U.S. Open: Ranking the five best early-round pairings at Shinnecock

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SOUTHAMPTON, NY – JUNE 11: Jason Day of Australia prepares to plays a shot on the 14th tee during practice rounds prior to the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 11, 2018 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Talk about a great way to start your day. There are a handful of strong groups early on Thursday; Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen and Jimmy Walker go off at 7:29 AM, for instance. However, if you’re looking for fireworks, you won’t find anything better than this trio early on.

Jason Day, Bubba Watson, and Brooks Koepka are sure to light it up when they begin play at Shinnecock Hills. They need no introduction, of course, but let’s take a look just for fun.

Bubba Watson is a two-time Masters champion, a well as a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2018. At 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Watson is the actually the lowest-ranked player in this trio. That’s firepower. Unfortunately he’s also got the worst record in the U.S. Open, but with improved putting and wider fairways at Shinnecock, he’s definitely got a chance.

The battle that could come down to late Sunday afternoon is between Koepka and Day, both of whom have their games trending up lately. Koepka returned from injury (in individual competition) at the Wells Fargo Championship last month. Since then, he finished T-11 at The PLAYERS Championship, and he finished second to Rose at Colonial with a Sunday 63.

Day won last month at Quail Hollow, and followed it up with a tie for fifth at The PLAYERS. He had a rough outing at the Memorial Tournament, shooting a pair of 74s on the weekend to drop into a tie for 44th, but his confidence overall looks to have returned to where it was two years ago.

Basically, don’t sleep on anybody from this group making a charge at Shinnecock.

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