Once again, our stats guru has been trawling the form and history books to bring you this guide to the three players you might want to consider including in your Fantasy sides this week at the 2016 US Open Championship.
Pick of the Favourites: Rory McIlroy
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Five years have passed since a youthful Rory McIlroy hoisted his first Major Championship trophy after dominating the field in the 2011 US Open at Congressional, and if the Northern Irishman can continue his fine run of recent form then don’t be surprised if we see a similar romp to victory this week in Pennsylvania. The World Number Three won spectacularly in his last European Tour outing at last month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open (to go with another win at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at the tail end of last year), while his only finish outside the top ten in the last ten months was tied 11th at November’s WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Everybody knows Rory loves the big stage, too – the 27 year old has finished inside the top 25 in each of his last nine Major starts, a run which includes seven top tens and two victories. Time for a famous fifth for Rors?
The Form Horse: Martin Kaymer
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Coming into the week with some sneaky good form is former US Open winner Martin Kaymer. The German, who prevailed in the 2014 edition of the tournament at Pinehurst, has finished inside the top seven in each of his last three European Tour starts and is starting to build up a head of steam in another Ryder Cup year with Hazeltine looming on the horizon. Kaymer relishes a tough test, a thinking man’s golf course – as evidenced by his decision to travel last minute from American to the south of Spain for the Open de España at the notoriously challenging Valderrama. His finished the 2015 season ranked seventh in Greens in Regulation and will be hoping that kind of ball striking will pay off this week at Oakmont.
The Wild Card: Andrew Johnston
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It’s been something of a whirlwind rise to prominence for Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston over the last 18 months. The 2014 Challenge Tour Number One bagged his breakthrough win on the European Tour in the aforementioned Open de España, outlasting a stellar cast including tournament host Sergio Garcia to pick up his maiden victory in the most testing of environments, so the Englishman clearly enjoys a difficult layout. After winning in Spain, the 27 year old finished tied seventh at Wentworth before claiming a debut at the US Open with a fourth place finish in International Sectional Qualifying at Walton Heath. One of the biggest characters on Tour, Beef continued to impress two weeks ago at the Nordea Masters, where he shared second place heading into the weekend before eventually finishing tied 12th. Playing just his second Major this week, Johnston is an outsider – sure – but he might well just have the carefree attitude and game to be a surprise contender this week at Oakmont.
Those are our picks, did we do enough to convince you? Add them to yourEuropean Tour Daily Fantasy Gameand your line-up in theFantasy Race To Dubaibefore the action begins on Thursday morning.
