What To Look For: 2019 US Open

The US Open...Pebble Beach



The course will play to 7,075 yards at a par-71.  The 2nd hole is typically a 516-yard par-5 and they are making it par-4.  In Tiger's historic win in 2000, the course was played as a par-71, but the yardage was 'only' 6,846 yards.

Generally, Pebble Beach is liked by the pros, but the AT&T Pro-Am is often not on the tops of Tour players' list because of the long rounds and questionable weather.

Pebble Beach has usually been the ranked the #1 public course in the world consistently over the past 25 years.  I've never played Pebble, but over the decades I have heard that it was underwhelming.  The typical response is that the great holes live up to the hype, but the other holes are very bland.

The good news is that Pebble's conditioning has improved tremendously over the years and it's probably at the best condition it has ever been.  It's far more plush than say in '92 when Tom Kite won:



Or in the 2010 US Open when McDowell won:



That's probably going to be the story here.  The fairways will be soft and the greens should be receptive with all of the rain they have gotten in California this year.

And that favors the longer hitters more.  But, based off the data of past US Opens it's still an approach shot course.

The 14th hole is going to be a Critical Hole.  Here's a video showing the difficulty and strategy of the 14th hole where most of the difficult is on the 2nd and 3rd shots along with a difficult green to putt on:




Projected Winning Score: -9


3JACK'S FAVORITES

Brooks Koepka +850
Dustin Johnson +850
Rory McIlroy +850
Tiger Woods +1,100
Rickie Fowler +2,500
Xander Schauffele +2,500


3JACK'S DARK HORSE PICKS

Hideki Matsuyama +3,300
Tommy Fleetwood +3,300
Bryson DeChambeau +5,000
Paul Casey +5,500








3JACK