By Daniel Rapaport
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — It was a two-horse race. A two-animal race, really. One man built like a bison, the other named Wolff.

Bryson DeChambeau and Matthew Wolff played together in the final group of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot on Sunday. A fascinating pairing. Two young men—their combined age, 48, still not Champions Tour eligible—who are similar in some ways and polar opposites in others.

The similarities: both absolutely demolish the golf ball. Proof: both hit pitching wedge on their second shot into the 556-yard par-5 ninth, and both made eagle. Both are young, both are from California, and both were amateur phenoms. Wolff won the NCAA individual championship in 2019 (last year!), Bryson in 2015.

The differences: DeChambeau works out religiously, Wolff when he’s motivated enough to. Bryson spends his nights playing Fortnite, Wolff watching the NBA. Bryson analyzes every single aspect of every single golf shot. Wolff summarized his strategy as: “rip dog and see how it goes from there.”

The most salient difference: DeChambeau is now a major champion. Wolff is not. At least not yet.

For the second time in three months, DeChambeau chased Wolff down and leapfrogged him. In Detroit, in July, he turned a three-shot deficit into a three-shot victory with a 65. Beat him by six. On Sunday, in the biggest round of both their lives, DeChambeau turned a two-shot deficit into a six-shot victory. DeChambeau shot 67, the only guy in the field to break par. Wolff took a bit of a beating and posted 75, a full 10 shots worse than he shot on Saturday. Bryson beat him by eight.

“A bunch of positives,” Wolff said of the week. “Shooting even par for four rounds at Winged Foot is pretty exceptional. I think the last couple U.S. Opens that they’ve had here, I think five or so over has won.

“I played really tough all week. I battled hard. Things just didn’t go my way. But first U.S. Open, second place is something to be proud of and hold your head up high for.”

RELATED: The 7 most critical shots on Sunday in Bryson DeChambeau’s win

When something like this happens—a young player, playing with the lead in a major for the first time, shoots a big number—the first instinct is to ascribe it to nerves. If Wolff felt the heat of major Sunday, he’s a fantastic actor. Six minutes before his tee time, he was traipsing around the first-tee area chatting away on the phone. (He loves to chat, by the way. If you watched the TaylorMade match at Seminole, you’ll understand why he’s known in some circles as Chatty Matty.) On the other end of the call was his buddy, Zach. Wolff had to go the bathroom, and he wanted some entertainment as he did his business. Relatable.

When he emerged, he noticed a few volunteers and media types staring at him, so he cut the tension with a knife, flashed a cheeky smile, and said, “Hey guys! Hey everyone!”

Six minutes later, he did that awesome trigger with his lower body, picked the club straight up in the air, dropped it in the slot, used the ground, fired his hips and ripped a tight draw down the centre of the first fairway. Two stress-free pars on the first two holes were just what the doctor ordered.

Gregory Shamus
Matthew Wolff made only one score better than par on Sunday—an eagle at the par-5 ninth.

There were no signs of distress until the par-3 third tee, where he fatted a hybrid. It soared in the air, spinning way more than a hybrid should, hooking toward the fourth tee. In hindsight, he knew he was standing a bit too far from the ball. He made bogey to Dechambeau’s par. On four, his birdie effort from 35 feet caught the lip but wouldn’t fall. DeChambeau’s birdie did. Tie ballgame. At five, he pulled his tee shot left and missed a 10-footer for par. DeChambeau ahead by one. On the driveable par-4 sixth, he stood too far away from it again and hit a weak 3-wood. A disappointing par. At eight, an eight-footer for par went begging. The type of putt you gotta make to win a major.

The lone highlight of the day came on nine, where he answered DeChambeau’s 35-footer for eagle with an eagle of his own. DeChambeau at fiver under, Wolff at four under. They were four clear of third, and the battle was on.

RELATED: The clubs Bryson DeChambeau used to win at Winged Foot

The battle didn’t last long. Wolff’s tee shot on the par-3 10th hung up in the cabbage that borders so many Winged Foot bunkers, and he couldn’t build a normal stance, so he stood in the bunker and gripped the club 60 percent down the shaft and did the best he could. Bogey. After he chunked a wedge on 11 and DeChambeau made birdie, the outcome was all but decided.

But Winged Foot took no mercy on a man already beaten. The bad bounces kept coming. On the par-5 12th, DeChambeau’s drive kicked off a ridge in the rough and back into the fairway. Wolff’s ball then hit the same area and stayed in the thick stuff. His third hopped up to pin high, then spun down the hill. At 14, he asked his approach to SIT! And then hit landed short, and he wanted it to GO! Bogey. One last terrible break at 17, when his drive found a divot in the middle of the fairway.

“I mean, I’m not looking to have a consensus that I got bad breaks out there,” Wolff said, “but I definitely can say that it just wasn’t meant to be. There was a lot of times out there … Bryson’s ball kicked straight left on 12, and I landed in literally the exact same spot, and it stayed in the rough. Little things like that … you know, it’s the U.S. Open. As much as I want to say it’s the U.S. Open, I feel like some breaks should have went my way. They didn’t, and it is what it is.”

Gregory Shamus
Matthew Wolff lamented that he didn’t get the breaks that Bryson DeChambeau did.

And if some of those had gone his way, maybe Bryson’s march to glory wouldn’t have been so straightforward.

“If I’m two, three shots closer to Bryson down the stretch, it’s just a different story,” Wolff said.

Wolff walked off the course a defeated man on the scoreboard only; he was all smiles. Remarkably upbeat for a guy who just shot five over with a chance to win a U.S. Open. He wanted to know the NFL scores. Couldn’t believe Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey and Drew Lock got hurt. Recounted the hilarious conversation he had with his swing coach, George Gankas, that morning.

Simply put, he didn’t seem the least bit distressed. Why would he be? If he wasn’t so damn good at golf, he’d still be a senior in college. Instead, at 21 years old, he’s a multimillionaire, one of the brightest stars on the PGA Tour and now has top-four finishes in each of his first two major starts. He knows he’ll have, conservatively, 15 more cracks at a U.S. Open, 60 more cracks at a major.

What’s there to be upset about?

The post Matthew Wolff smiles through the pain of a blowout loss appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Matthew Wolff. Two fs. Call him Matt. Or Wolffie, if you know him like that. Born April 14, 1999. From Southern California. Plays a golf ball painted like a soccer ball. Owner of a funky golf swing and a truckload of confidence.

The 54-hole leader of the U.S. Open. By two.

Wolff is at five-under for the tournament after a preposterous third-round 65, two shots ahead of Bryson DeChambeau with 18 holes to play. How good was it? The scoring average at Winged Foot on Saturday was 73.63. Wolff beat that by more than eight.

What was clicking?

“Everything,” Wolff said. “I think my putting was by far the best it’s been in two or three months. I feel like I’m hitting the ball really well.”

This, uh, isn’t supposed to be happening. Wolff is 21 years old and playing in his very first U.S. Open. No 21-year-old has won a major since that Tiger fellow, 23 years ago in Augusta. No one has won his very first U.S. Open since Francis Ouimet beat Harry Vardon, 107 years ago. They made a movie about that tournament.

Wolff, the youngest 54-hole leader of the U.S. Open since 1971, hit just two of 14 fairways on Saturday. At any U.S. Open, that’s supposed to be trouble. At Winged Foot, a death sentence.

RELATED: How Matthew Wolff’s quirky swing came to be

“There’s a lot of holes out there that maybe people would try to hit it in the fairway or maybe take the safe play because it is a U.S. Open and they know that pars are a good score, but I don’t really like to think of it that way,” Wolff said. “I like to go out there and do what I feel comfortable with, rip dog and see how it goes from there.”

He joked in a post-round interview that he told his caddie, Nick Heinen, that the plan was to shoot as low as possible while hitting the fewest fairways. Take that, USGA.

“The rough simply does not affect him,” said Heinen, a former teammate of Wolff’s at Oklahoma State. He’s been on the bag since the Honda Classic. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not even like he’s playing to land it short. He’s just, like, its 130, I’m gonna hit a stock 130 shot. And it lands on the number. It’s crazy.”

The front nine was preposterously good, five birdies and no bogeys for a 30. The back nine, a bit more of a grind—seven pars and a bogey before he stepped to the 18th tee and pushed a driving iron toward the right rough. He begged for it to kick left. It didn’t listen for the first three bounces, inertia carrying it on a straight line into the cabbage. And then, somehow, it hopped out of the thick stuff into the first cut. Wolff then hit the shot of the day, a baby-draw from 207 yards that had just enough to kick up the giant ridge that guards the front of the final green.

Gregory Shamus
Matthew Wolff plays a shot from the rough on the 14th hole during the third round of the 120th U.S. Open Championship.

The 10-foot birdie putt was dead-centre, and Wolff could hardly contain a smile after fist-bumping the caddies and Brendon Todd. (We’re still not doing handshakes. Remember, COVID.)

Again, this isn’t supposed to be happening. Not this soon. Yes, Wolff was an amateur phenom, winning the NCAA individual title his sophomore year at OSU. Yes, he won a PGA Tour event in his third start as a professional. And yes, he finished tied for fourth in his first-ever major last month at the PGA Championship.

But a U.S. Open? At a course with this reputation, with this pedigree? Wolff’s certainly not fazed by the prospect. He’s not exactly a golf historian. Isn’t really aware of the history of this golf course, of the 1974 Massacre at Winged Foot, of Geoff Ogilvy’s six-over winning total from 2006.

Gregory Shamus
Matthew Wolff bumps fists with caddie Nick Heinen on the 18th green.

“I’m not huge on the history part,” Wolff said on Thursday after opening with 66. “I do play golf, but there are a lot of things that I’m pretty unaware of until people tell me about them. Especially with the history of the game.”

Blissfully naïve isn’t a bad thing in golf. It helps you, as Wolff put it earlier in the wake, “not really make this tournament even bigger than it needs to be.” Adding to Wolff’s chillness this week has been his company—Heinen and swing coach George Gankas, who was here for the practice rounds before heading back to California on Wednesday. Heinen and Wolff don’t talk about golf between shots. Today, their conversations veered toward NBA playoff games and Oklahoma State football. With Gankas, in addition to some fine-tuning of the game, it’s mostly inside jokes and laughs. “He’s like a 50-year-old in a 12-year-old’s body,” Wolff said.

Maintaining that sense of serenity will be key on Sunday. He’s experienced a lot in his 15 months as a pro golfer, but not a 54-hole lead at a major. But he has held a 54-hole lead over DeChambeau before—two months ago, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Bryson beat him by six that day, 65 vs. 71, and won by three.

“I definitely can’t count anyone out of the tournament, but I’ll be able to keep calm tonight, watch some basketball, hang out with my caddie, Nick, who’s a really good friend of mine. And I think that’s the biggest thing, is not really looking ahead. I was kind of antsy at the beginning of the round in Detroit, the fourth round.

“I think I’m going to go out there and just do my thing.”

The post Leader Matthew Wolff blissfully naive to the history in his sights appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Just by taking the 54-hole lead on Sunday at Winged Foot with a third-round 65, Matthew Wolff made a little bit of U.S. Open history. He’s the youngest leader after three rounds since the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion, where Jim Simons, who had turned 21 a month earlier, led Jack Nicklaus by two strokes entering the final round. Wolff, who became the second-youngest winner in PGA Tour history at the 2019 3M Open, just turned 21 this past April.

But the reigning NCAA champion can make some much more significant history on Sunday at Winged Foot, where he’ll begin the final round with a two-shot edge over Bryson DeChambeau. If Wolff goes on to win, he’ll be just the second player to win the U.S. Open in his first appearance—the first being Francis Ouimet, who won the 1913 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

Ouimet, of course, won the tournament as an amateur. Wolff turned pro at the 2019 Travelers Championship, but he’s only played in one previous major championsip—the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park last month. There, Wolff tied for fourth. Fellow young star Collin Morikawa claimed the Wanamkaer Trophy that week, winning his first major in his second major start. Wolff can accomplish that same feat on Sunday as well.

To do so, Wolff will have to buck an alarming Winged Foot trend. In the previous five U.S. Opens held at Winged Foot’s West Course, the 54-hole leader has never shot a score lower than four-over 74 in the final round. Only two of those five have shot 74 on the nose, one being Billy Casper, who hung on to win in 1959. The other? Phil Mickelson, who … eh, let’s not go there.

The overall scoring average for the previous 54-hole leaders at Winged Foot: 76.83. No pressure, though, Matt.

The post Matthew Wolff can do something on Sunday only Francis Ouimet accomplished appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
It was Friday night of Labour Day weekend in Atlanta, just before 8 p.m., the last hint of twilight having already faded and the locker room long since emptied out. A large and solemn figure, shirt untucked and head hanging in exhaustion, trudged across the 10th fairway at East Lake Golf Club and toward the lone car still in the parking lot, a gleaming white Bentley Flying Spur.

Bryson DeChambeau had tied for the worst score of the day in the opening round of the 30-man Tour Championship two weeks ago with a two-over 72, which dropped him 11 strokes off the lead of a tournament he basically no longer had any hope of winning. He’d finished playing more than two hours earlier but that didn’t really matter. Neither did his score that day as far as he was concerned. The U.S. Open was already on his mind and there was work to be done.

“I’m always trying to improve,” DeChambeau said. “And I think I’ve figured a few things out.

“My ultimate goal is to be able to drive the ball 400 yards in the air so I can drive the greens every week and have it be an unfair advantage. I’ve still got a ways to go, but if I’m hitting it as good as I am now with the driver, it’s going to be a tremendous asset.”

As the 26-year-old heads into the second major championship of the year this week at Winged Foot, it’s a point that’s hard to argue.

Since packing on 40 pounds over the last 11 months, thanks to a caloric intake that would make a competitive eater jealous, DeChambeau is generating a swing speed of 140 mph and ball speed teetering on 200 mph. He seemingly attacks every hole the way a jackhammer does pavement and has emerged as much a danger to the covers of golf balls everywhere as the fields in which he competes. In the recently completed 2019-’20 PGA Tour season, he led in driving distance with an average of 322.1 yards—up an impressive 20 yards from the previous season.

Consider, in a stretch from mid-February through early July (a period of which was interrupted three months by the COVID-19 pandemic), DeChambeau finished no worse than eighth over a span of seven starts, culminating with a three-stroke victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

How would all that extra oomph play in a major championship, though?

We found out in August. DeChambeau hammered his way into contention at TPC Harding Park, where he swung so hard with one lash on the reachable par-4 seventh that his driver had weakened to the point of snapping when he leaned on it to pick up his tee. In the end, he wasn’t able to catch Collin Morikawa on Sunday and finished in a tie for fourth, but that hardly dissuaded him. Quite the opposite, actually.

Victory, no. Validation, yes. It was DeChambeau’s first top 10 in 13 career majors and he left San Francisco oozing with confidence. “I learned a lot at the PGA,” he says. “Mostly that my game is good enough to play this way in a major.”

So it’s little wonder that when faced with the tight fairways and gnarly rough of the classic A.W. Tillinghast Winged Foot West Course at the U.S. Open, DeChambeau has absolutely no plans to pull back on the reins.

“It depends on where there’s water or trouble and if it’s too penalizing to hit it in the rough,” said DeChambeau, who has only been to Winged Foot once before but has never played there competitively. “But hitting the driver straight the way I am now, I don’t see why I wouldn’t go for it.”

Though the fairways tend to tighten the farther the ball travels at Winged Foot, there will be opportunities. And the rough doesn’t seem much of a concern to DeChambeau.

There’s little reason, for example, not to let it rip on the 467-yard fourth, where a carry of a mere 300 yards is required to clear the left fairway bunker, and the 502-yard fifth, which would eliminate the fairway bunker on the right.

Then there’s the 321-yard par-4 sixth, the shortest par 4 on the course. DeChambeau won’t be the only one to give it a go, trying to reach the kidney-shaped green that is fronted by a deep bunker and guarded on the left by a stream that also swings past the back of the green.

At the 490-yard eighth, an aggressive line off the tee by DeChambeau could easily shave off 40 yards from his approach on the dogleg right. The par-5, 565-yard ninth, meanwhile, figures to be an eagle opportunity awaiting for someone who could have a mid- to long iron in.

The 384-yard 11th? Green light. The 633-yard 12th? DeChambeau is one of the few in the field who might be capable of reaching the putting surface in two, or certainly coming close to doing so.

The fairway bunkers on the 452-yard 14th won’t be a problem for any long hitter, while only a creek 110 yards short of the green on the 426-yard 15th figures to be one of the few things to give DeChambeau pause this week.

Harry How
Bryson DeChambeau reacts to a missed putt for eagle on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.

It wasn’t always that way, though.

A little less than a year into his transformation, there were times DeChambeau found himself questioning whether it would all work. Early on, the results were mixed, as he finished 15th out of 18th at the Hero World Challenge last December and missed the cut in Abu Dhabi a month later. He tied for eighth in Dubai, but regressed in Phoenix with a tie for 52nd.

Along the way, his short game also suffered and has continued to be a weak spot on occasion even now. In the 2019-’20 season, DeChambeau ranked 119th in strokes gained/approach and 111th in strokes gained/around-the-green. “Three years ago I said the same thing, my wedges are terrible,” he said. “I’m still in the same place now.”

Still, DeChambeau managed a run of three straight top-five finishes in the spring before the pandemic hit, shutting the PGA Tour down. It didn’t slow down DeChambeau, though.

After the Players Championship was canceled, DeChambeau and swing coach Chris Como headed back to Dallas. Once there, Como ditched his apartment, called a realtor and moved into a house, with a caveat: It had to have very tall ceilings. Como essentially converted the living room on his new pad into a biomechanics lab and the two went to work.

Once the tour resumed playing in mid-June, DeChambeau picked up where he left off with a T-3 at Colonial, T-8 at Hilton Head and T-6 in Connecticut. Then came victory in Detroit and nearly another at the PGA.

“Very, very validating,” he said in the wake of his performance at TPC Harding Park. “And something that I’ll take for the future and hope that will suit me well for these majors coming up.”

The year’s next major is here. Will it be DeChambeau’s time?

The post Can Bryson DeChambeau overpower Winged Foot? He has a confident answer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Golf Digest Editors
Golf fans have waited patiently all summer for the 120th U.S. Open, and the big week is finally here. When the USGA brings its signature championship to a club steeped in history like Winged Foot, there’s an extra level of excitement that even a three-month delay in the proceedings can’t dampen.

Of course, there are things that will different about this year’s U.S. Open. With no fans in the galleries, the atmosphere will be much more subdued, as was the case a month ago at the fanless PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park. Then again, New Yorkers aren’t really that vocal a group, so maybe it won’t be that different. (Kidding!)

What isn’t likely to be different is players facing a stern test of every aspect of their games. Traditionally, U.S. Opens at Winged Foot have meant thick rough, narrow fairways and slick greens—all leading to high scores. Here are the winning scores in the five previous U.S. Opens held at the Mamaroneck, N.Y., club.

1929: Bobby Jones, six over
1959: Billy Casper, two over
1974: Hale Irwin, seven over
1984: Fuzzy Zoeller, four under
2006: Geoff Ogilvy, five over

Expect more of the same from the early reports out of Winged Foot. Jon Rahm visited two weeks and said he was pretty sure over par would once again be a winning score. And in a media call last week, NBC’s Roger Maltbie and David Feherty predicted high scores and “a lot of whining.”

Interestingly, the lack of fans might actually make the course play even harder. Without spectators tramping down the rough way outside the ropes, the penalty for wayward drives is only likely to get worse. Phil Mickelson noted when talking to Golf Digest for our recent oral history on the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot that he was hitting it so bad the galleries became a huge help.

“I was hitting it into the people anyway,” he said. “And I hit it so far off line that I kept finding my ball in trampled-down areas, so that allowed me to hit some shots. This year there won’t be any galleries, so I’m going to have to hit it straight.” [Laughs.]

Players will be competing in threesomes off the first and 10th tees during the first and second rounds next Thursday and Friday. Here are the tee times for both days.

Thursday/First Round

Hole No. 1
6:50 a.m. – Brandon Wu, Curtis Luck, Ryan Fox

7:01 a.m. – Joel Dahmen, Rasmus Hojgaard, J.T. Poston

7:12 a.m. – Chez Reavie, Sung Kang, Kevin Streelman

7:23 a.m. – Jazz Janewattananond, Kevin Na, Matt Wallace

7:34 a.m. – Brendon Todd, Harris English, (a) Davis Thompson

7:45 a.m. – Paul Waring, Victor Perez, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

7:56 a.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth

8:07 a.m. – Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods

8:18 a.m. – Matt Kuchar, Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell

8:29 a.m. – Charles Howell III, Ryo Ishikawa, Max Homa

8:40 a.m. – Kurt Kitayama, Robert MacIntyre, (a) Sandy Scott

8:51 a.m. – Eddie Pepperell, Troy Merritt, Sami Valimaki

12:10 p.m. – Shaun Norris, Rory Sabbatini, Chan Kim

12:21 p.m. – Adam Long, (a) Eduard Rousaud, Mike Lorenzo-Vera

12:32 p.m. – (a) Lukas Michel, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones

12:43 p.m. – Ryan Palmer, Si Woo Kim, Rafa Cabrera Bello

12:54 p.m. – Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im, Cameron Champ

1:05 p.m. – Gary Woodland, (a) Andy Ogletree, Shane Lowry

1:16 p.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau

1:27 p.m. – Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Jon Rahm

1:38 p.m. – Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff, Viktor Hovland

1:49 p.m. – Romain Langasque, Davis Riley, Will Zalatoris

2 p.m. – Matthias Schwab, (a) Cole Hammer, Alex Noren

2:11 p.m. – Connor Syme, Paul Barjon, Marty Jertson

Hole No. 10
6:50 a.m. – Daniel Balin, Greyson Sigg, J.C. Ritchie

7:01 a.m. – (a) Ricky Castillo, Brian Harman, Andy Sullivan

7:12 a.m. – Tom Lewis, (a) Preston Summerhays, Jason Kokrak

7:23 a.m. – Martin Kaymer, Jimmy Walker, (a) John Augenstein

7:34 a.m. – Tyler Duncan, Thomas Detry, Erik van Rooyen

7:45 a.m. – Tyrrell Hatton, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett

7:56 a.m. – Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Jason Day

8:07 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose

8:18 a.m. – Ian Poulter, Patrick Cantlay, Steve Stricker

8:29 a.m. – Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Corey Conners

8:40 a.m. – Sebastian Munoz, (a) Chun An Yu, Justin Harding

8:51 a.m. – Scott Hend, Dan McCarthy, Ryan Vermeer

12:10 p.m. – Richy Werenski, Taylor Pendrith, Renato Paratore

12:21 p.m. – Jim Herman, (a) John Pak, Thomas Pieters

12:32 p.m. – Michael Thompson, Andrew Putnam, Chesson Hadley

12:43 p.m. – Bernd Wiesberger, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith

12:54 p.m. – Lee Westwood, (a) James Sugrue, Bubba Watson

1:05 p.m. – Matt Fitzpatrick, Daniel Berger, Branden Grace

1:16 p.m. – Tommy Fleetwood, Kevin Kisner, Abraham Ancer

1:27 p.m. – Louis Oosthuizen, Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley

1:38 p.m. – Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, Brandt Snedeker

1:49 p.m. – Shugo Imahira, Byeong Hun An, (a) Takumi Kanaya

2 p.m. – Danny Lee, Mark Hubbard, Lanto Griffin

2:11 p.m. – Stephan Jaeger, Lee Hodges, Adrian Otaegui

Friday/Second Round

Hole No. 1
6:50 a.m. – Richy Werenski, Taylor Pendrith, Renato Paratore

7:01 a.m. – Jim Herman, (a) John Pak, Thomas Pieters

7:12 a.m. – Michael Thompson, Andrew Putnam, Chesson Hadley

7:23 a.m. – Bernd Wiesberger, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith

7:34 a.m. – Lee Westwood, (a) James Sugrue, Bubba Watson

7:45 a.m. – Matt Fitzpatrick, Daniel Berger, Branden Grace

7:56 a.m. – Tommy Fleetwood, Kevin Kisner, Abraham Ancer

8:07 a.m. – Louis Oosthuizen, Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley

8:18 a.m. – Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, Brandt Snedeker

8:29 a.m. – Shugo Imahira, Byeong Hun An, (a) Takumi Kanaya

8:40 a.m. – Danny Lee, Mark Hubbard, Lanto Griffin

8:51 a.m. – Stephan Jaeger, Lee Hodges, Adrian Otaegui

12:10 p.m. – Daniel Balin, Greyson Sigg, J.C. Ritchie

12:21 p.m. – (a) Ricky Castillo, Brian Harman, Andy Sullivan

12:32 p.m. – Tom Lewis, (a) Preston Summerhays, Jason Kokrak

12:43 p.m. – Martin Kaymer, Jimmy Walker, (a) John Augenstein

12:54 p.m. – Tyler Duncan, Thomas Detry, Erik van Rooyen

1:05 p.m. – Tyrrell Hatton, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett

1:16 p.m. – Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Jason Day

1:27 p.m. – Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose

1:38 p.m. – Ian Poulter, Patrick Cantlay, Steve Stricker

1:49 p.m. – Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Corey Conners

2 p.m. – Sebastian Munoz, (a) Chun An Yu, Justin Harding

2:11 p.m. – Scott Hend, Dan McCarthy, Ryan Vermeer

Hole No. 10
6:50 a.m. – Shaun Norris, Rory Sabbatini, Chan Kim

7:01 a.m. – Adam Long, (a) Eduard Rousaud, Mike Lorenzo-Vera

7:12 a.m. – (a) Lukas Michel, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones

7:23 a.m. – Ryan Palmer, Si Woo Kim, Rafa Cabrera Bello

7:34 a.m. – Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im, Cameron Champ

7:45 a.m. – Gary Woodland, (a) Andy Ogletree, Shane Lowry

7:56 a.m. – Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau

8:07 a.m. – Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Jon Rahm

8:18 a.m. – Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff, Viktor Hovland

8:29 a.m. – Romain Langasque, Davis Riley, Will Zalatoris

8:40 a.m. – Matthias Schwab, (a) Cole Hammer, Alex Noren

8:51 a.m. – Connor Syme, Paul Barjon, Marty Jertson

12:10 p.m. – Brandon Wu, Curtis Luck, Ryan Fox

12:21 p.m. – Joel Dahmen, Rasmus Hojgaard, J.T. Poston

12:32 p.m. – Chez Reavie, Sung Kang, Kevin Streelman

12:43 p.m. – Jazz Janewattananond, Kevin Na, Matt Wallace

12:54 p.m. – Brendon Todd, Harris English, (a) Davis Thompson

1:05 p.m. – Paul Waring, Victor Perez, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

1:16 p.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth

1:27 p.m. – Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods

1:38 p.m. – Matt Kuchar, Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell

1:49 p.m. – Charles Howell III, Ryo Ishikawa, Max Homa

2 p.m. – Kurt Kitayama, Robert MacIntyre, (a) Sandy Scott

2:11 p.m. – Eddie Pepperell, Troy Merritt, Sami Valimaki

(a): amateur

The post Tee times and pairings for the first and second rounds at Winged Foot appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Golf courses can’t talk, but if they could, not many of them would be able to say they’ve gotten the best of Tiger Woods.

Winged Foot is one of them.

Woods has played two tournaments at this beastly A.W. Tillinghast design, which has tormented the world’s best players since its opening 99 years ago. The first was in the 1997 PGA Championship, his first year as a professional. He tied for 29th and wouldn’t post a finish worse than that in a major for another six years. The second was the 2006 U.S. Open, his first tournament after the death of his father. He shot 12 over for two days to miss the cut by three, his first time missing the weekend at a major as a pro.

So, as far as positive memories go, Woods isn’t working with much ahead of this week’s U.S. Open.

“I think it’s right up there next to Oakmont and Carnousite as far as just sheer difficulty, without even doing anything to it,” said Woods, who will start his 22nd U.S. Open on Thursday alongside Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa on the first tee at 8:07 a.m. local time. “I think those three golf courses, they can host major championships without ever doing anything to them.”

The USGA, of course, did do things to this course. And none of them made it easier. The fairways are pinched and the rough is brutal. The consensus on the ground is that the winning total this week will be somewhere close to Geoff Ogilvy’s five-over 285 from 14 years ago.

For Woods to have a chance come Sunday afternoon, he’s going to need to play his best golf in almost a full year. It’s now been close to 11 months since his last victory, a virtuoso performance at the Zozo Championship in Japan. Woods’ next start was a T-4 at his Hero World Challenge in December. He then flew to Australia and looked like not just the best player on either team at the Presidents Cup, but maybe the best player in the world. After a T-9 to open the year at the Farmers Insurance Open, expectations were sky-high for 2020.

It hasn’t gone to plan. Seemingly nothing has, for anyone, this year. Woods finished last among players who made the cut at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, then saw his back act up again, forcing him to miss a number of key tournaments including the Players Championship. Then came COVID. The tour took a three-month break and Woods waited an additional two before making his return at the Memorial, where he tied for 40th.

Jamie Squire

Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas played a practice round together on Tuesday at Winged Foot. They will be paired, along with Collin Morikawa, for thre first two rounds of the U.S. Open.

It’s been more of the same in his three starts since—a T-37 at the PGA Championship, a T-58 at the Northern Trust and a T-51 at the BMW. The struggles have mostly been with the putter. Woods didn’t play enough rounds to register official stats for the truncated season, but if he did, he’d have finished around 184th in strokes-gained putting for the year. This, from arguably the greatest putter to ever play the game.

It’s why he’s been tinkering with his flatstick—Woods went with a different one altogether at the PGA before switching back to the “Ol’ Faithful” Scotty Cameron for the FedEx Cup playoff double. It didn’t cooperate, so this week he’s going with a different grip: an older Lamkin model with chord. It’s a little thicker than the Ping he’s gone with for most of his career, and he used a similar one while at Stanford.

“This year I really haven’t putted as well as I wanted to, and the times I did make a few swing mistakes, I missed it in the wrong spots,” Woods said. “Consequently, I just didn’t have the right looks at it. I’ve compounded mistakes here and there that ended up not making me able to make pars or a birdie run. And, consequently, I haven’t put myself in contention to win these events.”

Woods has three U.S. Open titles but has struggled of late, missing the cut in back-to-back appearances before a T-21 at Pebble Beach last year. They’re typically the most unforgiving setups of the year, and Woods has struggled to keep the ball in the fairway.

“Strategy-wise, it’s ebb-and-flow,” Woods said of his plan of attack this week. “For me in particular, I’m trying to play to certain areas. Whatever club that is, could be 5-wood, could be driver or could be a 3-wood. I’m trying to play to a specific spot and then move on from there.”

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Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods
Thursday, 8:07 a.m. first tee
Friday, 1:27 p.m., 10th tee

It should come as little surprise that Thomas and Woods would be grouped. They’ve played a lot of golf together over the past five years and somewhat surprisingly Thomas has outplayed the 15-time major champ by a wide margin on those occasions. Thomas, with three wins in the 2019-’20 season, is rightly among the favourites this week, while Tiger is Tiger. Throw in the reigning PGA champ in Morikawa and this group pops even more.

Jamie Squire
Justin Thomas plays with Tiger Woods during a Tuesday practice round prior to the 120th U.S. Open.

RELATED: Complete first and second-round tee times at Winged Foot

Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose
Thursday, 8:07 a.m., 10th tee
Friday, 1:27 p.m., first tee

A trio of major champions, Scott is the only one in the group not to have won a U.S. Open, with McIlroy having taken home the trophy at Congressional in 2011 and Rose two years later at Merion. Scott is also the only one with a win this year on tour this year, but that was back in February and all three have been fairly underwhelming in recent months. Still, this is a star-laden tee time that will draw plenty of eyeballs and no one would be stunned to see any of them in contention come the weekend.

Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau
Thursday, 1:16 p.m., first tee
Friday, 7:56 a.m., 10th tee

Will Winged Foot’s almost 7,500 yards be enough to contain this group? DeChambeau has already said that he absolutely doesn’t plan to throttle back this week, despite the tight, tree-lined fairways and thick rough of the West Course. Johnson and Finau are capable of bombing away, too, but will they? It’ll be fascinating to watch.

Sam Greenwood
Big hitters Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau will be joined by fellow bomber Tony Finau.

Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Jon Rahm
Thursday, 1:27 p.m., first tee
Friday, 8:07 a.m., 10th tee

In case you hadn’t heard, Phil Mickelson memorably lost the 2006 U.S. Open here. In all seriousness, his best days are clearly behind him, and the Foot is no Ozarks National, but the week will likely be an entertaining one because it always is when Mickelson is involved. Rahm figures to be the real threat among this group, and perhaps Casey, who finished second at the PGA for his best finish in 65 career major starts, will be one as well. If nothing else, these three can swap stories about their times at Arizona State.

Tom Pennington
Phil Mickelson will be paired with fellow Arizona State alum Jon Rahm during the opening rounds of the 120th U.S. Open.

Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth
Thursday, 7:56 a.m., first hole
Friday, 1:16 p.m., 10th hole

Remember the days when Reed and Spieth formed a dynamic Ryder Cup duo? To say their careers have gone in opposite directions since would be an understatement. Spieth, the 2015 U.S. Open champion, hasn’t won in three years and in the 2019-’20 season ranked 181st out of 193 players in driving accuracy. Not great heading into Winged Foot.

Getty Images
The one-time Ryder Cup star team of Reed and Spieth will be paired together early at Winged Foot.

Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Jason Day
Thursday, 7:56 a.m., 10th tee
Friday, 1:16 p.m., first tee

The USGA does enjoy a themed pairing or two and delivers another one here with a former U.S. Open winner (Simpson), a Masters champ (Garcia) and a PGA Championship winner (Day). Simpson is clearly in the best form of the group and the narrow fairways of the A.W. Tillinghast gem should suit him just fine.

Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, Brandt Snedeker
Thursday, 1:38 p.m., 10th tee
Friday, 8:18 a.m., first tee

Nothing against Horschel or Snedeker, both fine players, but Schauffele’s major prowess—a half-dozen top 10s in majors since 2017, including three-straight top fives in the U.S. Open—befits a more prominent pairing. Not that the low-key San Diego native will mind. He prefers to fly under the radar and in his own way will use any lack of deserved attention as motivation to what will presumably be another impressive week if not a breakthrough one.

Darren Carroll for Golf Digest
Xander Schauffele has three top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open in his three career starts.

The post The 7 most intriguing pairings during the first and second rounds at Winged Foot appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
MAMARONECK, N.Y. —The 2020 U.S. Open will not fall on Father’s Day, but another tournament rite endures: Social media videos of balls tossed into the rough to show the danger that awaits those who venture off the fairways. A true tradition unlike any other.

Which, admittedly, is a bit odd. It’s the U.S. Open! What do you expect, AstroTurf mats in the second cut? (That sound you hear is Keith Pelley writing down the Euro Tour’s next “innovation”.) But yes, the rough at Winged Foot is something fierce. Just take it from Gary Woodland.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday ahead of his title defence, Woodland was asked what has been the worst lie he’s seen so far at Winged Foot. According to Woodland, it was a lie he couldn’t see.

“I was chipping, my caddie was throwing me balls back to me chipping and we lost a ball for about five minutes and it was right in front of me,” Woodland said. “We didn’t find it until we stepped on it. The golf ball can disappear pretty quickly.”

OK, that’s pretty darn deep.

Not helping matters was Woodland made his initial trek on Saturday. Without volunteer spotters on the property yet, Woodland and caddie Brennan Little were having a heck of a time finding errant shots.

“I was talking to the USGA, I was glad they were bringing marshals out yesterday. There was talks of not having marshals the first couple practice rounds. The practice rounds would have been 10 hours out here trying to find golf balls,” Woodland said.

Even without fans, there will be plenty of eyes come Thursday, and Woodland doesn’t anticipate losing any balls by going off the fairway. Nevertheless, staying as far away from the high stuff is the name of the game this week.

“They do have progressive rough, but the progressive rough is so thick it drops to the bottom. So a huge key of keeping the golf ball out of that thick rough, and then when you do get in it, take your medicine, get wedged out and attack from the middle of the fairway,” Woodland says.

Woodland will try to go back-to-back at the U.S. Open starting at 1:05 p.m. Thursday.

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By Christopher Powers
When you play as many rounds of golf as Dustin Johnson has, you’re bound to forget a few along the way. But a round at Winged Foot, whether it be the iconic West Course or the just-as-good-if-not-better East Course, is one you never forget, right?

Apparently, it was very forgettable for Johnson, who assumed he was seeing the historic New York course for the first time when he arrived on property to compete in the 2020 U.S. Open. Someone had to remind him that was not the case, yielding this hilarious exchange between Johnson and a reporter during his Tuesday press conference:

Q. I read that you had never been here until recently; is that true?

DUSTIN JOHNSON: “Well, I had thought so, but I guess somebody was telling me I played a NetJets outing here 10 or 11 years ago, but I want to say I don’t think we played the West Course. I think we played the other one because I didn’t remember one hole, so we must have played the other course.”

If there’s a more DJ answer to a question, we’ve yet to hear it. You know you made it in life when A. you forgot you played WINGED FOOT once, and B. When you can’t remember if it was the East or the West course. What a life.

Johnson, who was just named PGA Tour Player of the Year, is looking to continue his incredible run of form by winning a second major title and second U.S. Open this week. If he is able to get it done, we doubt he’ll forget those four rounds at Winged Foot.

The post Dustin Johnson forgot he once played Winged Foot prior to this week (no, seriously) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Brooks Koepka announced Wednesday that he is withdrawing from the 2020 U.S. Open.

Koepka, who pulled out of the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust in August due to nagging hip and knee issues, posted a statement on social media that he will not play in next week’s proceedings at Winged Foot.

“I’m looking forward to getting healthy and competing at 100 percent again very soon,” Koepka said in a statement.

Koepka is a two-time U.S. Open champ, winning the event in 2017 and 2018, and came in second at last year’s championship at Pebble Beach. He was expected to be a contender at Winged Foot, with only Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy owning lower odds than Koepka’s 14/1 mark.

However, the 30-year-old has dealt with health problems going back to last fall, when he underwent a knee procedure the day after the 2019 Tour Championship. He continued to be plagued with pain, withdrawing from multiple Asian Swing events and passing on the Presidents Cup.

Koepka’s game was clearly impacted by his ailments. He posted just two top 10s in 13 starts this season with five missed cuts. That included a quick out at the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale Wyndham Championship, where Koepka shot 72-70. He entered the playoffs No. 97 in the FedEx Cup standings, but his WD at the Northern Trust knocked him out of the postseason.

It will be Koepka’s first missed major since the 2018 Masters, with a wrist injury sidelining Koepka from Augusta National. Replacing Koepka in the field is Englishman Paul Waring, who is No. 91 in the World Ranking.

The 2020 U.S. Open begins Sept. 17. Gary Woodland is the defending champ.

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