The U.S. Open is set to begin Thursday from Merion Golf Club in Ardmore and the PGA Tour is ready to dish out its second major championship of the season and Tiger Woods is hoping that he is in contention as the weekend rolls around, as it has been years since he has hoisted a major championship trophy.
Woods will get the 113th Open started the right way and with some major competition, as his first grouping as Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott, the two players ranked behind him in the world. Woods always steps up to the competition and after playing so well on the tour during this year, he will once again be the favorite, just as he was for the Masters at Augusta National in April where he dealt with a drop controversy. Many will say that winner likely will come from that group, as Scott is coming off his first major win at Augusta and McIlroy is looking for his third major in three years, but anything can happen at Merion.
The course was basically flooded over the weekend and many players have said that the greens will be soft for the duration. The course is a challenging one due to its length and layout and players who hit it big off the tees may end up having a long weekend depending on how the weather turns out. Woods has been playing very well all year and he has been killing par-five holes, but it's the par-four holes on this course that should get everyone's attention as the tournament begins. He won at the Players Championship a few weeks ago and that added to his victories at the Farmers Insurance Open, WGC Cadillac Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Woods had the chance to get asked about Sergio Garcia at the start of the Open, as they two had a bit of an incident at the Players before it descended into more. Garcia said that woods distracted him during a shot and after the two went back and forth in the media, Garcia made a racist joke about fried chicken that he apologized for publically, but the two have not yet been able to meet and talk it out, as Woods said there hasn't been time. The two were seen on the driving range and they shook hands and spoke briefly, but Woods said it was noting major.
Woods said the comments were hurtful but that he has moved on from them and is now concentrating on the Open. Woods has spent the year in a relationship with Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and many have said that is part of the reason why he has been so relaxed on the course this year. Either way, Woods will have all the attention as usual when things pick up on Thursday and his grouping will be one that the cameras will follow.
Woods will have some attention on him as he tries to break his drought and the course will be a tough one for all the players, especially with the weather and Woods will be looking for his first US open since 2008, which was also his last major win. He won that in a Monday playoff to win his 14th and now he looks for his 15th just as Adam Scott tries to become the first Masters champ to win the Open, something that no one has done since Woods did it in 2002.