US Open Leaderboard 2015: Updating Results and Standings for Thursday
The toughest major of the year begins on Thursday, with golf's best fighting to conquer the unforgiving Chambers Bay course during the 2015 U.S. Open.
Last year, Martin Kaymer slayed the competition, finishing eight strokes ahead of a field in which only two other golfers scored below par. Don't expect someone to enjoy a historic start this time around, but low tallies throughout the leaderboard will remain the norm at University Park.
Heading into the first of four days, here are the top contenders to watch while keeping tabs of the tournament's live, updating leaderboard.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Top Golfers to Watch
Jordan Spieth
Where else to start but with the Masters champion? Jordan Spieth has already cemented his spot among golf's elite, yet the 21-year-old can add to his quickly growing reputation this weekend. Still searching for his first top-10 major finish outside of Augusta, he tallied an 83 in his last trip to Chambers Bay five years ago.
The burgeoning star isn't content with his first major win, expressing his desire for more to USA Today's Steve DiMeglio:
"There are certainly a lot of goals left for the year. If I didn't do anything the rest of the year, I'd be pretty frustrated at the second half. You can't win a Grand Slam unless you win the first. So I'm the only one with that opportunity this year. So I'm going to go ahead and focus on this week and see if I can put myself in contention.
"
Spieth's 69.124 scoring average leads all PGA Tour competitors this year, and he has excelled at both driving and putting. On a cavernous course conducive to mistakes, his shot can overcome the terrain enough to putt home another top finish.
Even though caddie Michael Greller's Chamber Bay familiarity has become overblown, Spieth is a must-watch coming off his Masters coming-out party.
Rory McIlroy
Despite a recent funk, Rory McIlroy enters the U.S. Open with all the confidence of a four-time major champion. Golf Channel's Todd Lewis passed along his prideful assessment:
Nobody is disputing his claim, but the top-ranked 26-year-old hasn't looked his best recently. After winning the Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and Irish Open last month.
ESPN Stats & Info presented an alarming note about prior missed cuts:
Undeterred by those setbacks, he insisted on entering the year's second major with a better mindset, per BBC Sport:
"I feel a lot better coming into this tournament than I did going into the last two. The two weeks off helped to refresh the mind a little bit. I had not played five weeks in a row for a long time. This is hugely important, a chance to win a second US Open and my fifth major. There was just so much hype and so much attention around Augusta.
"
Although he's feeling less pressure at Washington, he'll never escape the spotlight. Instead of chasing his first Masters win, he's now tasked with snapping three years of subpar U.S. Open finishes after winning it all in 2011. His strong distance driving will prove pivotal to ceasing that rut.
Justin Rose
A trendy, yet comparably boring pick, Justin Rose is only two years removed from his Open victory. Two months ago, he tied for second at Augusta, making the 34-year-old a top contender heading into Thursday.
The world's No. 5-ranked golfer enters the links course at top form, ready to once again hang with the rising crop of younger stars. As he explained to Golf Channel's Will Gray, he must avoid any blow-up holes to survive Chambers Bay.
“It’s just about staying away from the big number,” Rose said. “If you can do things like that and not give away cheap shots, or cheap bogeys, that’s going to help come the end of the week.”
That's advice the entire field should heed, but Rose is one of the most trustworthy bets to follow through on that strategy. His second-best 66.67 sand percentage and 4.56 birdie average will serve him well from side-stepping any crooked tallies.
Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
