SAN FRANCISCO – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
That could be Luke Donald’s mantra, as the game’s No. 1-ranked player also deals with the Catch-22 that labels him as its current best to never win a major championship.
It might as well be mine, too. Just two months ago, in a similar list ranking the field prior to the Masters Tournament, I placed Donald atop that one – only to see him finish in a share of 32nd place.
That doesn’t change my overall feeling that Donald is primed and ready to win a big one. And so in advance of this week’s 112th U.S. Open Championship, he once again tops the list of 156 competitors.
Where does everyone else rank below him? Here are your answers, complete with a few surprises. Just remember: If this one isn’t completely correct, I’ll just try, try again.
| 1. Luke Donald | Keys to contending at any major: Keep the ball in play, eliminate mistakes and be deadly from 100 yards and in. That’s pretty much an analysis of Donald’s game. |
| 2. Martin Laird | Trending in the right direction with a T-2 at The Players Championship and a solid weekend in Memphis, Laird fits the mold of a Charl Schwartzel or Geoff Ogilvy major champion. |
| 3. Tiger Woods | He will contend that he enjoys playing tournaments in which the winning score is closer to par, but history shows tough conditions only level Woods with the playing field. |
| 4. Jonathan Byrd | Looking for a hot hand? Byrd has finished 12th or better in each of his last four events. Ironically, this Ben Hogan fan could be this week’s Jack Fleck. |
| 5. Bubba Watson | Everyone maintains players will have to work the ball both ways at The Olympic Club, and nobody in the game does that better than the reigning Masters champion. |
| 6. Lee Westwood | One of the world’s best tee-to-green players, it will all come down to how he’s rolling the rock. A win last weekend in Sweden should give Westwood some confidence. |
| 7. Davis Love III | Don’t scoff. The current United States Ryder Cup captain is peaking at the right time, reaching the field through sectionals before a T-3 finish in Memphis. |
| 8. Adam Scott | In a season where seemingly every big-name player has enjoyed his week in the sun, Scott is still waiting to see his name atop a leaderboard on a Sunday afternoon. |
| 9. Nicolas Colsaerts | Length may not be that much of an advantage on this course, but Colsearts is about more than just bombing the ball. He’s got a pretty solid short game, too. |
| 10. Dustin Johnson | Oozing with confidence coming off his victory in Memphis, Johnson will try to break a streak that has never seen a previous week’s winner also take the U.S. Open. |
| 11. Nick Watney | |
| 12. Rory McIlroy | |
| 13. Steve Stricker | |
| 14. Justin Rose | |
| 15. Phil Mickelson | |
| 16. Bo Van Pelt | |
| 17. Zach Johnson | |
| 18. Louis Oosthuizen | |
| 19. Aaron Baddeley | |
| 20. Rickie Fowler | |
| 21. Matt Kuchar | |
| 22. Jason Dufner | By holding a weekend lead during each of the last two major championships, Dufner is quickly establishing himself as a big-time player in big-time events. |
| 23. Bill Haas | |
| 24. Geoff Ogilvy | |
| 25. Hunter Mahan | |
| 26. Kevin Streelman | |
| 27. Miguel Angel Jimenez | |
| 28. Spencer Levin | |
| 29. Sergio Garcia | |
| 30. Mark Wilson | |
| 31. Jim Furyk | |
| 32. Padraig Harrington | |
| 33. Keegan Bradley | Hard to believe that one year ago Bradley was sitting at home, still two months shy of winning the PGA Championship. His first U.S. Open comes on a course that should suit him well. |
| 34. John Senden | |
| 35. Ernie Els | |
| 36. Charlie Wi | |
| 37. Peter Hanson | |
| 38. Ian Poulter | |
| 39. K.J. Choi | |
| 40. Francesco Molinari | |
| 41. John Peterson | |
| 42. Graeme McDowell | |
| 43. Michael Allen | If home course knowledge was everything, this Champions Tour regular and Olympic Club member would be your runaway winner. No one knows this place better. |
| 44. Charl Schwartzel | |
| 45. Martin Kaymer | |
| 46. Branden Grace | |
| 47. Kevin Chappell | |
| 48. Kevin Na | |
| 49. Vijay Singh | |
| 50. Blake Adams | |
| 51. Mikko Ilonen | |
| 52. Ben Crane | |
| 53. Scott Langley | |
| 54. Michael Thompson | |
| 55. Rafael Cabrera Bello | |
| 56. David Mathis | |
| 57. Robert Rock | |
| 58. David Toms | |
| 59. George Coetzee | |
| 60. Colt Knost | The answer to a trivia question, Knost has won three USGA events (U.S. PubLinks, U.S. Amateur and Walker Cup) before competing in his first U.S. Open. |
| 61. Y.E. Yang | |
| 62. Jason Day | |
| 63. Fredrik Jacobson | |
| 64. James Hahn | |
| 65. Carl Pettersson | |
| 66. Charles Howell III | |
| 67. Robert Castro | |
| 68. Sang-moon Bae | |
| 69. Ryo Ishikawa | |
| 70. D.A. Points | |
| 71. Joe Durant | |
| 72. Lucas Glover | |
| 73. Thomas Bjorn | |
| 74. Matteo Manassero | |
| 75. Brian Harman | |
| 76. Hiroyuki Fujita | |
| 77. Retief Goosen | Once considered the preeminent U.S. Open-type player, Goosen hasn’t finished inside the top-10 at this event since his second of two wins in 2004. |
| 78. Webb Simpson | |
| 79. Alvaro Quiros | |
| 80. Peter Lawrie | |
| 81. Rod Pampling | |
| 82. Stewart Cink | |
| 83. Soren Kjeldsen | |
| 84. Angel Cabrera | |
| 85. Robert Karlsson | |
| 86. Tim Clark | |
| 87. Jason Bohn | |
| 88. Shane Bertsch | |
| 89. Stephen Ames | |
| 90. Trevor Immelman | |
| 91. Robert Garrigus | In this week’s field based on his T-3 at Congressional one year ago, Garrigus has leveled off lately with sub-70 scores in only three of his last 15 rounds. |
| 92. K.T. Kim | |
| 93. Scott Piercy | |
| 94. Bob Estes | |
| 95. Simon Dyson | |
| 96. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | |
| 97. Steve Marino | |
| 98. Brendan Jones | |
| 99. Raphael Jacquelin | |
| 100. Joe Ogilvie | |
| 101. a-Patrick Cantlay | This week’s contingent of nine amateurs is paced by Cantlay, a UCLA junior who recently won the Ben Hogan Award despite not claiming an individual title this year. |
| 102. Hunter Haas | |
| 103. Anders Hansen | |
| 104. a-Jordan Spieth | |
| 105. Gary Woodland | |
| 106. Lee Slattery | |
| 107. Chez Reavie | |
| 108. Kyle Stanley | |
| 109. Toru Taniguchi | |
| 110. Kyle Thompson | |
| 111. Morgan Hoffmann | |
| 112. Alex Cejka | |
| 113. Matt Bettencourt | |
| 114. Marc Warren | |
| 115. Casey Wittenberg | |
| 116. Alistair Presnell | |
| 117. Edward Loar | |
| 118. Justin Hicks | |
| 119. Martin Flores | |
| 120. Alex Noren | |
| 121. Gregory Bourdy | |
| 122. Tim Herron | |
| 123. Michael Campbell | There aren’t many sadder stories in the game than that of Campbell, who was on top of the golfing world seven years ago, but has seen a major dropoff ever since. |
| 124. Tommy Biershenk | |
| 125. Jim Herman | |
| 126. Will Claxton | |
| 127. Darron Stiles | |
| 128. Tadahiro Takayama | |
| 129. Nicholas Thompson | |
| 130. Jeff Curl | |
| 131. Brice Garnett | |
| 132. Bill Lunde | |
| 133. a-Cameron Wilson | |
| 134. Olin Browne | |
| 135. Aaron Watkins | |
| 136. a-Hunter Hamrick | |
| 137. Steve Lebrun | |
| 138. Jesse Mueller | |
| 139. Casey Martin | The best story to come out of sectional qualifying, Martin overcame a degenerative leg condition and will be riding around Olympic Club in a cart this week. |
| 140. a-Beau Hossler | |
| 141. Scott Smith | |
| 142. Matthew Baldwin | |
| 143. J.B. Park | |
| 144. Anthony Summers | |
| 145. Dong-Hwan Lee | |
| 146. a-Brooks Koepka | |
| 147. Brian Gaffney | |
| 148. a-Nick Sherwood | |
| 149. Cole Howard | |
| 150. Samuel Osborne | |
| 151. Brian Rowell | |
| 152. a-Alberto Sanchez | |
| 153. Tim Weinhart | |
| 154. Mark McCormick | |
| 155. Dennis Miller | |
| 156. a-Andy Zhang | The last man in the field on Monday, this 14-year-old also finished in last place when all competitors were ranked by age and alphabetically. |
