Golf Events / Editor / 12 June 2007 /

Much was made of the fact that Zach Johnson's final total of one-over-par was the highest winning score in US Masters' history when he won the first Major of the year at Augusta two months ago.

But if a player shoots anywhere near that score at Oakmont this week, there is every chance that he will be lifting the 107th US Open Championship.

Oakmont is not regarded as arguably the toughest golf course in North America for nothing and the world's finest players will find their games pushed to the limits in their pursuit of the second Grand Slam title of 2007.

The Pittsburgh course will be hosting the US Open for a record eighth time, but that is only the first of many records that could be broken this week.

The 7,230-yard par 70 lay-out already boasts the two longest holes of their kind in tournament history - the 667-yard par-five 12th and the monster 288-yard par-three eighth holes.

But such is the tough way that Oakmont has been set up this week, with its narrow fairways, deep rough and lightning-fast greens, that the likes of Vijay Singh are predicting that a score of ten-over-par could be good enough to win.

Geoff Ogilvy will arrive as the defending champion and the Australian, trading at 44 to repeat his triumph at Winged Foot last year, has already sampled how severe the course can be - reportedly losing SEVEN balls in a recent practice round of 85.

Tiger Woods will predictably start as the favourite to win his 13th Major and is available to back at 4.5 to claim his third US Open title and 2.14 to place in the top five.

World number two Phil Mickelson is popular in the market and is trading at 12.5 to win ahead of 2003 champion Jim Furyk (20) and Singh (22).

Adam Scott is on offer at 27, while Ernie Els, the winner when the US Open was last staged at Oakmont in 1994, is trading at 29 to claim his fourth Major. Two-time champion Retief Goosen is available at 30 - four points shorter than European number one Padraig Harrington.

Woods will be eager to do well having not won the event since 2002 and missing the cut last year in his first tournament back following the death of his father.

But, despite winning three times already in 2007, the world number one is still short of his brilliant best that saw him dominate the second half of 2006 at the moment and is trading at a longer price than usual.

Like Woods, Mickelson has been thorough in his preparations for the event, playing several practice rounds ahead of this week as he bids to finally erase the memories of last year's last-hole collapse at Winged Foot that handed the title to Ogilvy.

No one deserves to win the tournament more than 'Lefty' after finishing runner-up four times and, with his imperious short game and fantastic imagination around the greens, Mickelson has the game to conquer Oakmont.

He is trading at 4.2 to come in the first five and 2.56 to finish in the top ten, while his odds of 18.5 to be the first round leader appear inviting.

A native of the area, Furyk will have plenty of local support and looks to have all the attributes needed to go close this week - being straight off the tee, deadly with his iron play and, most important of all, patient.

He demonstrated all three skills in abundance in winning the US Open four years ago, was joint second last year and will not be intimidated with the way the course has been set up. He can be backed at 5.8 to claim his fifth top-five finish in the event and 2.74 to come in the top ten.

Els (7.6 for a top five finish) and Goosen (6) are both double winners of the championship but are struggling to find their best form at present and could be best watched in running.

Singh has seven top-ten finishes in 12 appearances in the tournament and merits respect as he chases his third title of 2007. He can be backed at 2.62 to make it eight of 13 and is trading at 4.2 to end the week as the top Rest of the World player ahead of Els (5.5) and Goosen (6.2).

Like so often in his career, Scott has flattered to deceive in 2007, winning once but squandering other chances including last weekend.

The Australian could be well priced at 27 to be first round leader and is 4.2 to finish the week as his country's best player, but the likes of Robert Allenby (8.2), Rod Pampling (9.8) and Nick O'Hern (15) appear more attractively priced.

Harrington missed the cut last weekend but that may not have been a bad thing and the Irishman boasts a proud record in the US Open, where the set up of the courses suit his grinding, patient style of play.

After Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie's final-hole collapses last year, people tend to forget that Harrington only finished two shots away from Ogilvy having bogeyed the last three holes.

He has finished in the top ten four times out of seven appearances and could well again this week, where he can be backed at a generous-looking 8 to place in the first five, 3.7 to come in the top ten and 6.8 to be the top European player.

Ryder Cup teammates Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia (trading at 42 and 38 to win and 7.6 and 8.4 in the European market) will be eager to have their own say in affairs - especially Donald, whose precise game should suit Oakmont's features.

Order of Merit leader Henrik Stenson (42 to win and 13 to place in the first five) and Justin Rose (50 to win and 42 to be the leader after day one) will have their followers and their first round performance may offer valuable clues to how they might fare over the rest of the week.

Johnson has been one of the revelations of the season so far - the course should also suit his patient style of play and he is priced at 48 to win the second leg of the Grand Slam.

International players have won the US Open for the last three years and the likes of Mike Weir, who has finished in the top six three times in the last four years and is priced at 160 to win and 26 to come in the first five, Rory Sabbatini (runner up in the US Masters and trading at 65 to win) and Memorial winner KJ Choi (70 to win) are all interesting contenders.

Of the other American players, David Toms (65 to win) and Steve Stricker (who has finished in the top 20 five times and priced at 110 to win and 19 to place in the top five) could be worth following.

But many European eyes will be concentrating on how Monty fares as he attempts to finally secure that elusive first Major title.

Monty, 130 to win and 32 to come in the top five, achieved the first of his three second places in the US Open at Oakmont in 1994 when he lost a play-off to Els - so he knows the course suits his game.

But the Scot is not coming into the tournament in the best frame of mind having missed the cut in Austria last week and then sacking his long-standing caddie. He is trading at 1.75 to make the cut this week.

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