110th U.S. Open Championship Preview

Golf Betting Lines

06/14/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sitting down for his post-championship interview in 2000, Tiger Woods opened with a simple comment that summed up his historic victory at the U.S. Open.

"Well, I guess I won."

More than that, Woods dominated from start to finish in a record-setting rout at the year's second major.

Among the U.S. Open records Woods set that week were most strokes under par (12), largest margin of victory (15 shots), largest 36-hole lead (six shots) and largest 54-hole lead (10 shots).

In short, Woods may have reached the peak of his dominance during those four rounds at Pebble Beach, finishing the championship with a 12-under 272 that left his fellow competitors wondering what course he was playing.

Woods was the only player who finished under par.

"When you have a guy playing like that, you have no chance," said Ernie Els, who was paired with Woods for the final round.

Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez finished as distant runners-up that Sunday, and Els was left wondering how someone who was only 24 years old could be so much better than anyone else.

"It seems like we're not playing in the same ballpark right now," Els said afterward.

This week, the U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach for the first time since that historic Sunday, but Woods doesn't look anything like the dominant player he was 10 years ago.

Following a sex scandal that dynamited his personal life and public image, and a neck injury that forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship, Woods' once-solid position as the No. 1 player in golf is suddenly open for attack.

He hasn't won a major since picking up No. 14 in dramatic fashion at the 2008 U.S. Open, where he beat Rocco Mediate in a Monday playoff at Torrey Pines while playing on a severely injured leg.

In the interim, six players have captured majors: Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickelson. Harrington has won two.

Woods' showed cracks in his armor at last year's PGA Championship, where Yang pulled off the previously impossible feat of defeating Woods at a major when Woods held the 54-hole lead.

Suddenly, Woods looked beatable. And with only one top-10 finish in four starts this season -- a fourth-place tie at the Masters, his 2010 debut -- he still does.

With Woods no longer a bullet-proof lock as the overwhelming favorite, this week's U.S. Open is setting up to be a wide-open championship with many contenders.

Mickelson won the year's first major when he captured his third Masters title and he has looked like the best player in golf many times this season. His history at U.S. Opens is a dubious one, of course, with a record-setting five runner-up finishes.

Lefty's latest runner-up came last year at Bethpage Black, where he was playing for the final time before his wife, Amy, began treatment for breast cancer. Mickelson was the favorite as always in front of the New York galleries, especially as he made a charge during the Monday finish, but the result was a familiar one: another runner-up, his fourth at a U.S. Open in New York.

Lee Westwood has never won a major, but the talented Englishman is the reigning European No. 1 and third-ranked player in the world behind Woods and Mickelson.

Westwood has too many good finishes at major championships to mention in detail -- the latest was a runner-up to Mickelson at this year's Masters -- but one in particular is often overlooked. We forget that he missed a birdie putt on the 72nd hole with a chance to join Woods and Mediate in the U.S. Open playoff in 2008.

And then there's this: Westwood is coming off a win at the St. Jude Classic, his first on the PGA Tour in 12 years. That's good momentum, but a bad historical omen. No player has ever won a PGA Tour event and then captured the U.S. Open the following week.

There are the usual top contenders in this week's field -- proven talent like Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Els -- as well as young stars like Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa, who will draw attention.

There has also been an English revival this season, led by Westwood, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Luke Donald, who have all captured significant wins this season. Three of them -- Rose isn't in the field -- will be looking to snap an English drought at majors that goes back to Nick Faldo's win at the 1996 Masters.

This week's darkhorse pick isn't really a darkhorse at all: 29th-ranked Dustin Johnson, who has captured the regular PGA Tour stop at Pebble Beach in each of the last two seasons.

The sentimental favorite is 60-year-old Tom Watson, who was given a special exemption by the USGA to play in his first U.S. Open since 2003. The offer came on the heels of his tie for 18th place at this year's Masters, where he opened with a turn-back-the-clock 67 and remained in contention until tying for 18th place.

Of course, it might also have something to do with his playoff loss to Stewart Cink at last year's British Open, where Watson nearly gave us the greatest golf story of all time.

Watson captured his only U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1982, knocking off Jack Nicklaus with a chip-in birdie at the 17th hole on Sunday. Watson has played in all four U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach, making the cut in three of them.

While it is unlikely that Watson will win this week, the recent history of U.S. Opens has showed us that anything is possible at the year's second major.

The last four championships have given us Mickelson's 72nd-hole blunder at Winged Foot in 2006, when Geoff Ogilvy capitalized for the win; Angel Cabrera's chain-smoking victory at Oakmont in 2007; Woods' dramatic playoff triumph on one leg in 2008; and last year's rain-soaked, five-day marathon at Bethpage Black, where Lucas Glover scratched out his first major win.

With those finishes in mind, we like Watson in a Tuesday playoff over Westwood and 18-year-old Ishikawa, with Woods missing a three-footer for a spot in the playoff and Mickelson coming in dead last.

What? It could happen.