Erin Hills Golf Course will play host to the 2017 U.S. Open. The U.S. Open takes its place as the ‘Second Golfing Major’ of the year after The Masters. The Masters is steeped in tradition, and it was two Europeans in Justin Rose & Sergio Garcia who gave us a thrilling final round. It ended with the Spaniard winning in the play-off, putting behind him the ghosts of near misses in The Open in 2007 and 2008 where he lost out to Padraig Harrington for the PGA Championship. It was Sergio’s 74th attempt at winning a major.

Sergio Garcia finally wins a ‘Major.’ Augusta 2017.

With this in mind Sergio Garcia goes into the U.S Open as one of the leading contenders. His ability from tee to green is unquestionable. It had always been his putting that failed him, but at The Masters he showed he was confident. Furthermore, his personal life off the course seems to be thriving, so he is bound to have confidence going into Erin Hills.

 Meet Last Year’s U.S. Open Winner –

Dustin Johnson – Back from ‘Stairgate’ as it was hash-tagged on twitter, DJ will be looking to continue his good start to 2017 with a win at Erin Hills. It was unfortunate, that the World #1 missed The Masters but he will be revitalised and look to continue his good form since coming back from Injury. He was placed second at the Wells Fargo Championship. 2016 saw him win his first Major despite a farcical finish at Oakmont. Johnson played his last seven holes knowing he had to review a possible rules infringement after the round. He shot 68 to finish five under but was then penalised a shot for making his ball move on the fifth green, despite being initially absolved of wrongdoing. Johnson’s score was amended to four under, but he still finished three strokes ahead of Irishman Shane Lowry and American duo Jim Furyk and Scott Piercy.

World #1, Dustin Johnson will be hoping for no injury scares.

Erin Hills Golf Course

Who else will contend at the U.S. Open?

Justin Rose – Second at The Masters in 2017 and U.S. Open Champion in 2013. Rose played beautifully at Augusta but just couldn’t get the job done. However, he played virtually immaculately for 4 days and will believe he has another Major in him. He is also the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist and comes into Erin hills with a good record at the U.S. Open.

Justin Rose became the first Englishman to win a U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970

Rory McIlroy – The latest ‘star’ player to sign for TaylorMade. Rory has signed a contract to play with TaylorMade Equipment for 2017 on-wards. He’s a past U.S. Open Champion from 2011 where he won by eight shots and set a record low score of 268 which meant he finished at -16 overall.

Tiger Woods to miss out again

Once again Tiger Woods will be missing from the U.S. Open for a second consecutive year. It seems a long way back for Tiger now from his injury troubles, but it’s allowed for some new leading faces in Rory McIlroy, Jordan Speith and Dustin Johnson, as well as PGA stalwart Phil Mickelson to take centre stage. Other outside contenders are England’s Tyrell Hatton who’s seamlessly transitioned into life on the PGA Tour. In addition, Matt Kuchar has a good record in the Majors and will be hoping he can win at Erin Hills. Jim Furyk and Jason Day both are recent runners-up at the U.S. Open over the last 5 years and consequently will look to press their claim in 2017.

U.S. OPEN QUICKFIRE STATS

• This year’s tournament will be the 117th edition.
• Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus hold the record for the most U.S. Open victories, with four victories each.
• The youngest winner of the U.S. Open is John McDermott at 19 years, 10 months and 14 days in 1911.
• Largest margin of victory: 15 strokes by Tiger Woods, 2000. This is the all-time record for all majors.
• Oldest player to make the cut: Sam Snead in 1973 at 61 years old. He tied for 29th place
• All four rounds under 70: Trevino, 1968; Janzen, 1993; McIlroy, 2011
• Most runner-up finishes: Phil Mickelson – 6 (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013)

COMPETITION TIME

As always, we will be running our U.S. Open Competition where you can win a free lesson with one of our resident PGA Professionals at Duncan Lambert Golf. All you must do is email the name of the player who you think will win and his winning score. The email address is info@duncanlambertgolf.com and entries will close after the first tee off time on Thursday 15th June 2017. Good Luck.