Talking points and hot topics at Erin Hills

Can Rory McIlroy contend after his injury lay-off?

McIlroy’s season has been thrown into disarray by the rib injury suffered during club testing over the winter, which kept him sidelined for six weeks after losing a play-off in the South African Open. The world No 2 finished seventh, fourth and seventh in his first three strokeplay events on his return, but a recurrence of the problem during The Players’ Championship saw him withdraw from the BMW PGA Championship and Memorial Tournament. That means the four-time Major winner will have played just six events before the US Open, an event he won in record-breaking style in 2011, but one at which he has since missed the cut twice and recorded a solitary top-10 finish.

Will the USGA get the course set-up right?

Although they always deny it, the United States Golf Association want the US Open to be a tough test for the world’s best players, with the winning score close to level par. That usually means narrow fairways, thick rough and quick greens and Erin Hills looks to be no exception, with Wesley Bryan posting a picture on social media which showed knee-high rough just a few feet off the fairway. The course will initially be set up to measure 7693 yards – the par-five 18th is 637 yards – but each hole has numerous tees which USGA executive director Mike Davis can use to prevent things getting out of hand.

Can Dustin Johnson become the first back-to-back winner for 28 years?

Curtis Strange was the last player to make a successful title defence, following his play-off victory

over Nick Faldo in 1988 with a one-shot win 12 months later. Johnson has gone from strength to strength since his victory at Oakmont, which was achieved despite not knowing for the last seven holes of the final round whether he would be penalised a shot for an earlier rules infraction. Johnson, right, won three tournaments in succession this season – including back-to-back World Golf Championship events – before a back injury forced him to withdraw from the Masters. The world No 1 has since finished second, 12th and 13th before missing the cut at the Memorial Tournament.

Is a shock winner possible?

Since Darren Clarke and Keegan Bradley won the last two Majors of 2011 when ranked 111th and 108th in the world respectively, the lowest-ranked winner of any Major has been Jimmy Walker, who was 48th when he won last year’s US PGA Championship. Fellow 2016 champions Danny Willett, Johnson and Henrik Stenson were ranked 12th, sixth and sixth respectively, while Sergio Garcia was 11th before claiming his overdue maiden Major title at the Masters in April.