Jun 14, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Scottie Scheffler steps out from a bunker on the 18th hole during a practice round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Los Angeles Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports
The U.S. Open, which takes place from June 15-18, will be played at the Los Angeles Country Club (LACC) in California and has 2 former Longhorns in the mix of participants: Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. This course, which was renovated in 2010, is anything other than your ordinary U.S Open layout. It has five par 3’s, with the shortest being 120 yards and the longest 290, extremely unique fairways with different elevations and tilts, and very narrow greens. This is the first time since 1947 that the U.S. Open has five par 3’s as well. All in all, the course will play as a par 70 and should give quite a battle to its players. Let’s now take a look at Scheffler and Spieth’s last U.S. Open appearances, along with their recent tournament finishes.
Starting with Scheffler, the #1 golfer in the world, has been on an absolute tear over the past few months. Starting with major play, Scottie finished T10 at the Masters after shooting -4 for the tournament and T2 at the PGA Championship with a -7 just under a month ago. Along with those 2 major appearances, Scheffler played in 4 other tournaments and finished T11, T5, T3, and 3rd respectively. It’s safe to say that he’s been on another level. Scheffler has made 5 previous U.S. Open appearances and has actually missed the cut in 2 of them. In the other 3, he finished T27 (2017), T7 (2021) and T2 (2022). Let’s see if the 26 year-old can get his second major victory.
Shifting over to Spieth, who is currently the 10th-best golfer in the world, Jordan has continued to be what seems like the trend of his career: inconsistent. Sticking with the same time-frame as Scheffler, Spieth finished T4 at the Masters with a final score of -7 just over 2 months ago. He also finished T5 in his most recent tournament (The Memorial) and 2nd in the RBC Heritage. So, how is he inconsistent? Also during this time, Spieth missed 2 cuts and also finished 5+ at the PGA Championship to end up at T29. He can be dominant… and then lackluster as well. In his U.S. Open history, Spieth has played in 11 total tournaments with his 12th on the way. It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the veteran, though, as his second best finish is a T17 back in 2014. Wait, so what’s his best? A victory in 2015 at Chambers Bay at just 22 years old. So, while he does have a U.S. Open win, the rest hasn’t been pretty. Let’s see if he can change that on a tricky course this weekend.
Good luck to both of these Longhorns in the tournament! –
Twitter: @RSwantkowski
