The 2022 U.S. Open provided great theater from start to finish at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
In one of the top clutch golf performances of recent vintage, Matt Fitzpatrick's amazing approach out of a bunker on 18 in the final round helped him fend off a playoff, Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler to capture his first career major.
Fitzpatrick closed with a 2-under 68, 6-under for the tournament and a shot better than Zalatoris, thrice a major runnerup, and Scheffler, the Masters champion. Fitz sits this week.
The PGA Tour, however, resumes in Crowell, Conn., for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. The par-70 course, spanning a mere 6,841 yards, is one of the shortest on Tour. A large lake comes into play on holes 15-17.
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The field is strong, including top-10 competitors Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns. Justin Thomas announced Wednesday he wouldn't play this week due to a back injury.
You can follow the action starting Thursday (3-6 p.m., Golf Channel), Friday (3-6 p.m., GC), Saturday (1-3 p.m., GC; 3-6 p.m., CBS) and Sunday (1-3 p.m., GC; 3-6 p.m., CBS).
FrontPageBets had McIlroy as our pick to win in Brookline. The Northern Irishman challenged, but finished T-5, four shots back.
Who catches our fancy this week? Bets of note follow below.
(All odds courtesy of DraftKings)
The favorites: Scheffler and McIlroy (+900)
World No. 1 Scheffler posted 67s in rounds 2 and 4 at The Country Club. With four wins, including at Augusta, and nine top 10s, he's consistently a threat. McIlroy, who won the RBC Canadian Open a week prior, is ranked second and seems as locked in as he has been in years. We'll look outside the chalk despite these players impeccable credentials.
Pick to win: Cantlay (+1400)
Coming off a T-14 at the U.S. Open, No. 6 Cantlay appears ready to build on an already strong campaign. With a win at the Zurich Classic and seven top 10s thus far, he rarely misses a chance to capitalize. He has played well here throughout his career and shown he can go low. The price is right.
Top 5: Jordan Spieth (+400)
Spieth loves this course and triumphed here in 2017. He was T-37 in Brookline and failed to break par. But moving down the road in New England should suit him. Ranked 11th, he has a win at the RBC Heritage and four top 10s. Make it five as his 1.340 strokes gained tee-to-green performance helps him along.
Top 10: Aaron Wise (+450)
Wise was in contention at the U.S. Open, 4-under through the second round, before closing with a 75 and a 74 to finish T-27. He's been in the hunt multiple times this year, finishing second at the Memorial, T-5 at the CJ Cup and T-6 at The Mexico Open at Vidanta. His game fits to finish strong this time.
More notable Travelers Championship odds to win
Burns (+1800)
Xander Schauffele (+2000)
Seamus Power (+2800)
Keegan Bradley (+2800)
Sungjae Im (+3500)
McIlroy questions competitive desire of players in LIV Golf
NOT SO PERFECT GOLF
Jon Rahm knows as well as anyone how hard it is to win a major, much less a U.S. Open. It was only reviewing highlights of his win last year at Torrey Pines that he realized that great golf and perfect golf are not the same.
It helps to already have one major, so he said that eases a little of the pressure. He feels he can enjoy the U.S. Open a little more knowing he doesn't have to do anything special.
“It's easy to think you need to be playing perfect golf,” Rahm said. "And I remember watching my highlights of Sunday last year, and I thought I played one of the best rounds of my life. And I kept thinking, ‘I cannot believe how many fairway bunkers I hit that day, how many greens I missed, and how many putts I missed.’
“It's golf, and that's how it is,” he said. “You truly don’t have to play perfect, and that’s I think the best lesson I can take from that.”
BROOKLINE MEMORIES
Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Sergio Garcia are the only players at the U.S. Open who played in the 1999 Ryder Cup. Those aren't the only players making a return to The Country Club.
Four players who reached the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Amateur also made it into the U.S. Open at Brookline. That starts with Matt Fitzpatrick, the winner. It also includes Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners of Canada and Brandon Matthews.
Scheffler had an amazing run. He needed 20 holes to beat Stewart Jolly in the first round, 20 holes to beat Brandon Hagy in the second round and he beat Matthias Schwab on the 18th hole to reach the quarterfinals. He lost to Brady Watt, 2 and 1.
“I remember being down in pretty much all my matches and coming back,” Scheffler said. “On the three that I won, I came back late on all of them. I think I made a big putt against maybe Brandon Hagy — may have been Brandon — on 17. I have good memories of this place.”
QUALIFYING BLUES
Collin Morikawa is a two-time major champion at age 25, the No. 7 player in the world who can expect to be exempt in the U.S. Open for years to come.
It wasn't always that easy.
“Yeah, well, I suck at qualifying. I really do," Morikawa said Tuesday.
He said he never made it to a U.S. Junior and he can think of only one U.S. Amateur appearance when he was exempt through his amateur ranking. As for the U.S. Open? He went through qualifying three times while at Cal and never came particularly close.
“I decided I hate California — no, I'm kidding,” the California native said.
He missed out by four shots at Lake Merced in San Francisco in 2016 and in 2018. In between, the U.S. Open sectional was in Newport Beach. He missed that by seven shots.
“I just never played well in those events and decided to go to the Ohio one three years ago,” he said. “Made that. The rest is history.”
He made it through Columbus — known as the PGA Tour qualifier because it has the strongest field and the most spots — without a shot to spare. That was in 2019, and he tied for 35th at Pebble Beach in his second tournament as a pro.
Four starts later, he was a PGA Tour winner. A year later, he was a major champion. Yes, the rest is history.
A CADDIE'S LIFE
Rory McIlroy is back to work with his old caddie for the U.S. Open.
Harry Diamond, a longtime friend and Irish amateur player, has been on McIlroy's bag the last five years but was home last week as his wife gave birth to their second child. McIlroy had a backup plan — former Irish rugby union player Niall O'Connor — when he won the RBC Canadian Open for his first win this year.
“Niall and I's run has come to an end at this point,” McIlroy said. “Pretty good record. Had a fourth in Dubai and a first in Canada. If I ever need someone to jump in for Harry, I've got a pretty good substitute there.”
STAT OF THE DAY
Of the six news conferences Tuesday, Scottie Scheffler was the only player who was not asked about the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.
FINAL WORD
“If you want to be one of the best players in the world, this is the country where you need to play the majority of your golf.” — Rory McIlroy.
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Gerry Ahern is senior content editor for FrontPageBets. A 35-year veteran sports editor and digital media executive, he has led coverage of the biggest events in sports, from Super Bowls, to Final Fours, to Olympics, to the Masters.
