US Open Favorites 2013: Projecting Total Busts and Failures at Merion

We are inching closer to the 2013 U.S. Open on Thursday at Merion Golf Club, with several big names headlining the oddsbooks. 

World No. 1 Tiger Woods has four victories this season, but he's coming off a 65th-place finish at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

Meanwhile, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy has been up and down this year, and he's coming off a poor finish at the Memorial himself.

Then there's Memorial champion Matt Kuchar. How will he fare at the U.S. Open this year?

Here's a look at the favorites I see flopping at the 2013 U.S. Open (odds via Bovada).

Matt Kuchar (20-1)

Matt Kuchar may be coming off a win at the Memorial Tournament and a second-place finish at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, but his driving accuracy was poor in both of those appearances.

At the Memorial, Kuchar was 37th in the field in driving accuracy, per CBSSports.com. At the Crowne Plaza Invitational, he ranked 53rd in the category. For the year, Kuchar ranks 134th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, via PGATour.com.

Merion Golf Club is not a place to be slinging balls into the rough. In fact, the rough can be deadly to a golfer's game and his confidence. Despite Kuchar's recent success, his game doesn't suit Merion Golf Club.

It also doesn't suit the U.S. Open in general. In 10 career appearances at the U.S. Open, Kuchar has only one top-10 finish, and he's missed the cut five times. He finished 27th last year at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

There's also this interesting tidbit, via Zach Oliver of 50ShadesOfSports.com:

Rory McIlroy (20-1)

Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory.

The world No. 2 has been erratic this year. He has four top-10 finishes in nine PGA Tour events, but he's also placed 25th or worse in four events. He's also coming off a 57th-place finish at the Memorial.

On top of that, McIlroy ranks 106th on tour in driving accuracy this season, via PGATour.com. That includes ranking 67th in the field at the Memorial, per CBSSports.com.

Beyond that, McIlroy also ranks 123rd in putting this season. That includes ranking 69th in putts per round at the Memorial.

Any way you slice it (no pun intended), McIlroy doesn't look like a good bet at the 2013 U.S. Open.

At least he'll be looking snazzy in his Nike gear (h/t Ashley Mayo of Golf Digest):

Adam Scott (22-1)

Since winning the Masters, Adam Scott has finished 19th at the Players Championship and 13th at the Memorial.

Like Kuchar and McIlroy, he hasn't been that great in terms of driving accuracy this season. He ranks 90th on tour in the category, via PGATour.com. That includes ranking 53rd in driving accuracy at the Memorial, via CBSSports.com.

In 11 career appearances at the U.S. Open, Scott has posted zero top-10 finishes and has missed the cut six times.

Shane Bacon of Yahoo! Sports noted: