10 Things to Know about the 121st U.S. Open

The 121st U.S. Open is returning to Torrey Pines for the first time in 13 years. Tiger Woods won the last one and Phil Mickelson is the most recent major champion. Let’s take a look at 10 things to know about this week’s tournament, field and course ahead of the 2021 U.S. Open.

1. What’s more important this week? That it’s the U.S. Open or that it’s Torrey Pines?

The U.S. Open is back at Torrey Pines for the first time since Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in an 18-hole playoff on a broken leg in 2008. But what makes this major championship even more intriguing is we see Torrey Pines South every year on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open.

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So, will we look back at this week and see a leaderboard littered with players that have had substantial success over the years at Torrey or guys that have had substantial success in major championships. We’ll get to specific performance categories that are crucial for success in San Diego, but performing well at a normal PGA Tour event and performing well at a major championship are two different beasts, even if they are on the same course.

Below, let’s take a look at the best Torrey Pines average finishers.

2. The Farmers Insurance Open has been held at Torrey Pines for over 50 years, here are the top five average finishers with 3+ starts.

Much like a PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, having a major at a year-by-year PGA Tour venue offers insight into what works at a course hosting a major venue. Of course, we have the opportunity to look at the 2008 U.S. Open, but the field at the last five Farmers Insurance Opens is going to look a lot more like the 2021 U.S. Open field than an event 13 years ago.

All five guys are in the field this week at Torrey and four of the five are currently in the top 15 of the OWGR.

Rory McIlroy: Average finish – 8.0 – T16 (2021), T3 (2020), T5 (2019)
Jon Rahm, 8.8 – T7 (2021), 2 (2020), T5 (2019), T29 (2018), Win (2017)
Tony Finau, 10.4 – T2 (2021), T6 (2020), T13 (2019), T6 (2018), T4 (2017), T18 (2016), T24 (2015)
Patrick Reed – 30.5 – Win (2021), T6 (2020), T13 (2019), T23 (2018), WD (2016), T39 (3013)
Mark Leishman – T18 (2021), Win (2020), T43 (2019), T8 (2018), T20 (2017), Cut (2016), T27 (2015), T2 (2014), Cut (2013), T52 (2012), T9 (2011), T2 (2010), T26 (2009)

3. Like almost every major championship, second shots will be important, especially approaches from 200+ yards.

Three of the last five winners at Torrey Pines South finished inside the top five in strokes gained: approach the green. The only outliers are Jason Day and Patrick Reed. Reed makes a living winning at golf courses in ways that aren’t common, see 2018 Masters Tournament. Reed made his money around the greens finishing 10th in strokes gained: putting and first in strokes gained: around the green. Jason Day won the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open on the back of a second round 64 at Torrey Pines North. The first 26 holes are split between the North and the South. Day was just 2-under that week through 54 holes at the South Course.

Marc Leishman, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm all finished in the top five of strokes gained: approach in the weeks they won the Farmers. All three of those players are great ball strikers. Specifically, they all had quality weeks making birdies from 200+ yards. Rahm made birdie on 40 percent of those occasions in 2017, good for ninth in the field. Rose was first in 2019 making birdie on 10 of 17 occasions which was 8 percentage points better than Gary Woodland in second. Leishman was the worst of the three but still finished in the top 17 of the category when he won in 2020.

The top 5 in birdie or better percentage from 200+ yards this season that are in the field this week are as follows:

Scottie Scheffler
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey
Sam Burns
Brooks Koepka

4. Let’s talk about Torrey Pines South:

For starters, the South Course is the second toughest golf course (third if you count Winged Foot last September) on the PGA Tour this season. Behind the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, host of the PGA Championship, the South Course played to a scoring average of +1.340 at the Farmers Insurance Open and that is when the course isn’t quite as demanding as it will be this week. The course will be set up for a more difficult challenge and the rough will undoubtedly be longer than it was earlier this calendar year.

From a hole-by-hole perspective, the course has four par 4s that will play over 460 yards starting with the fourth hole which is 486 yards on the card. Followed by the 6th hole which plays at 515 yards. Talking about where this course will play more difficult, the 6th plays as a par 5 for the Farmers. This week, a well earned four is only good enough for a par. For your troubles, the 7th stretches to 460 yards. The 12th hole is 501 yards and the seventh toughest hole so far this season on Tour with a scoring average of 4.401, nearly half a shot over par. It’s the fifth toughest par 4 this season and the fourth toughest if you take Winged Foot out of the equation.

On most golf courses, the par 5s are a place to make up shots. I guess that’s still true at Torrey considering it’s definitely not the shorter holes on the course, but the South Course is going to make you work for it. There are only three par 5s on the course. The 9th and 13th will both play over 600 yards and everyone remembers the par 5 18th with water short of the green and a severely undulated green from back to front. There are a total of 21 bunkers between 9 and 13 alone including five bunkers short of the 13th green.

Par is going to be everyone’s best friend this week. If you’re one that likes carnage and players fighting for every stroke, Torrey Pines South should do a good job providing that. Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods finished the tournament at 1-under in 2008.

5. Speaking of the 2008 U.S. Open:

Just for fun, I went back and looked at how many players who made the cut in 2008 are in the field this week. The answer? Just nine of 79 players who made the weekend.

Lee Westwood, Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey.

In some ways, the game is completely different. But on the other hand, Dustin Johnson is No. 1 in the world, Mickelson is the most recent major champion and Westwood has played some of the best golf of his career in 2021. However, Rickie Fowler? He was in the field as an amateur.

The bigger point here is the following, while the 2008 U.S. Open was an iconic event and Tiger’s 17th win in his last 28 starts (beyond ridiculous), it is not indicative of what might happen this week.

6. Driving accuracy at Torrey Pines, and U.S. Opens in general

What Bryson DeChambeau did at the U.S. Open in September is going to have an impact on how these championships are approached moving forward. Usually, fairways are at a premium, courtesy of the USGA, and the guy who stays out of the penalizing rough the most has a good shot of winning.

In 2020, DeChambeau finished T26 in driving accuracy. He hit just 41% of his fairways, but he hit it so far that he had much more loft coming out of the rough then others. It was very much a “swing hard, go find it, be closer to the green regardless of where it is” mentality and it worked. In 2019, Gary Woodland hit 71% of his fairways. Brooks Koepka hit 64% in 2018 and 87% in 2017.

Which way will we lean in 2021? When Tiger won in 2008, he finished tied for 56th in fairways hitting just 53% that week. Will the guy hoisting the trophy at Torrey this time around hit it far, or hit it straight? Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a combination of the two. It’s really hard to win any PGA Tour event nowadays without hitting it really far, but Tiger in 2008 and Bryson last year were much more on the distance side than the accuracy side.

Top 5 in Driving Distance: DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Cameron Champ, Wyndham Clark, Dustin Johnson

Top 5 in Driving Accuracy: Brendan Todd, Brian Stuard, Abraham Ancer, Chez Reavie, Ryan Armour

It doesn’t take a genius to decide which one of those lists are more talented. It’s a great commentary on how the game values distance over accuracy, especially off the tee. Even at a championship that is notorious for really penalizing players who hit it into the rough.

7. Xander Schauffele has been a mainstay in the top 5 at U.S. Opens the last four years.

In four U.S. Opens, Schauffele’s worst finish is T6. He has an average finish of 4.8 for his career. Yes, there are guys who have played in way more U.S. Opens, but no one with multiple U.S. Open starts has a better average finish than he does. Schauffele is playing well with five top 20s in his last six starts and has been knocking on the door of a major championship for years. Will this be the year he finally breaks through? In front of his hometown crowd on the cliffs of La Jolla? That paints a nice picture and it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility.

8. Notable Pairings for the first two rounds:

You can find all of the first and second round pairings at usopen.com, but the notables are:

There is no Bryson and Brooks pairing
Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Koepka off at 7:29 a.m.
Max Homa, Xander Schauffele and Phil Mickelson at 7:51 a.m.
US Am Champ Tyler Strafaci, Hideki Matsuyama,DeChambeau at 1:14 p.m.
Will Zalatoris, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth at 1:25 p.m.
DJ, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose at 1:36 p.m.

9. US Open qualifiers were back this year, here are some bigger names that made it into the field:

The 2020 U.S. Open field was made up entirely of exemptions. Due to COVID-19, the traditional qualifying rounds were not contested. They were back this year and the day dubbed “Golf’s Longest Day” did not disappoint. 814 players made it to final qualifying and only 66 advanced to make up the rest of the 156-man field.

There were a number of familiar names that made the field, names you see regularly on the PGA Tour: Chez Reavie, Dylan Frittelli, Adam Hadwin, Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Rodgers, Branden Grace.

Next. 2021 Palmetto Championship: Winners and Losers from Congaree. dark

There were also high level amateurs and lesser known names that might become mainstays on the PGA Tour over the next few years: Pierceson Coody, Carson Schaake (outside of the top 1,700 in the OWGR), Akshay Bhatia, Justin Suh, Spencer Ralston (a), Joe Highsmith (a)

The national open is so unique. It has the best players in the world and the biggest names in golf, but it also delivers some of the coolest stories from players who have never played on Tour and are grinding on mini tours all over the country to try and get to the PGA Tour. It’s cool stuff, and if you see a name on the leaderboard that you don’t recognize, look him up because he probably has a cool story as to how he got here.

10. The winner is…

Xander Schauffele. Here’s Xander’s resume, he’s played in four U.S. Opens. His finishes are T5, T6, T3 and 5th. Clearly, he enjoys difficult golf courses and the way the USGA sets up these championships. We talked about iron play this week, Xander is 22nd on Tour in strokes gained: approach. He finished 11th in strokes gained: tee-to-green at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this season and finished runner-up to Patrick Reed. San Diego is his hometown, he has five top 18 finishes in his last six starts and his demeanor on the course is one of a player capable of getting through the trials and tribulations of a challenging U.S. Open.

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