US Open Golf 2016: How to View Thursday's Live Leaderboard Scores, Updates
While the Masters is the first major tournament of the year and much is made of the pristine beauty of Augusta National and its near-perfect golfing conditions, there is no tournament that tests golfers like the U.S. Open.
While there are still several months to go in the golf season, the U.S. Open is in many ways a final exam because the course is set up in such a difficult manner.
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The course is nearly always designed to punish golfers who don't keep the ball in the fairway and can test even the best putters because the greens are as slick and fast as they are at any point during the year.
At the very least, the U.S. Open is a demanding challenge, and when things go a bit off-kilter, it can be a nightmarish experience that plays out in front of the sports world.
This year's version of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Western Pennsylvania may be one of the most extreme examples of how tough the United States Golf Association can make a golf course. When the U.S. Open was held at Oakmont in 2007, Angel Cabrera won the tournament with a score of five over par.
The tournament will be televised by Fox and Fox Sports 1, and fans can also live stream the event at USOpen.com and Fox Sports Go.
| 1 | Thursday | Fox Sports 1 | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. |
| Fox | 5 - 8 p.m. | ||
| 2 | Friday | Fox Sports 1 | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. |
| Fox | 5 - 8 p.m. | ||
| 3 | Saturday | Fox | 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. |
| 4 | Sunday | Fox | 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. |
Jason Day, the No. 1 player in the world, will be teeing off from hole No. 1 at 2:20 p.m. ET, and he will be playing with fellow Australian Adam Scott and veteran Louis Oosthuizen.
Day is the +650 favorite to win the U.S. Open, according to Odds Shark (wager $100 to win $650). Day is a sensational player who has exceptional power and could also get hot with his putter. However, the best part of his game is his consistency with his short irons.
When Day hits an approach shot, he can often land his shot in the sweet spot of eight to 12 feet from the hole, and that gives him a slight but significant advantage over the competition, who might hit that same approach shot 12 to 16 feet from the hole.
Day is the top-ranked player on the tour in shots gained overall and shots gained putting.
It will not be easy for Day to win, but he seems ready to claim a U.S. Open. He has won eight tournaments since January of 2015, and he has also done well with two second-place finishes at the U.S. Open along two other top-10 finishes in five career U.S. Open starts.
Don't count out Scott, who is second in FedEx Cup points and eighth in the World Cup rankings. Scott has played in 12 events this year and has two first-place finishes along with two second-place finishes and nearly $4.7 million in earnings.
Oosthuizen must also get strong consideration after he came close to winning both the U.S. Open and British Open a year ago, finishing with a share of second in both events. Oosthuizen has one of the best swings in the game, and his ability to find the right stroke has allowed him to stay near the top in a number of the most important tournaments.
Phil Mickelson has been in excellent form in recent weeks, and he is going to try to earn the career Grand Slam by picking up his first U.S. Open victory. Mickelson has known quite a bit of heartbreak at this tournament—he has six second-place finishes.
Lefty is coming off a runner-up performance in the FedEx St. Jude Classic, and if he can avoid the big mistake at the wrong time—something that has dogged him at key points throughout his career—he may have a good chance to win the sixth major of his career.
"Well, I could b.s. you and tell you I don’t think about it," Mickelson said Wednesday, per Michael Whitmer of the Boston Globe. "I think about it all the time. This is the tournament I want to win the most, to complete the four majors.
“I have to put that in the back of my head, but there’s no question that starting this year and every year here forward until I ultimately win this tournament, it will be my biggest focus.”
Mickelson is playing with Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, and that threesome will tee off at 2:09 p.m. ET. Rose comes into the tournament with odds of +2,800, while Stenson is slightly behind at +3,300.
Rose has been battling a back injury, but he claimed he is fully healthy now, per Whitmer. Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open—the only major he has won in his career.
Dustin Johnson is hoping for redemption at Oakmont after he let a victory at last year's U.S. Open slip through his grasp at Chambers Bay. Johnson, who is still searching for his first major championship, played sensational golf for 71 holes a year ago. When he reached the 18th hole in Sunday's final round, he hit a sensational approach shot that left him 12 feet from the hole.
If he had made that putt for an eagle, Johnson would have won the tournament outright. If he had made a short birdie putt, he would have been in a playoff.
He didn't make either of those putts and was left wondering what might have been. Johnson will tee off at 1:36 p.m. ET and will play with Hideki Matsuyama and Sergio Garcia.
Player stats and earnings courtesy of PGATour.com.
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