2020 U.S. Open preview: Dustin Johnson favored to tame Winged Foot

Dustin Johnson is currently the hottest golfer on the PGA Tour, but maintaining his exceptional form at this weekend’s U.S. Open will present a different set of challenges.

Listed as a +1600 favorite in golf’s second major of the year, Johnson, and a field of 143 fellow golfers, will confront the infamous Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York.

The par-70, 7,469-yard course has played host to the U.S. Open five times prior, and only once has the winner finished under par, back in 1984.  

Most recently in 2006, Geoff Ogilvy rallied to score his only major win at Winged Foot, when he finished five over. He beat out Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, and Phil Mickelson by one stroke.

The 2006 edition of the U.S. Open marked Mickelson’s fourth of six runner-up finishes at the event. The five-time major champion is still seeking that elusive first U.S. Open title to complete golf’s grand slam.

Mickelson, 50, recently made his PGA Tour Champions debut at the Charles Schwab Series, where he not only won, but tied the lowest 54-hole score in tour history.

Distance and accuracy off the tee key to Winged Foot

Lefty will bring a strong driver to Winged Foot, where distance off the tee gives golfers an advantage. Driving accuracy is another important skill to bring to New York, as an errant tee shot could result in a ball stuck in dicey rough, some five inches thick, along the fairways.

Unfortunately for Mickelson, he ranked 174th in driving accuracy at the conclusion of the 2020 season, which ended Sept. 7.

Johnson, on the other hand, finished eighth in that statistic.

Schauffele a contender for first major championship  

Another player to keep an eye on for a top finish at Winged Foot is Xander Schauffele (+2500). The 26-year-old has yet to win a major but has missed the cut just once in all of his career major appearances.

At the U.S. Open, Schauffele has finished fifth, sixth, and third in his career. He landed 10th in the most recent major, the PGA Championship in August, and closed out the 2020 season with 25th-place finishes at The Northern Trust and BMW Championship, plus second at the Tour Championship.

At the close of the 2020 season, Schauffele was tied for 15th in total driving (distance plus accuracy) and ranked seventh in strokes gained tee to green, 10th in birdie average, second in scrambling, and fourth in par 4 performance.

Winged Foot features 12 par 4s, ranging from 321 yards on Hole 6 to 504 yards on Hole 17. Four par 3s, from 162 yards to 243 yards, and two par 5s (565 yards on Hole 9 and 633 on 12) finish out the course.

Webb suited for Winged Foot

Webb Simpson (+3300) should fare well at Winged Foot, as well, considering the one-time U.S. Open winner ranked first in par 4 efficiency at the end of the 2020 season.

Simpson has been on fire since the Tour resumed play in mid-June, after a brief hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 35-year-old won the RBC Heritage in mid-June and has posted top-12 or better finishes in six of his past eight tournaments.

He missed the cut at the Memorial, which saw only nine players finish under par, and came in 37th at the PGA Championship. He’s done his best work at the U.S. Open, where he won in 2012 and tied for 10th and 16th in 2018 and 2019.

Simpson isn’t the longest driver, but he’s accurate off the tee, a solid scrambler, and ranked first in scoring average and sixth in strokes gained approaching the green at the end of last season.

If he can keep his composure on a course meant to make life difficult, he should finish close to the top of the leaderboard, if not first on Sunday.

How to watch the U.S. Open at Winged Foot

You can catch the 120th U.S. Open from Sept. 17-20 on NBC and the Golf Channel, or live stream at GolfChannel.com, NBCSports.com, or USOpen.com.

Wager on the U.S. Open at BetAmerica