2021 US Open Golf Preview and Tips by James Punt
2021 US Open Tips and Preview
The 2021 US Open comes from the famous Torrey Pines course in California. A classic course design which was modified in 2019 in preparation for this event. The greens were all re-profiled and the bent grass replaced by poa annua. It is a coastal course but what stands out is that it is very long. It will be played as a par 71 at 7685 yards. Combine this with narrow fairways and thick Kikuyu grass rough and you have the classic, very tough US Open course set up.
Torrey Pines plays host to the Farmers Insurance Open, so there is plenty of course form to look at but with a degree of caution. That tournament is played early in the year when conditions are softer and two courses are used. The South Course is the one holding the US Open, but the North course is used for one round before the cut is made. We are into mid-summer now and the weather in the build up has been dry. This means we will have firm and fast conditions, quite different to what the players are used to here. The ball will run more, and it is quite a contoured course which means that the ball can run off into the rough. It will be a tougher test this weekend.
Rahm The Bookies’ Favourite
Favourite to win the title is Spain’s Jon Rahm (12.00). He won his first title here back in 2017. There would be a nice symmetry if he was to win his first major championship at the same venue. There would also be good karma as Rahm was leading the recent Memorial tournament by six shots before he was forced to withdraw after testing positive for Covid 19.
Rahm has an excellent course record (1/29/5/2/7). He has averaged 69.45 per round, bettered only by Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy. He was in decent form pre self-isolation with four top 10’s in his last six completed events and of course was cruising at the Memorial. The Spaniard putts well on the Poa Annua greens too (3 wins). While his US Open form is not great, he was third in 2019.
Dustin Johnson is second favourite (17.00) and he loves Poa Annua greens, winning no less than eleven times on that type of grass. His US open record sees one win, runner up once and four additional top 8 finishes. However, his form this year has been very ordinary by his standards. His course form is equally underwhelming with just one top ten finish.
Poor Course Form For Brooksy And Bryson
Bryson DeChambeau has the power to tame this monster, but his course record is poor, missing the cut in both his previous visits. Another fancied runner, Brooks Koepka has also missed two cuts here, including this January, but he finished 41st in 2015. Patrick Cantlay is another with a poor course record along with Scotty Scheffler.
Local man Xander Schauffele had missed four cuts from five appearances at Torrey Pines. However, he turned that around by being tied second earlier this year. He plays tough courses very well and his US Open record is 5/6/3/5. He is in decent form and has to enter calculations, despite being a bit of a nearly man.
Rory McIlroy is another US Open winner with four other top 10’s. His Torrey Pines record is good with a record of 5/3/16 and he recently ended a win drought with a victory at his beloved Quail Hollow. His two tournaments since then have not been anything special and he continues to tinker with his game.
The winner of this year’s Farmers Insurance Open was Patrick Reed. He won by a comfortable five shot margin, and it was on the modernised lay out. His US Open record is decent with a fourth place in 2018 and three more top 15’s since 2015. His most recent form has seen three top eight finishes from his last six events. Reed has won three titles on poa annua greens and ticks a lot of boxes.
Keep The Faith In Morikawa
We backed Colin Morikawa to win the USPGA last year and it may be time to back the young Californian again. His most recent form has seen finishes of 7/8/14/2 and he has few peers from tee to green and that should pay dividends on this layout. His Torrey Pines form is slight, 21st in 2020 but like Reed he has won three titles on poa annua greens.
Another youngster who has been impressing recently is Will Zalatoris. He was sixth in last year’s US Open, second in this year’s Masters and was eight in the recent USPGA. He made his Torrey Pines debut in January and finished tied seventh. Zalatoris looks like a pipe cleaner, but he can hit the ball a long way.
