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Major Predictions: Can Brooks Koepka Keep Winning?

By Cameron Salce

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND - JULY 19: Brooks Koepka of the United States with his caddie Ricky Elliott on the third tee during the first round of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 19, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND - JULY 19: Brooks Koepka of the United States with his caddie Ricky Elliott on the third tee during the first round of the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 19, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 12: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on June 12, 2019 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 12: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links on June 12, 2019 in Pebble Beach, California. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images) /

The U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy was voted the best golfer of 2019 by his peers and won the PGA Tour postseason by bringing home the FedEx Cup. However, his 2019 was still missing something that has eluded him for the past five years now, a major championship.

It is hard to believe one of the most consistent performers in golf has constantly come up short and folded in the big moments since his last major victory at the PGA Championship in 2014. It has been even longer since McIlroy contended at the U.S. Open as well, eight years to be exact since he won it in 2011.

Yet McIlroy seems to be playing the best golf he has in a long while, and he is only ranked behind Koepka and Dustin Johnson for the odds to win the 2020 U.S. Open, at +1000. He seems ready to end his major slump in 2020, and it won’t have the pressure of the Masters or The Open, the U.S. Open seems to be the one he is most likely going to win.

Rory was supposed to be the next Tiger Woods, but in his prime, Tiger never went more than three years without a major victory. It is now five years and counting that Rory has failed to claim one of the four majors in a calendar year, a drought no one around the game of golf foresaw.

Many people thought he would end his major drought at the Open last season in front of his hometown Ireland faithful, but that pressure seems to cripple him instead of sparking his play. There will be fewer expectations on him in the U.S. Open, and that could lead him to win the trophy for the second time in his career.

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