US Open groups expected to put on a show off tee

THE US Golf Association has put together some blockbuster threesomes, none better than the past three winners, Dustin Johnson (2016), Jordan Spieth (2015) and Martin Kaymer (2014) for this week’s US Open at Erin Hills — the year’s second major championship takes place from June 15-18.

Here are the five most interesting groupings for the first two rounds: Kaymer, Spieth and Johnson THE three most recent US Open champs will have a first-hand look at each other’s games early in the tournament. Johnson and Spieth played against and defeated Kaymer’s European squad at the Ryder Cup recently. The two Americans went neck and neck for the US Open crown in 2015. Spieth ultimately prevailed because Johnson three-putted from 3.4m on the 72nd hole.

Spieth and Kaymer are similar in strengths and distance off the tee. Johnson will be playing a different course. Bubba Watson, Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia THE three Masters winners will enter the week expecting to contend. Watson has been dreadful since last spring, compiling just one top 10 in stroke play events since his T-10 at last year’s Tour Championship.

Scott finished in the top 10 at the Masters (T-9) and the Players Championship (T-6) this year, so his game has come alive on the Rafa Cabrera Bello, Thomas Pieters and Brooks Koepka THIS group features a nice blend of finesse and power. Koepka and Pieters will put on a show off the tee, and while Cabrera Bello is no slouch, he excels around the greens.

Pieters contended at the Masters with T-4 in his first trip to Augusta National. He has three top-five finishes on Tour this season, and just finished T-14 at the BMW PGA Championship in Europe a couple of weeks ago. Koepka has been an enigma this year, racking up missed cuts and top-20 finishes. Jason Day, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy ARGUABLY the most illustrious group, this trio of major champions should have galleries flocking to see what they can conjure at Erin Hills.

McIlroy is playing for just the second time since the Masters due to lingering rib pain. He may be a little rusty, so it will be interesting to see what sort of form he brings.

Day has a runner-up and a T-15 in his last two starts. He appears focused and ready for a special run after battling an injury, and dealing with his mother’s cancer surgery.

Rose finished runner-up at the Masters. Though he is quiet and not usually mentioned among the world’s best players on a consistent basis, he should be a great threat to earn his second US Open title this week. — sportingnews.com