Bill Murphy
06-10-2003, 09:37 PM
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/gary_van_sickle/news/2003/06/09/underground/
Like most of this list, although I think Clarke is a stretch. None of these names would be a surprise at all, other than Clarke.
This year's been all about the big names, and I don't think it'll change here. Random thoughts:
This might be the first time Tiger gets beat in a major head-to-head and/or when leading on Sunday.
Weir is supposedly sick, but he's always played well in Chi-town.
Els appears to have vanished.
Duval's 62 on Friday was a mirage; he & Surgeless won't be near a win till '05 at earliest.
Goosen & Furyk have had very quiet, very solid years. Furyk esp. is due for a serious run at a major. Maggs is a much darker horse, tho' I think he has a better US Open record the last ten years than anyone except Woods, Stewart, Janzen, and maybe Lehman.
Phold is talking about being more aggressive & needing to be under par Sat night=no chance.
Kenny Perry back down to earth. Forget all the talk about the old guys.
Read another article on cnnsi.com that said the most important stats at an Open are GIR & Scrambling; putting & driving accuracy overrated. Vijay is the only guy in the top ten of GIR & sand saves(28th in scrambling), and he's been a machine since missing the cut at the Players. He very wisely bagged Colonial, but didja hear the catcall when he came off 18 Sunday at Memorial?
If there's one guy that can feed off Schadenfrude and reverse it back on ya, plus turn hating the media into a positive, it's Vijay. Tiger's the favorite, but Vijay's the clear second pick IMO.
If he wins, ya gotta make him a good shot at the career Slam, tho it's funny he's never really made a run at the British. The Masters shoulda been his big hurdle.
Like most of this list, although I think Clarke is a stretch. None of these names would be a surprise at all, other than Clarke.
This year's been all about the big names, and I don't think it'll change here. Random thoughts:
This might be the first time Tiger gets beat in a major head-to-head and/or when leading on Sunday.
Weir is supposedly sick, but he's always played well in Chi-town.
Els appears to have vanished.
Duval's 62 on Friday was a mirage; he & Surgeless won't be near a win till '05 at earliest.
Goosen & Furyk have had very quiet, very solid years. Furyk esp. is due for a serious run at a major. Maggs is a much darker horse, tho' I think he has a better US Open record the last ten years than anyone except Woods, Stewart, Janzen, and maybe Lehman.
Phold is talking about being more aggressive & needing to be under par Sat night=no chance.
Kenny Perry back down to earth. Forget all the talk about the old guys.
Read another article on cnnsi.com that said the most important stats at an Open are GIR & Scrambling; putting & driving accuracy overrated. Vijay is the only guy in the top ten of GIR & sand saves(28th in scrambling), and he's been a machine since missing the cut at the Players. He very wisely bagged Colonial, but didja hear the catcall when he came off 18 Sunday at Memorial?
If there's one guy that can feed off Schadenfrude and reverse it back on ya, plus turn hating the media into a positive, it's Vijay. Tiger's the favorite, but Vijay's the clear second pick IMO.
If he wins, ya gotta make him a good shot at the career Slam, tho it's funny he's never really made a run at the British. The Masters shoulda been his big hurdle.