, as was evident in his close finishes at last year’s British Open and this year’s US Masters and Players Championship. At number three in the world, he is playing the best golf of his career and a major championship for the affable Englishman seems almost inevitable in the near future.
Padraig Harrington
Harrington has hardly been in scintillating form of late and in his own words he’s travelling to Pebble Beach ‘more in hope than expectation’. He knows what it takes to win a major, however and is the only leading European to have done so on American soil. There are question marks over his fitness and he hasn’t won a tournament of note since the PGA in 2008, but he was in similarly poor from before claiming the first of his three majors, the British open in 2007. Harrington will also be in the company of Phil Mickelson for the first two days of the tournament which should spark the Dubliner’s competitive instincts even further.
Luke Donald
It may surprise you to hear that Donald is the second highest ranked European in the World rankings at the moment. Donald’s lofty status is due to a number of impressive performances so far this year, culminating in a win at the Madrid masters in Spain last month. The Englishman is also one of the most accomplished putters on the circuit which could be important on the notoriously difficult greens at Pebble Beach.
Â
