The 2011 U.S. Open will be without golf’s biggest star, as Tiger Woods rehabilitates an injury. And even with Tiger prowling the Congressional Golf Club course, it may have been as wide open a major as golf has seen in years, as the American Foreign Press notes.
US Open 2011: Golf’s Most Wide-Open Major In Years?
Since Padraig Harrington won the 2008 British Open and 2008 PGA Championship in consecutive months, no golfer has won two straight majors. And in that span of nine majors, only Angel Cabrera and Phil Mickelson have added to pre-existing major trophies; a full seven of the last nine major-winners have been first-time victors.
Compare that to Tiger’s longest period of dominance, from 2000 to 2006: Woods won 10 of the 28 majors in that span, including four straight from the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2001 Masters, and just two of them came without another major title immediately preceding or following them. Of those 28 majors, a full 18 were won by players with multiple majors: scarcely more than two years has produced more major-winner diversity than six years did at Tiger’s apex.
And it’s not just Tiger, either: Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, two of the multiple winners in the 2000-2006 range, have fallen from the ranks of the elite, while Phil Mickelson’s got as many major championships since 2008 as Woods does.
It’s hard to bet on any one player breaking through at Congressional. But betting on the field might not be a bad idea.
For more on golf and the 2011 U.S. Open, head over the SB Nation’s golf blog Waggle Room.
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