PEBBLE BEACH HOSTS THE US OPEN
About half way up the Pacific coastline of California lies the seemingly enchanted seaside city of Pebble Beach. It’s enchanted because few places on earth display such dramatic beauty on such a small piece of rugged coastline known as the Monterey Peninsula and Carmel Bay. This is California at its very best.
There is something special about playing golf on an ocean side course, especially one as well done as Pebble Beach where the natural ins and outs of the coastline are incorporated into the fairways and greens which make up one of the most challenging and inspiring golf courses on the planet. It is also one of the most expensive to play at a cool $525 per round.
Tiger Woods will be there this year for the US Open! We can pretty much plan on the gallery being huge and following the Tiger around the legendary links at Pebble Beach for all 4 days. At the Memorial, there were, at times, around 20,000 fans encircling the greens when Tiger was putting.
After winning the Masters this year, much to the surprise of many, Woods struggled for consistency for the first three rounds of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio back in June, only to astound and excite the overflow crowds by posting a hot 64 on the final round, which led to a top 10 finish for Woods and leaving many to speculate that Tiger was just warming up for the US Open, this year to be held at the famous Pebble Beach Course.
Woods picked up a check for $800,000 at this same Pebble Beach Golf Course back in the year 2000 when he won this same US Open, and won it by 15 strokes, posting a final four round score of 272, a record which still stands today as the largest margin of victory ever recorded in a major PGA Championship. It was the stuff that legends are built on.
But, can he do it again? Las Vegas odds makers seem to think that the Tiger has a pretty good shot at it once again. He lucked out in the pairings going out with Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth, two excellent and very serious golfers. Perhaps playing alongside Woods will be the catalyst to get Spieth on track again after a rather slow start to the 2019 season.
While two young and very strong American Golfers, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, are listed ahead of Tiger Woods at 8-1, the Tiger is right in there at 10-1 alongside the recent RBC Canadian Open winner Rory McElroy. Spieth is currently listed at 14-1 with Justin Rose at 20-1.
But keep an eye out for the guys bunched up back at 25-1. Jason Day, Jon Rahm, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas make up that group and any one of them could be there on Sunday afternoon putting for the US Open Championship at Pebble Beach and a share of the huge $12,500,000 purse being offered in 2019.
