There’s no doubt that the five favourites ahead of this week’s US Open have amazing records in the third major championship of the year.
Scottie Scheffler has finished top seven in three of the last four editions and has 14 top 10s in just 23 major appearances.
Bryson DeChambeau is a two-time US Open winner who has ended each of the last five American majors in the top six.
Rory McIlroy won the 2011 US Open and was runner-up in each of the last two renewals of the tournament.
Jon Rahm won the 2021 US Open, one of four top 12 finishes in his last five starts.
And Xander Schauffele has played the US Open eight times and never recorded anything other than a top 15.
But what of the rest of the field?
Each of the four majors has it specialists – who are the US Open experts? Some of these names might surprise you.
1. Russell Henley
The winner of this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational (often said to be a major-like test) took to the US Open immediately when T16th on debut in 2010.
He struggled a bit in the next few years but that reflected the state of his career. When he picked things up, he revived his US Open results too.
He was seventh with 18 holes to play in 2017. He was the first-round leader in 2018. He shared the lead all week until the final round in 2021. He was T14th in 2023 and seventh last year.
That’s a superb log book and he was fifth last time out in the Memorial Tournament.
2. Harris English
The Georgian has played in nine US Opens and has never missed a cut.
What’s more, in recent years, he’s been especially good.
He was fourth in 2020, third in 2021 and eighth in 2023. He further proved his liking for US Open courses when winning this year’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
He’s also played the majors well this year. He was T12th in the Masters and second in the PGA Championship.
3. Denny McCarthy
The Maryland man has never won on the PGA Tour, but he is probably the finest putter in the game right now.
That’s a quality that is not usually associated with the US Open.
It’s normally thought that long game experts thrive on these long, long courses.
But McCarthy is surprisingly good.
He first played it back in 2015 and 2016 when he was still a young professional. There was then a long gap to 2022 whereupon he found the test suited him.
He was seventh in 2022, T20th in 2023 and T32nd in 2024 (despite being outside the top 100 after 18 holes).
