US Open Golf Predictions 2012: Projecting Top Winners and Losers This Weekend

Most fans have been waiting for the US Open ever since the moment Bubba Watson won the Masters. Others have been counting down the days since Tiger Woods' big win at the Memorial a couple of weeks ago.

But anyone expecting Tiger to pull off another huge W should take a big step back because if there's one place where nothing goes according to plan, it's at the Olympic Club. 

Then again, by that logic, this could be the perfect time for Tiger to win at Olympic for the first time since 2008 and for the fourth time in his career.

Golf outcomes are impossible predict, but let's try anyway. Here's an early look at the potential winners and losers this weekend at the US Open.

Winners

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy is in the midst of one of the worst skids of his career, but perhaps he can rediscover some of the magic at Olympic that helped him turn everything around last year. 

The 2011 US Open champion started this year off with a bang, finishing in the top three in his first three tournaments. But ever since his last good outing on March 11, he's missed two cuts, finished in a tie for 40th at the Masters and lost in a playoff to Rickie Fowler at the Wells Fargo. The fact that he played in the St. Jude Classic last weekend doesn't bode well—he clearly needed that one final tuneup before the US Open—but at least he didn't completely flop there, finishing in a tie for seventh.

At this time last year, McIlroy didn't look good, either, but we all know how that ended. There's no counting out a guy who conquered Olympic last year when all the odds were against him.

Luke Donald 

He's never won a US Open, but Donald has been looking very good lately. He's registered two top-three finishes, four top-10 finishes and five top 25's in nine events, and he has yet to miss a cut in 2012. 

Most recently, the world No. 1 won the Transitions Championship in mid-March, and in his last three events, he's had two of those top-10 finishes. His history in majors isn't very good, but his excellent shortgame should serve him well at Olympic and will perhaps give him a leg up on the rest of the competition, who might have to work a lot harder for their birdies. 

Losers

Tiger Woods

If Tiger's performance at the Masters is any indication, the US Open isn't going to be pretty for him. 

Back in March, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first PGA Tour victory in over two years. Suddenly, everyone had tabbed him the favorite to win at Augusta—and he repaid them by finishing in a tie for 40th. In his next two tournaments, he missed the cut and finished in a 40th-place tie again.

After the Masters debacle, veteran Johnny Miller told the Associated Press' Doug Ferguson: 

"

He goes to the Masters and he fell apart because of nerves for the first time in his career. So I don't know what to think of Tiger Woods at the Open. I don't know if that was learned from Augusta or something he can't control. 

"

Tiger certainly looked his best at the Memorial, but let's not get too excited about his chances at Olympic, where he'll be facing top-tier competition on a difficult course. For one thing, he hasn't yet established the kind of consistency that necessarily dictates big wins, and he hasn't yet established that he's immune to the pressure of great expectations, of which there are many.

Phil Mickelson

When Lefty pulled out of the Memorial in May, he said it was because of fatigue. There were rumblings that he was so distracted by the proliferation of cell phone photographers that he didn't want to finish. Whatever the case, it was clear then that his head, and possibly his stamina, wasn't where they needed to be for the US Open. 

According to Steve Corkran of the Mercury News, Mickelson has been working tirelessly on his shortgame for the last several days, and that could be his saving grace at Olympic. But will it be enough to carry him to victory?

He's had five top-10 finishes this year, but he hasn't registered a win since the National Pro-Am in mid-February. Since finishing in a third-place tie at Augusta, he hasn't finished better than a tie for seventh.

Maybe the extra rest since the Memorial will do Lefty some good. But against guys who are playing much better at the moment—like Luke Donald and even Tiger—he may not be able to formulate enough of a comeback.