Francesco Molinari is back on the field for the second major of the year, the US Open, which will be played from today to Sunday at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton (New York). The blue champion arrives in the USA as European leader, number one in the Race To Dubai, after the victory in the BMW PGA Championship and the second place in the Italian Open, two very important races, part of the Rolex Series mini circuit of excellence of the European Tour. And he starts among the favourites, after the second position conquered in the US PGA Championship last year (last round of the grand slam), the nomination as "golfer of the month of May" of the Eurotour and the current record in the qualifications for the European team of the Ryder Cup which will be played in September in Paris.
It goes without saying that winning won't be easy, because the field is one of the toughest and includes, starting from the top, world number one Dustin Johnson and number two Justin Thomas. The roles are reversed in the Fedex Cup standings, but the substance does not change: they are the strongest players of the moment.
Johnson returned to the top of the rankings last week, with victory in FedEx St. Jude and Thomas wants to take immediate revenge. The two play together, but it is not a head-to-head duel because among them is Tiger Woods, who has been sitting on the throne of the golf world for about ten years. Today he is only 80th, but he drives the same audience and TV crazy. The champion has not participated in the US Open for three years, but boasts three titles in this competition, the last of which is in 2008 and was won on one leg due to a broken ACL (immediately after he underwent knee surgery). Today the phenomenon wants to try again, the legs are two and the back is fine, but we have to see if the putter will support it.
The other players in the competition are also very determined. We mention only a part of the top twenty in the world. Among them Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, who defends his title, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed, who scores in the Masters, Sergio Garcia, Alex Noren, Henrik Stenson , Phil Mickelson.
The prize pool is $12 million, the largest in any tournament; 2,160 million will go to the winner.
