OWGR Watch- Post Kolon Korea Open Week
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
The Championship
Founded in 1895 the U.S. Open Championship is the second oldest Major after The Open Championship, and this year’s edition will be the 119th staging of the event.
Prize money for 2019 will be $12.5 million, the biggest purse in any of the four Major Championships.
No Asian player has won the U.S. Open in the in the history of the event. The closest was T.C. Chen of Taiwan who finished tied-second in 1985 at Oakland Hills after leading by three shots going into the last round.
The last first-time player to win the championship was Francis Ouimet (as an amateur) at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts back in 1913.
The Course
Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California. Par-71, 7,075 yards.
One of the most iconic golf courses in the world, and possibly the most scenic, Pebble Beach Golf Links has been the venue for scores of tour events and major championships since it opened in 1919.
In addition to playing host to five U.S Opens, it has most notably been the site of the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1929, 1947, 1961, 1999 and 2018, the PGA Championship in 1977, and the AT&T Pro-Am on the PGATOUR from 1947 to present day.
This will be the sixth time that The U.S. Open Championship is played at Pebble Beach, and past champions here include legendary players such as Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992), and Tiger Woods (2000).
The last time the U.S. Open was held at Pebble Beach was in 2010 when Graeme McDowell held off Gregory Havret to win by one shot on a total score of even-par 284.
While Augusta has its famous Amen corner (11-13), Pebble as it’s often referred to, has its own stretch of key holes known as the Cliffs of Doom (8-10) perched perilously overlooking the Pacific Ocean and beach below.
It also has what is probably the shortest hole in Major Championship golf, the quirky par-three seventh that played to only 92 yards in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open.
U.S. Opens are well known for very difficult course set-ups and demand a thorough examination of players’ skills, this year will surely prove no exception.
There is a famous quote from USGA’s Sandy Tatum after “The Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974: “we’re not trying to humiliate the best players in the world, we’re simply trying to identify who they are”. This probably says it all about what they are looking for in their National Open.
Deep rough will penalize tee-shots that stray from the fairways by even a few yards, with Cost of Rough measured at just over half-a-shot over-par during the 2010 championship. Accuracy off the tee will be key this week.
As will of course hitting the greens in regulation. Missing greens by the smallest of margins will leave a tough task of saving par for the same reason as above, plus the fact that the greens will most likely be very firm and lightning fast.
The poa annua grass on the greens will also be a big factor. A notoriously difficult putting surface that players will most likely find nowhere near as smooth and true as at the first two Majors this year, especially in late afternoons.
The course will likely be a tale of two nines as it was in 2010. Players will be looking at the outward half as the side where they can make up shots and the back nine where they hang-on to any gains.
Holes one through nine played to an average score of +1.25, while on holes 10 through 18 that number was +2.73. A difference of almost 1.5 strokes.
The difference was even more noticeable if you looked at holes one through seven vs. eight through 18 where the difference was +.56 compared to +3.42.
The average score that year was 74.98 or almost four-over-par.
The Favorites
Brooks Koepka (USA)
The winner of the PGA Championship last month at Bethpage Black and tied-second at the Masters Tournament in April, Koepka totally fits the mold for a U.S. Open champion. A no-nonsense player that grinds and goes about his business when others may start to let the sometimes-brutal conditions wear them down.
He has won the Championship the last two years in a row and has a chance to be the first three-peat winner since Willie Anderson in 1903 to 1905, one of only four four-time winners of the U.S. Open (Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus).
Dustin Johnson (USA)
A two-time winner this year capturing the Saudi International and WGC-Mexico Championship, he also finished second at the PGA Championship and tied-second at the Masters Tournament. A Johnson victory would be a big story of redemption this week, not only for the two Major runners-up this year, but also for the last time the event was held at Pebble Beach.
Leading by three going into the final round in 2010, the winner of the 2016 U.S. Open let the tournament slip away from him by shooting 82 in the final round.
Starting round four par, triple, double, bogey he let a host of other players back into the tournament right from the start and eventually finished in a tie for eighth place.
Johnson does have a very good record at Pebble, having won the AT&T Pro-Am in 2009 and 2010 and finished tied-second in 2014 and 2018.
Tiger Woods (USA)
When Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, he did so by the biggest winning margin in U.S. Open history. A total score of 12-under-par was good for a 15-stroke victory over Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els.
That U.S. Open was also the first leg of the “Tiger Slam”, where he famously won the four Majors in a row although not in the same season. The closest anyone has come to winning the modern Grand Slam of the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open Championship and The Open Championship in the same calendar year.
Already a three-time winner of the Championship in 2000, 2002 and 2008, this year’s Masters champion has a chance to tie the record for U.S. Opens won (four) and to win his 16th major, two short of Jack Nicklaus all-time-record of 18.
The Asian Tour Players
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA)
This will be the 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion’s third start in the U.S. Open, and in the 2018 edition at Shinnecock Hills, he was within striking distance of the leading quartet of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger after three rounds.
Teeing off on Sunday afternoon in tied-seventh place and only three shots behind the joint-leaders, a final round of three-over-par 73 meant he finished in 15th place for his best performance in a Major to date.
In his first full season as a PGATOUR member Kiradech has recorded two top-five finishes so far: a tied-third in the WGC-Mexico Championship and a tied-fifth at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Currently ranked 61st in the FedEx Cup standings, and with over $1.5 Million in prize money, he should have already secured his playing rights for the 2020 PGATOUR season.
Justin Harding (RSA)
After a successful rookie season on the Asian tour in 2018 when he won the Bank BRI Indonesia Open and Royal Cup in consecutive events, Harding went on to win the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on the European Tour early this season. His fifth world-wide win since the start of 2018.
Since then, he has spent most of his time on the PGA TOUR and notably finished tied-12th in his first Masters Tournament appearance to earn an invitation back to Augusta next year.
Harding will be playing in his first U.S. Open this week and should be ready and well rested after a few weeks away from tournament golf.
His performance statistics from the PGA TOUR also speak in his favor as Harding is currently ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting and fifth in Driving Accuracy. Two categories that will be very important this week at Pebble Beach.
Anirban Lahiri (IND)
The 2015 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner qualified for the championship by finishing second in the sectional qualifier in Columbus, Ohio last week. This will be Lahiri’s third U.S. Open and he will be hoping to redeem his previous two missed cuts in 2015 and 2016.
His best result on the 2019 PGATOUR schedule is a tied-10th in the Mayakoba Golf Classic late last year, but he has shown signs of a return to form with good first-round scores in his last two events.
Marcus Fraser (AUS)
Fraser had his best year on the Asian Tour in 2016 when he won the Maybank Championship and had three other top-10 results. A highlight of that year was also representing Australia in the Rio Olympics where he finished tied-fifth.
Qualifying for this week by finishing tied-third in the sectional qualifier at Walton Heath Golf Club in England, this will be Fraser’s fourth start in a U.S. Open after playing the event in 2007, 2013 and 2015.
He will be hoping to improve on his previous best result which was a tied-45th back in 2007.
Kodai Ichihara (JPN)
A two-time champion in his home country in 2018, Ichihara won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament and the JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills to finish fourth on the Japan Tour (JGTO) Money Rankings. His best season since turning pro in 2001.
Winning the Japan sectional qualifier earned the 37-year-old his first appearance in a U.S. Open and fourth Major over-all.
Mikumu Horikawa (JPN)
As with his compatriot above, Horikawa had the best season of his career last year when he finished 19th on the Japan Tour Money Rankings and was the runner up to Ichihara at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament.
The U.S. Open will be marking his Major debut after securing a place in the field by grabbing the last spot available in a play-off at the Japan sectional qualifier.
Coming into this week in great form having just captured his first Japan Tour title by winning last week’s JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills by four shots.
Ends.
After nine events played and about a third of the way through the 2019 schedule, Olle Nordberg takes a look at some of the key statistics and see which players have been performing well throughout the first few months of the season.
By Olle Nordberg, Former Asian Tour and European Tour professional
*Note from the Author: In order to make the stats more valid we need a reasonable sample size, so for this exercise I have required eight rounds completed as a minimum for a player’s data to count in the rankings.
In addition to the official Asian Tour stat categories, I have also added a combination-stat Total Driving (Driving Distance + Driving Accuracy) which is not listed on the website.
Driving Distance
That the old saying “drive for show and putt for dough” has lost at least some of its relevancy in the modern game is no secret, we can just look at the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) to see what kind of players are ranked at and near the top.
On the Asian Tour, the current Driving Distance leader is power player Kurt Kitayama who used his length off the tee to help him win last year’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, which he followed up a few months later with a victory at the Oman Open on the European Tour in March.
There are also two more recent Asian Tour winners in the top-10 in this category: the current Habitat for Humanity Standings leader and 2016 Order of Merit champion Scott Hend, who by winning the Maybank Championship in March became the most successful international player on the Asian Tour with 10 victories, and Q-School graduate Zach Murray who won the 100th New Zealand Open in only his third start on the Asian Tour.
Driving Accuracy
Category leader Adilson Da Silva has not won yet in 2019, but he recorded his first ever Asian Tour victory last year in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters on a course that demands precision off the tee. His accuracy has been very impressive so far this season, only missing an average of roughly two fairways per round.
The closest anyone in the top-10 of this category has been to a win this season is Ajeetesh Sandhu finishing second in the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in Bangladesh, only one shot behind the winner Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Total Driving
A combination-stat that is a very good measure of a player’s over-all driving performance by combining Driving Distance and Accuracy.
The 2018 Fiji International champion Gaganjeet Bhullar has shown remarkable driving skills with both length and precision off the tee, ranking in the top-10 in both individual categories.
This list also includes Scott Hend, and a player who has been the most consistent high performer on the 2019 Asian Tour, Jazz Janewattananond.
Winning twice on the Asian Tour prior to this year, Jazz opened his season with a victory at the SMBC Singapore Open and followed it up with a fourth in the 100th New Zealand Open, third at the Maybank Championship, tied-fifth at Bangabandhu Cup and a tied-14th at the recent PGA Championship.
Greens in Regulation (GIR)
Hitting greens in regulation is of course very important for consistently shooting good scores, the more greens you hit the more putts for birdies you will have.
As mentioned above, category leader Jazz has had quite the start to the season and perhaps it’s easy to see why when we consider his Total Driving stats in combination with his GIR percentage. Missing only four greens a round on average makes for a lot of birdie chances.
In addition to Jazz, five other players in these two categories overlap: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Scott Hend, Shaun Norris and Gavin Green. It should be safe to say that rankings in these two categories are closely related.
Scrambling
Getting it up-and-down when missing the green can be very important for maintaining momentum when playing well, or to minimize damage on a day when things are not going your way.
Current leader Rashid Khan has done this nearly three-quarters of the time this season, and it may be one of the reasons why he has recorded top-10 finishes in both his Asian Tour starts this season: a third-place finish in the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open and a tied-10th in the Hero Indian Open.
Jazz is also ranked highly in this category, adding to his already solid over-all game this season.
Putts per Green in Regulation
In my opinion a much better way of measuring putting performance than Putts per Round, since that number will likely look increasingly better the less greens a player hits in regulation.
The 2014 Order of Merit champion David Lipsky has posted some very solid putting stats in his two appearances this year, the Maybank Championship and the Volvo China Open, finishing tied-fifth in China and a tied-13th in Malaysia.
A close second is tour rookie Sadom Kaewkanjana who won the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Open in his first start after graduating from Q-School, a feat never accomplished before on the Asian Tour.
Fellow tournament winners Zach Murray and Scott Hend are also currently in the top-10, proving that they are not only powerful off the tee but have great touch on the greens as well.
This article was first published on PresidentsCup.com.
Diversity can be our strength, says International Team captain Ernie Els
May 30: The past couple of months have been really exciting for the International Team, with many of our potential players producing some wonderful golf and enjoying success worldwide.
In a span of six weeks, we witnessed three PGA TOUR wins by Canadian Corey Conners (Valero Texas Open), C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei (RBC Heritage) and Korea’s Sung Kang (AT&T Byron Nelson) which have improved their chances of qualifying for the International Team to face the United States Team in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Australia from December 9-15.
Winning on the PGA TOUR is one of the ultimate dreams for every aspiring golfer and seeing how Corey, C.T and Sung Kang fought for their maiden wins in the U.S. was very impressive. More importantly, I was encouraged to hear all three players saying how determined they are in wanting to fight for their places in the Presidents Cup. Their enthusiasm will help generate a lot of positive buzz and energy in the team room, which is important.
I was pleased to see Sung Kang following up on his victory with a seventh-place finish at the PGA Championship while Adam Scott, who is one of our team’s stalwarts, finished tied-eighth. Another international player who has caught my attention recently is Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, whom I had the opportunity to play with in Malaysia recently. This kid has got talent and at Bethpage Black, he showed us what he can do with a solid tied-14th finish to move up to 12th in our team standings.
Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand
Though it may seem as if the world was introduced to Jazz last week, this 23-year-old has had his fair share of professional success after turning pro at age 15. He’s won three times on the Asian Tour and defeated a strong field at the Singapore Open this year. With the PGA being just his fourth PGA TOUR start, it was quite encouraging to see him perform so well under an enormous amount of pressure.
I would be remiss if I didn’t congratulate Brooks Koepka for his impressive victory at Bethpage Black. What he has accomplished in the past few years is nothing short of remarkable, and he is going to be a formidable opponent as part of the U.S. Team in December.
Currently, our top-eight players on the International Team points list consist of four established Presidents Cup team members in Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen, Hideki Matsuyama and Jason Day while Cameron Smith, Haotong Li, Justin Harding and Abraham Ancer are in good position to book their maiden appearances, with qualifying concluding in mid-August. I’ll then have four captain’s picks to round up my 12-man team in early November following the PGA TOUR’s Asia swing.
We’ve already seen on numerous occasions what Cameron can do on the golf course and I’ve been impressed by Haotong and Justin as well following some eye-catching performances. Haotong, whom I played with when he shot that amazing 63 in the final round of The Open Championship in 2017, is tenacious and fiery when he gets into the ‘zone’ and he showed a lot of heart in finishing second to Dustin Johnson in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. We all saw how he backed it up with another strong showing at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play where he reached the round of 16 following outstanding group wins over two top players in Alex Noren and Brooks Koepka.
Justin Harding of South Africa
I’ve followed Justin’s progress very closely since he started playing on the Sunshine Tour and it’s been amazing to see his rise over the past 18 months where he has won five times in Asia, South Africa and on the European Tour. He is quite a fighter with a wonderful short game and he showed all those qualities with wins over Luke List and Matthew Fitzpatrick in the Match Play before being stopped by Rory McIlroy.
It’s been really fun to see how his confidence and game have soared to new heights and Justin showed us at the Masters Tournament that he can become a global player with an impressive tied-12th finish in his debut appearance. A career first PGA TOUR top-10 at the AT&T Byron Nelson has only cemented his growing reputation and I’d be the least surprised if he seals his ticket to Australia.
I was happy to see Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace reaching the round of 16 as well at the Match Play which will put our team in good stead when we face what will be a strong U.S. Team led by Tiger Woods.
Leading as team captain for the first time requires a lot of preparation and thoughts and I believe we had a fruitful week during the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Being the only official two-man team FedExCup tournament on TOUR, it allowed our players to bond closer and also try out some partnerships in the fourball and foursomes format.
Many of our guys opted to pair up with the likes of Jason Day partnering with Adam Scott, Louis teaming up with Charl Schwartzel, Justin playing with Branden, Abraham Ancer getting together with Jhonattan Vegas and Anirban Lahiri combining with Shubhankar Sharma.
We also stayed in the same hotel in New Orleans and enjoyed some fun team building sessions where the aim was to get the new guys familiarising with the more established players. As you know, our team is made up of golfers from different nationalities and cultures and it’s really important to gel as one team, hence the reason for our new International Team logo which incorporates the respective players’ national flags.
I also liked what my friend, Trevor Immelman said during our press conference together at the Zurich Classic where we teamed up. He believes our team’s diversity can be our strength which I fully agree. This is something we will continue to harness in the coming months as part of our plans to wrest the Presidents Cup from the U.S.
Speaking of Trevor, I’m delighted and honoured that he, along with Mike Weir and K.J. Choi, have agreed to be my captain’s assistants, joining Geoff Ogilvy who we announced in November at the World Cup of Golf. I have played alongside the three guys in numerous Presidents Cups and tournaments around the world and I know they have the same passion, drive and determination to create a winning formula for our team. All of them still compete regularly on the PGA TOUR and I believe their relationships with our International players will be an asset to our team.
On a personal note, I was over the moon to become the first golfer to register 300 career top-10s since the introduction of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986 following my tied-seventh finish at the Maybank Championship. Admittedly, my last three or four years have been a struggle, so I was really happy I played some good golf in Malaysia.
Another player who also played some good golf recently was Tiger and I want to congratulate him for his sensational victory at the Masters Tournament. What he did at Augusta National was amazing and I could not be happier for him knowing what he has been through in recent years following his battles with back injuries. However when we meet at Royal Melbourne in December, I’ll be doing my best to outwit him.
I hear that ticket sales for the Presidents Cup has been very good and if you are an international golf or sports fan living in Melbourne or anywhere close to Australia, do make sure you buy your tickets now on www.presidentscup.com and cheer us on at Royal Melbourne! Bye for now.
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