Scheffler in dazzling form

The Star

4 hours ago

PEOPLE have long spoken about the men's US Open championship as being the most challenging test in golf. Coming from the very best that have played this game, there's nothing to suggest that that is not the case.
At the 125th staging of the US Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, starting Thursday, we can expect more of the same as the leading names in the sport battle it out for the season's third major.
As things stand, American Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 and champion at the 2025 PGA Championship last month, arrives in Oakmont as the favourite, and the player everyone will be out to thwart.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, winner of the Masters in April, will be keen to add another major to his collection of five titles, including the US Open he won in 2011 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.
Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion of this title, will be plotting to capture a third US Open crown, following his successes at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York in 2020 and at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina last year.
Xander Schauffele, winner of two of the majors last season – the PGA Championship and the British Open – is also expected to be in the mix at Oakmont.
The world No. 3 can be as consistent as they come, and at Oakmont, the winner will need to be just that. Halfway to the career Grand Slam, Schauffele would dearly love to add the third quarter to the equation.
So too will Brooks Koepka be out to make it three US Open titles o go along with his three PGA Championships.
The LIV star attraction often appears to bring his best game to the big occasions, and he's bent on showing that again this week.
Jon Rahm of Spain, another of the multiple major winners and also from the LIV stable, will be aiming for a second US Open title following his exploits in 2021 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.
Among the other notables who could throw their names into the hat on the back nine on Sunday is Collin Morikawa, a player with precision accuracy – a trait that should prove crucial around Oakmont.
Scheffler has been the outstanding player over the past three and a half seasons or so, and having him tipped as the leading candidate this week comes as no surprise.
The tall Texan has won three of his last four tournaments on the PGA Tour, including his third major last month.
He is in dazzling form, and he looks like a solid bet for next Sunday. Such has been his dominance in the men's game that he is now often being spoken of in the same breath as Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Indeed, no player has been more rampant and successful than Scheffler in the men's game since Woods' reign.
The purists point Scheffler's putting and inconsistent slow starts are areas of his game that he might need to polish up on – and if he did, he would possibly become unplayable, they say.
That being the case, Mark Leishman has trashed the talk that LIV players cannot, and will not, win major championships.
The Australian, a winner of six US PGA titles before he moved to LIV Golf in 2022, is in the US Open at Oakmont having come through a qualifier.
Not in the majors over the last three years, Leishman took aim at comments by commentator Brandel Chamblee, who said Rahm and DeChambeau 'fell out of contention at last month's PGA Championship because of LIV's format and a lack of competition'.
The former world No. 12 said: 'I would disagree with that. I think the way our schedule is set up actually lends itself to being able to prepare very well for the majors.
'We're playing against great fields every single week on tough golf courses.
'Yes, it's 54 holes, but it puts a bit of pressure on that first round to get off to a good start because they are a little bit more of a sprint,' he added.
'We're still playing a lot of golf away from tournaments, enjoying golf more, and I think when you are enjoying your golf and it's not so much of a grind, that lends itself to better play.'
One would have to say that if Scheffler fell out of the reckoning for some reason, then the title is up for grabs by anyone else in the field.