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- ⛳️ Preview & Picks: U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2
Good afternoon. Here’s an important note on your U.S. Open viewing experience this week… Peacock is involved. So, on Thursday, USA will have coverage from 6:30AM - 5pm. Then, it switches over to Peacock from 5PM-8pm. On Friday, it happens again, except 6:30AM-1pm is on Peacock, then 1PM-7PM on NBC, and then back over to Peacock from 7PM-8PM.
This is the dumbest viewing experience possible, but it should still be a great week of golf.
Here's what we've got for ya today:
Fastest Way To Improve Your Ball Striking
Preview & Picks: The U.S. Open
Merger Agreement Has Momentum
Shots Heard Round The World
For Golf Sickos Only
Divots…
Thing We’d Buy: Summer Bag
How To Stop Hitting Bad Iron Shots
Preview: The U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2
Let there be carnage!
Finally, we have a major where the field average will be over-par.
Finally, the blood-thirst of fans like myself will be quenched.
There will be no birdie-fests at Pinehurst No 2. this week. At least, that’s what the history of Pinehurst tells us. The last three editions of The U.S. Open at Pinehurst have seen a grand total of four players shoot under-par.
The players know it too, with plenty making comments about the potential challenges.
Earlier in the week, Wyndham Clark called the greens “borderline”.
Tiger Woods had this to say: "It's more of a test. It's going to be a great test and a great war of attrition this week. It's going to be a lot of fun for all of us."
Rory McIlroy said “I think a course like this definitely demands a different skill set and also some creativity. I think that will be on display this week.”
We should see a plethora of different strategies around the greens.
Bryson DeChambeau suggested he would still rely on his wedges, while Viktor Hovland said it would be mostly putter for him. There’s also been plenty of videos circulating around social media with guys putting from the run-off areas around the greens with hybrids.
No matter what, expect to see a much different U.S. Open than we got last year at LACC.
🚩 Location: Pinehurst No. 2
💰 Purse: $20M - $3.9M to first.
👀 Watch On: NBC, USA, Peacock
👑 Previous Winners:
2021: Jon Rahm
2022: Matt Fitzpatrick
2023: Wyndham Clark
What The Analytics Say: Hitting and holding greens could be an issue, so you may want to look at guys who scramble well and who hit their approach shots high.
What Our Guts Tell Us: There will be some bad breaks for good players. It could be chaotic out there at times, with players ping-ponging across greens like you or I would.
How To Watch The 2024 U.S. Open
THURSDAY, JUNE 13
Round 1 USA Telecast 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (USA)
Round 1: 5-8 p.m. (Peacock)
Round 1: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. (USOpen.com, USGA app)
FRIDAY, JUNE 14
Round 2: 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 7-8 p.m. (Peacock)
Round 2 NBC Telecast: 1-7 p.m. (NBC)
Round 2: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. (USOpen.com, USGA app)
SATURDAY, JUNE 15
Round 3 USA Telecast: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA)
Round 3 NBC Telecast: 12-8 p.m. (NBC)
Round 3: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (USOpen.com, USGA app)
SUNDAY, JUNE 16
Round 4 USA Telecast: 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA)
Round 4 NBC Telecast: 12-7 p.m. (NBC)
Round 4: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (USOpen.com, USGA app)
Weather Report - Pinehurst
It’s going to be hot and humid, which could help slow the greens some.
Favorites: The 2024 U.S. Open
Scottie Scheffler (+300), Xander Schauffele (+1000), Rory McIlroy (+1100), Collin Morikawa (+1600), Viktor Hovland/Ludvig Aberg/Bryson DeChambeau (+2000), Brooks Koepka (+2200)
Big Brain Analytics
“Unfortunately, we don’t have shot-level data from the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2014, but we can still calculate the length component of course difficulty. Pinehurst’s scorecard yardage this week is 7550 with a par of 70; based on the hole yardages we’d expect a scoring average of 72.1 (+2.1). In 2014, the course played to a similar length with a scoring average of +3.1. Given how much discussion there has been around the difficulty of the approaches and green complexes at Pinehurst, its length can go unnoticed. Of course, this length might be mitigated by a firm golf course, which would show up as OTT playing “easy” due to tee shots traveling further.” - DataGolf
Shanks Picks
We’ve got a slightly different card for the U.S Open this week.
Outright: Bryson +2000
Outright: Cam Smith +4000
Top Ten: Fleetwood +300
Top Ten: Matt Fitzpatrick +360
Top Ten: Xander Schauffele +110
Top Twenty: Sahith Theegala +180
Top Twenty: Min Woo Lee +240
Longshot: Jason Day +10000
MTCP: Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Brian Harman, and Patrick Cantlay to make the cut. +425
Betting The U.S. Open This Week?
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News: Merger Agreement Has Momentum
A prominent agent who has clients on both tours tells me a “draft agreement” was signed today between PGA Tour Enterprises and the PIF to finalize Saudi investment in the Tour. This is definite progress but the devil is in the details, which have not yet been leaked.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck)
7:50 PM • Jun 11, 2024
According to Alan Shipnuck, the king of anonymous sources, a “draft agreement” has been signed by both sides.
A lot of people in the comments pointed out that “draft agreements” aren’t usually signed by anyone, as they are drafts, but I’m no lawyer, so I don’t know what to make of that.
However, this report is probably still legit…
Tiger Woods had this to say about recent meetings with PIF:
“We discussed a lot of different endings and how we get there,” Woods said. “I think that [when] both sides walked away from the meeting, we all felt very positive in that meeting. As I said, both sides were looking at different ways to get to the endgame. Both sides shared a deep passion for how we need to get there. And, yes, there are going to be differences of opinion, but we all want the same thing.”
Shots Heard Round The World
👶 Golf Fans Call Jon Rahm “Soft” After Withdrawing Jon Rahm has withdrawn from the U.S. Open due to an infected sore between his toes and golf fans are making fun of him. Read
📺️ Scottie Scheffler Laughs At Viral Video If you haven’t seen the clip of a guy pulling up to his golf course with a fake policeman hanging onto his window, you can watch it here. Apparently, Xander Schauffele sent it into a groupchat with Scottie and they all had a laugh. Read
⛳️ The Lost Decade Of Rory In Majors Kevin Van Valkenberg of NLU examined all of Rory McIlroy’s major appearances during his 10 year drought across 37 major appearances. Read.
For Golf Sickos Only
Literally the best content ever?
— Masters Burner (@ANGC_burner)
8:15 PM • Jun 11, 2024
Jason Wagner has been on a tear for golf channel.
Recreating shots, giving sickos insights into the layouts of different courses, and yesterday they had Cam Smith on for literally six minutes of pure sicko analysis at Pinehurst.
Divots…
Quote: "I pancaked him on his stroke holes, and I started talking s--- to him, and he got all quiet and focused," Schauffele said. "And then he birdied 15-16, no strokes. Beat me straight up. And I was like, ‘All right."
That’s Xander Schauffele talking about Michael Jordan beating him. Read
Stat: Rory McIlroy is the only player to finish in the top-10 at the U.S. Open each of the last 5 years. The last player to do it 6 years in a row was Jack Nicklaus from 1977 through 1982. via Justin Ray
Thing We’d Buy: Summer Bag
The 2024 Men’s Summer Commemorative returns to the No. 2 Course at Pinehurst for the fourth time.
The Summer Commemorative Staff Bag, and the accompanying accessories draw from traditions that date all the way back to the course’s origins in 1895.
That’s all folks! See you Saturday Morning.