The second major championship of the year, the US Open is just around the corner. The world?s best professional golfers will bring their top form to the Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California from June 11-15, 2008, as they fight for one of the most prestigious titles on tour. It is said that a player who wins a major championship ? especially the US Open or the Masters ? is worth over $15 to 20 million overnight, which is enough to determine the significance of these tournaments. Not to mention the exemptions that follow, the world rankings, mega sponsorships and bonuses. On the Indian front, top-ranked Jeev Milkha Singh missed qualifying for the US Open this year after he carded just one-under-par for 36-holes. His challenge ended when he four-putted a par-five after hitting it two on ? the birdie would have put him at four-under for the day and in contention for a spot. However, as he later said, it just broke his heart!
While Jyoti Randhawa or SSP Chowrasia, currently regulars on the European Tour, did not even attempt to qualify, Shiv Kapur failed to make it and will have to wait out another year before he can make his debut at this major championship.
Another new attraction this US Open will be the pairings on Thursday and Friday. For the first time, the USGA have decided to pair the top three professional golfers in the world together for the first two rounds, following which pairings are decided according to scores. So no points for guessing that the largest galleries on the course will be following the group of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson and Adam Scott. The USGA has further decided that the top 12 players in the world will be also grouped together and spread out over four different time slots.
The two strongest players with the odds in their favour are undoubtedly Woods and Mickleson, the top two players in the world. However, that is not the only reason for their top billing. Woods has won the Buick Invitational ? which is played at Torrey Pines at the beginning of every season on the PGA Tour ? six times and grew up just 90 miles away from Torrey Pines. Mickleson is the local favourite as he belongs to San Diego and has played numerous high school matches at the same venue. He too has won the Buick Invitational three times.
However, defending champion Angel Cabrerra?s presence proves that anything?s possible and we could see yet another player come from the back and run away with the title.
The tournament has great appeal and over 8,300 golfers entered to participate in the qualifying for the US Open. Amongst those who qualified was Davis Love III, who did not qualify automatically after having played 70 consecutive majors. He cleared the 36-hole qualifying on Monday, following a tough week at the Memorial. Chad Campbell, Rocco Mediate, Jesper Parnevik, Dean Wilson, Ben Crane and Joe Ogilvie were amongst the PGA Tour regulars who qualified for the championship. However Fred Coupes failed to make it and will definitely be missed, as will Tom Lehman and Chris DiMarco.