Answering Questions Ahead of Crucial Three-Week Stretch on PGA Tour

Ten years ago, Martin Kaymer opened a three-shot lead through the first round of the most recent U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, then led by six at the halfway point and eventually triumphed by a whopping eight strokes.

There are no guarantees in professional golf, but I’ll make an impossibly bold prediction anyway: The next three weeks should be a little more exciting than that one.

The year’s third major championship will return to Pinehurst next week, but like any great meal, it’ll be buffeted by a delectable appetizer on one side and a tantalizing dessert on the other, in the form of the Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship, a pair of PGA Tour signature events which will feature the PGA Tour’s biggest stars, ensuring three consecutive weeks in the proverbial spotlight within the sporting landscape.

If you haven’t been paying attention to golf yet this year, we’ll let it slide. If you’ve been too deep into the NBA and NHL playoffs or locked in on the first few months of MLB action, we forgive you. Even if you only casually glimpsed Scottie Scheffler winning the Masters and Xander Schauffele finally breaking through at the PGA Championship, it’s alright.

There’s no time like the present, as they say, and no three-week stretch is more emblematic of whatever we consider the “meat of the golf calendar” than the one which is currently impending.

These three events should go a long way toward answering plenty of lingering questions about some of the game’s top players, such as…

Can Scheffler continue his current run of brilliant golf?

Even if he doesn’t win, it sure feels like the world’s No. 1-ranked player is set up for success. Scheffler has finished top-three in each of his last two starts at the Memorial, including a record-setting tee-to-green performance last year; despite a Masters win, entering this season you could’ve made the case that the U.S. Open was his best major, with three straight top-seven results; and he finished in a share of fourth place at last year’s Travelers.

We can make the case that every golf course is a good golf course for the game’s best player, but these next three might be exceptional setups for his skillset.

How will Schauffele fare as a major champion?

Let’s not overreact if Schauffele doesn’t immediately follow his PGA Championship victory with another title. Though he owns four top-20s in six career Memorial starts, none have been inside the top-10. The following two weeks, though, could be where he picks up from that previous momentum.

Like Scheffler, it can be argued that the U.S. Open is Xander’s best major, with all seven appearances finishing inside the top-14, and he won the Travelers just two years ago. Perhaps alleviated from the pressure of trying to win his first major, it’s not outrageous to suggest that he steps on the gas pedal and plays with increased confidence moving forward, especially during those final rounds when he’s in contention.

Is it finally time for Rory McIlroy to win a major?

We’re coming up on a full decade since McIlroy last of four major championship titles and you’d better believe it’s been weighing on him for just about that long. While he does have a strong record in tourneys the week before a major, he’s yet to win at Muirfield Village in a dozen starts.

And perhaps winning would only bring greater expectations. He finished T-23 the last time a U.S. Open was held at Pinehurst, but if there’s a true reason for optimism, it’s that he won his next two majors afterward. 

Which player can turn his season around with three big performances?

Well, we’ve got plenty of choices. Jordan Spieth has been teetering on the brink of playing elite-level golf, but it feels like his propensity for posting a big number keeps getting in the way. His fellow PGA Tour policy board member Patrick Cantlay is ripe for some positive regression, though he’s yet to resemble the top-five player we’ve witnessed in recent years.

And then there’s his good buddy from their formative years, Justin Thomas, who’s performed much better than last year, though without a real title contention to his credit yet. Throw in the likes of Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau and Will Zalatoris, and you’ll see we have plenty of candidates here.

Can a LIV regular break through in that middle week?

It’s impossible to contend that the best of the best will be competing against each other for the next three weeks, because some of those players will only be eligible for the U.S. Open. There will once again be a bevy of LIV Golf stalwarts in the field at Pinehurst, though we’re beginning to see some separation between those prepared to contend at majors and those who aren’t.

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau would seemingly make anyone’s short list, while Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton have so far disappointed. Perhaps a player such as Dean Burmester, who was T-12 at the PGA Championship and just qualified for the U.S. Open on Monday, can continue stepping up at these bigger events.

No matter what, it should all be more entertaining and intriguing than the last time a U.S. Open was held at Pinehurst.

That three-week stretch starts this week, and if you’re just now getting the golf betting bug, well, it’s better late than never.