US Open Golf 2012 Pairings: Groups Sure to Shine in Tournament's Early Rounds

There are a lot of pairings to look forward to at this year’s U.S. Open, but there are three that are sure to be at or near the top of the leader board after the first two days.

This year’s U.S. Open will be played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. and is supposed to be a much more difficult challenge than last year’s course where defending champion Rory McIlroy had a lot of success.

This course has turns and fairways unlike many courses on the tour. Accuracy is always paramount, but it will be on this course more than others. Despite the course’s long holes and low pars, hitting the ball too hard in one direction or another will land golfers in some serious trouble.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson

This pairing has three former major winners who are familiar with the spotlight of being in a major. Woods seems to have the momentum coming off his win at the Memorial June 3. Watson has already won a major this year with his victory at the Masters and is second on the tour in greens in regulation. Mickelson has not won a major since 2010 and has never won a U.S. Open, making him a bit of an underdog of this pairing.

Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood

Any time you have the top three ranked players in the world in one pairing, it is sure to be entertaining and have at least one member contending for the title. McIlroy is the defending U.S. Open champion and is looking to defend his title, this time at a much more difficult course. Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are the No. 1 and No. 3 players in the world, but neither have a major win on their resume. One of these two could finally break through and get their first major victory.

An Unknown Pairing

The U.S. Open has been played at some of the most difficult courses in the country and usually gives the big names fits. This usually opens the door for unknowns to break out and win the tournament. Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover and Angel Cabrera are among those who have take advantage of this and made names of themselves. We don’t know who that person will be in this year’s tournament, but know that someone no one knows will be competing for the title going into the weekend.