Ten contenders to watch

Jordan Spieth is only 22 but he already has two major titles on his resume and came very close in April to winning a third. Spieth comes to Oakmont Country Club as defending champion of the U.S. Open, having won the tournament last year at Chambers Bay when Dustin Johnson missed a 3-foot putt on the final hole that would have forced a Monday playoff. But, after a blowout victory in Hawaii to start the 2016 season, Spieth has not shown the same form as he did last year when he won the FedEx Cup and was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year. He comes to Oakmont hoping to make up for his disappointment at the Masters when he led the tournament for 65 holes but blew a five-shot lead on the back nine.

Jason Day is the hottest player in the world, which is why he is the No. 1-ranked player in the world heading to Oakmont. Since winning his first major last August in the PGA Championship with a record score of 20-under par, Day has won seven of his past 17 starts on the PGA Tour — and almost all of them against the best fields in golf. In addition to the PGA, he won two FedEx Cup playoff events, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Match Play Championship and, most recently, the Players Championship in May. What’s more, in his past four starts in a major championship, Day has finished no worse than a tie for 10th, which came at the Masters in April.

Rory McIlroy already has four major championships on his resume, including a U.S. Open when he blew away the field in 2011 at Congressional with an Open-record score of 16-under. He is one of just three players to win three majors by the time he was 25, something only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have been able to do. In his past nine starts in major championships, McIlroy has seven top-10 finishes, including back-to-back victories in the 2014 British Open and PGA Championship and a fourth-place finish in the 2014 Masters. McIlroy was the No. 1 player in the world for 95 weeks and needs a victory in the Masters to become only the sixth player to win golf’s Grand Slam.

No player has experienced more U.S. Open disappointment than Phil Mickelson. He has finished runner-up in the Open a staggering six times, more than any player in history, and missed the cut in 2007 at Oakmont because of a sore wrist that was injured when he was practicing hitting shots from the nasty fairway rough. Mickelson has won five major championships in his hall of fame career, which is 14th most in golf history, and needs to win the U.S. Open to become only the sixth player to complete golf’s Grand Slam. Phil Mickelson turns 46 on the day of the opening round at Oakmont, which means he could become the oldest winner of the U.S. Open if he is finally able to break through.

The U.S. Open, which requires patience and a steely resolve, is not exactly tailored to Bubba Watson’s game, at least, not like the Masters where he has already won two green jackets. Watson has missed the cut in three of the past four U.S. Opens and his only top-10 came in 2007 at Oakmont when he finished tied for fifth. The fourth-ranked player in the world, Watson has one victory already this season in the Northern Trust Open. His length won’t make much of a difference at Oakmont, but his imagination and ability to create shots could help him on approaches to the fast, tilted greens. As long as he can remain calm.

How many more ways can Dustin Johnson find to lose a major championship, especially in a U.S. Open? In 2010, playing in the final twosome at Pebble Beach, he shot 82 with some early mindless gaffes and lost to Graeme McDowell. Last year, playing in the final group again for the fourth time in a major championship, Johnson missed a 3-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole that would have forced a Monday playoff with Jordan Spieth. It always seems to be something with DJ. Remember his blunder at the 72nd hole in the 2010 PGA Championship when he grounded his club in a bunker, thinking it was a waste hazard? Despite all that, Johnson has 11 top-10 finishes in 28 major championships (39.2%).

The last time they played a U.S. Open on a course similar to Oakmont, England’s Justin Rose was the only player under par and won his first major title with a victory at Pennsylvania’s other historic venue: Merion. It was the first time since Tony Jacklin in 1970 that an English player won the U.S. Open. Rose is one of the best ball-strikers in the world and can navigate his way around a golf course in Magellan-like fashion. This is only the 11th start for Rose in a U.S. Open and he has missed the cut on four previous occasions. But his victory at Merion, when he held off Phil Mickelson, seemed to elevate his game for future major championships.

Rickie Fowler seemed to take it personal when, in the same week he was voted the most overrated player on the PGA Tour by his peers, he won the Players Championship in 2015 in a playoff after playing the final six holes in 6-under par. Fowler appears to be on the precipice of winning his first major title, or so everybody seems to think. He is the No. 5-ranked player in the world and in 2014 became only the third player in history to finish in the top 5 of all four majors in the same calendar year. Since then, however, he has missed the cut twice, including this year at the Masters, and finished no better than 12th in the past five majors. The other missed cut came in last year’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.

Even the snowbirds didn’t enjoy being in Florida this year as much as Adam Scott. The 35-year-old Australian had two wins in the Sunshine State following a second-place finish at the Northern Trust Open, capturing the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in back-to-back weeks. Since then, though, Scott has been relatively quiet, even finishing tied for 42nd at the Masters — his worst finish at Augusta National since he became the first player from Australia to win the green jacket in 2013. Scott is hoping to ride some recent momentum in the U.S. Open when he comes to Oakmont. He finished tied for ninth two years ago at Pinehurst and tied for fourth last year at Chambers Bay.

Great things were expected from a Spanish teenager named Sergio Garcia when he chased after Tiger Woods with scissor kicks down the fairway in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah. But, despite tying Seve Ballesteros for the most PGA Tour victories by a Spanish player following his recent win in the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic, Garcia has never won a major championship. In fact, no current player has a longer drought than the Spaniard, who is 0-for-70 in major championships. Several years ago, in a moment of frustration, Garcia even admitted he doesn’t have the game to win a major title. But that has all changed with a new putting style. This will be Garcia’s 17th appearance in a U.S. Open.