Everyone wants to win a tournament at Pebble Beach, and they don’t come much bigger than the US Open, which returns to the iconic Monterey links once again next month, setting up a showdown between the generations that has golf fans all in a lather.
Only four American courses have hosted a PGA Tour event and a major championship in the same year. Pinehurst No.2 had the honour in 1936, Riviera Country Club in 1995, Torrey Pines in 2008, and now Pebble Beach, host of February’s AT&T Pro-Am, and, next month, the 119th US Open.
It will be the sixth time that America’s oldest major will return to the fabled California links, and nine years since Graeme McDowell became the first European to win the US Open in 40 years.
Every golf fan can remember iconic Major moments at Pebble Beach. Tom Watson chipping in for birdie at 17 in 1982, and going onto to win his first US Open; Tiger Woods’ extraordinary 15-shot victory in 2000, which saw him claim his first national open, and then there was GMac’s cardigan-wearing triumph in 2010, when a closing 74, for a level-par total of 284, was good enough to lift his one and, to date, only major title of his career.
Of course, the fact that Pebble is a regular stop on the PGA Tour gives those that ply their trade in the US a head start when it comes to its hosting of major championships, but as McDowell so brilliantly showed, you don’t need to be an old hand around here in order to come away with the trophy. What it does take is straight driving, brilliant approach play, a hot putter and a nerveless state of mind that won’t be easily distracted by the stunning views.
Tommy Fleetwood will be a strong fancy to lift his first major title
So it was no surprise to see Tommy Fleetwood, one the best players in the game currently without a Major title on their CV, coming over in February to get an early sighter of what might be in store for him in June. Fleetwood made his debut at the AT&T specifically to help acclimatise himself to the course, although with bobble hats and waterproof jackets required to battle against hailstones, the one thing that the Englishman will be hoping will be different next month will be the climate.
Like so many players before him, Fleetwood was in awe of Pebble Beach.
“It’s just one of those few places in the world that has an aura and an atmosphere about it,” he said. “It also makes me realise how lucky I am to make my living playing golf on courses like this.”
Fleetwood is under no illusions that the course that allowed this year’s AT&T winner, Phil Mickelson, to knock it round in 19 under par, will play anything like so easy when the US Open gets underway on June 13.
“It’s nowhere near what it’s probably going to be like,” said Fleetwood, who shot rounds of 73, 68, 71 and 71 to finish tied 45th. “But I’m also conscious that so many guys that have played on the PGA Tour for a long time will know the course well and feel comfortable here, so I felt that it was important to come over and get a feel for the place, regardless of the course set-up. Anything I’ve learned from the five or six rounds that I played has got to be better than just turning up in June and hoping for the best.”
Brooks Koepka brushed off the challenge of Dustin Johnson to retain the US Open title in 2018, and did the same at last month’s PGA Championship
One player who won’t simply be ‘hoping for the best’ is Tiger Woods, who returns to the scene of his most dominant major victory – that 15-shot one-man show at the turn of the century – bidding to add up another US Open title to the four he already has, and take another significant step towards chasing down Jack Nicklaus’s target of 18 career majors.
Woods didn’t play in this year’s AT&T – he rarely does – choosing instead to tee it up another of his favourite courses, Torrey Pines, just down the coast in Los Angeles in the previous week’s Farmers Insurance Open, but the reigning Masters’ champion returns to Pebble Beach as one of the form horses on a form course that will perfectly suit his new ‘fairways and greens’ style of play. Cutting out the mistakes is the key to getting a good score going at Pebble, and Woods is fast becoming a master at that, as he learns to play within himself, while still playing aggressively when the situation demands.
While Tiger will most likely grab many of the pre-tournament headlines, he won’t be the only show in town, especially with this month’s US PGA champion Brooks Koepka, who is bidding for a third successive US Open title, in the pack. Derailed at the Masters by a double-bogey at the 12th on Sunday, the big-hitting 27-year-old got smoothly back on the major train at Bethpage Black earlier this month, and he will have strong support to bag his fifth major title in just 24 months, surpassing Rory McIlroy’s tally in double quick time.
McIlroy himself still has plenty to do to answer those critics who say he has taken his foot off the proverbial gas, but a win here would go along way to silencing those who suggest he is running on cruise control.
Phil Mickelson often produces his best form at Pebble Beach
Paul Casey, another member of the 40-plus brigade currently hanging out with the kids on tour, was a strong tip for the Masters following his recent return to form, only to fail to progress beyond the second round, and also coming unstuck at Bethpage. He showed plenty of course form around Pebble when finishing second at February’s AT&T, but despite all the good noises emanating from the Casey camp, there is a feeling that ‘Popeye’ is missing the vital ‘X Factor’ required to win one of the big ones.
The same can’t be said of the man that beat him at Pebble that week, Phil Mickelson, who bookended the tournament with two sparkling 65s around a course that he knows and loves so well. Providing he can keep his ball on the fairway, the man who will celebrate his 49th birthday on the Sunday of the US Open, must be a live threat, despite his advancing years. And in a year when it seems the impossible can happen, who would best against a player in his 50th year lifting a major?
The 119th US Open from Pebble Beach is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Golf from June 13-16. To check out the latest odds, visit www.topratedbettingsites.co.uk/golf/
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