Sports
Favorites and Sleepers Prediction: the 117th U.S. Open
The 2017 U.S. Open is going to be contested at Erin Hills in Wisconsin for the first time. Though the championship does not start officially, fans are excited to predict the favorites and sleepers in their heart.
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth is very good at playing golf. In fact, with five total wins during the 2015 season, this 24-year-old boy is regarded as the best golfer in the world.
He won the U.S. Open at the links-like Chambers Bay in 2015. This season, he has a proud achievement, winning at Pebble Beach over a loaded field as well as five top-10s in 14 events.
Moreover, he has prior success at Erin Hills: he has reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 U.S. Amateur and owned a 2-up lead with five holes to play before losing.
Spieth is a favorite for 2017 U.S. Open.
Russell Henley
As a Amateur, he won the 2010 Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer and played in the U.S. Open and tied for the low amateur (with Scott Langley). In 2011, Henley won the Stadion Classic at UGA on the Nationwide Tour, only the second amateur to win on that tour. He represented the U.S. that year at the Walker Cup and Palmer Cup competitions.
As a professional player, Henley is a three-time Tour winner. In 2012, he won the Chiquita Classic, defeating Patrick Cantlay and Morgan Hoffmann in a playoff. In October 2012, he won his second title of the year at the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open. He graduated from the Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide Tour).
Henley also won the Shell Houston Open in April. Fans expect him to be a dark horse.
Justin Thomas
In seven previous major championships, Justin Thomas has made the cut six times. Thomas opened up his season with three wins before February. In 15 starts this season, Thomas has cracked the top 10 seven times.
Thomas finished in fourth place at the Memorial Tournament. Besides, he landed a fifth-place at both the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.
As a rising star on the PGA Tour, Whether Thomas can pull it all together to register a win remains to be seen.
Sergio Garcia
In 17 career appearances in the U.S. Open, Sergio Garcia has made the cut 15 times. In 10 events played this year on the PGA Tour, Garcia has made it to the weekend all 10 times. He has finished in the top 25 seven times and has one other top-10 finish besides his Masters win.
Moreover, the style of course suits his game: 10 top-10s at links-style courses at the British Open, plus a T18 at Chambers Bay in 2015 (and five other top 10s at U.S. Opens).
Steve Stricker
Steven Charles Stricker is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He has twelve victories on tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 and two FedEx Cup playoff events.
His most successful season on tour came at age 42 in 2009, with three victories and a runner-up finish on the money list. Stricker has been ranked as high as second in the Official World Golf Ranking.
He hasn't played in a U.S. Open since 2014, when he finished T21, but he's seemed to find some of the magic this season, only missing one cut.
Some golf fans think Stricker can be a sleeper.
Erin Hills will be brutally long, and Opens are grueling. No one knows what will happen then.
Just wait and see.
