The two biggest stars in American golf since the early 1990s are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Neither will play in this week’s 117th U.S. Open, as Woods is sidelined following another back surgery and Lefty has chosen to attend his daughter’s graduation from high school on Thursday.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Thus the biggest storyline this week is likely the unknown factor of the golf course as Erin Hills, located about 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, hosts a PGA Tour event for the first time. Typical U.S. Open courses have narrow fairways and incredibly penal rough. Erin Hills is more like a British Open track as it’s a links-type course with massive fairways.
The rough isn’t the thick spinach that you see on most American courses but fescue. This public course’s main defenses are a length of nearly 7,700 yards, the second-longest ever for a U.S. Open course, tough greens and potential wind. No one is quite sure what to expect just like in 2015 when another links course, Chambers Bay outside Seattle, hosted the U.S. Open for the first time.