Monday Scramble: Is Rory the new favorite for the U.S. Open?

The Pebble Open is here, Rory McIlroy obliterates the field, Brooks Koepka leads the major headliners, Lexi Thompson rolls to another W, a college kid goes crazy low, and more in this week’s edition of Monday Scramble.

So, is this week gonna be any good?

Pick a storyline, any storyline, because they’re all pretty good.

Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka is trying to match a record that’s stood for more than a century.

Tiger Woods is returning to the site of his greatest major performance, eyeing No. 16.

Rory McIlroy is coming off a 64-61 weekend and seven-shot victory.

Jordan Spieth is once again doing Jordan things.

And Phil Mickelson, the Prince of Pebble, is looking for win No. 6 at one of the game’s most iconic venues and the career Slam.

It’ll all go down in primetime on the East Coast.

Wheels up to Pebble. It promises to be an intriguing week.

1. How impressive was McIlroy’s tour de force at the RBC Canadian Open?

It was one of the best of the ShotLink era (since 2004).

It’s the first time that a player has won a full-field tournament while ranking sixth or better in every major statistical category: strokes gained: off the tee, approach, around the green and putting.

That’s how you go 64-61 on the weekend and roll up a seven-shot romp, his largest margin of victory since 2015.

“This is what I feel I can do,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been able to do it before. It was nice to get back to that feeling.”

2. So much for that final-group fade thing.

McIlroy had failed to win each of the past nine times that he played in the final pairing on Sunday. Sometimes he was beat by the better player that day. Other times, he beat himself with poor tee shots, decisions or putting. His scoring average during that span was over 71, and he’d walked away with just a single top-3 finish.

But McIlroy was the aggressor on Sunday, beginning with a 350-yard opening tee shot and a chip that clanked off the stick and led to a kick-in birdie. He went out in 30 to demoralize the rest of the pursuers, then poured it on with four more birdies and an eagle – a victory that, he said, would give him even more of a confidence boost than The Players because of his freewheeling style.

“I played with a little more freedom. I was a little more aggressive,” he said. “That was really it.”

3. Lapping the field, McIlroy shifted his mindset to a different goal Sunday: shooting 59.

It’d been about three years since McIlroy had a reasonable chance to reach golf’s magic number. That was during a practice round at the Bear’s Club in advance of the 2016 Masters. He had a putt on the final green for 59 but left it short.

This time, he had a 191-yard 6-iron into the final hole at Hamilton Golf & Country Club. “I was a little nervous,” he admitted.

McIlroy blocked his approach into the greenside bunker and, unlike that practice day in South Florida, vowed to give this attempt a run.

“At least I got it to the hole,” he said sheepishly.

Unfortunately he blasted 8 feet past the hole and missed the comebacker for par.

“Sorry for being disappointing up there,” he said.

4. Trying to become the first man in more than a century to win three consecutive U.S. Opens, Brooks Koepka will once again be looking to flip the switch.

In each of his previous two national championships, Koepka finished 30^th or worse the previous week at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He said then – and reiterated again in Canada – that the result didn’t matter. He cared only about hitting enough quality shots to feel good about his game.

And so, in that respect, Koepka left the Canadian Open with work to do. He tied for 50^th, but perhaps more concerning was that he ranked 46^th in strokes gained: off the tee, finding just over half of his fairways, and admitted afterward that he didn’t know what was causing so many tee shots to drift right. “I don’t know, man,” he said afterward. “If I knew, I would’ve fixed it.”

But how long will it take to fix?

“Five minutes,” he said. “Doesn’t matter.”

5. Last week, Graeme McDowell had finally had enough. He’d been asked all year about returning to Royal Portrush for a home Open, and there was even some social-media scuttlebutt about how the R&A should offer him a special exemption, but the Northern Irishman just wanted to focus on the present. He sent out a tweet thanking everyone for their well wishes, but he wasn’t thinking about Portrush anymore. “I’d rather play well this weekend and let Portrush take care of itself,” he said.

And that’s exactly what G-Mac did. He shot 68 on Sunday, capped by a 30-footer for par on the last hole to seal one of the Open qualifying spots.

Cool story, both now and in July.

6. Here are one man’s top 10 favorites for this week’s U.S. Open:

1.) Brooks Koepka: He’s the top dog until proven otherwise. If Pebble turns into the grindfest it’s expected to be, then that plays into King Koepka’s strengths.

2.) Tiger Woods: A much better fit for Pebble than Bethpage, Woods’ game got sharper each round at the Memorial. With an emphasis on approach shots this week, who better than the game’s preeminent iron player?

3.) Dustin Johnson: Stellar track record at Pebble, and you can always count on him to show up in the biggest events. The only question: Can he properly navigate his way around a course that doesn’t require brawn?

4.) Rory McIlroy: He’s done this before – Rory is the last player to win the week prior to a major and then also the major, in 2014 – and now his confidence is at an all-time high.

5.) Matt Kuchar: Hamilton asked similar questions as Pebble – tight fairways, juicy rough, small greens – and it perfectly suited Kuchar’s game. He has one top-10 in 16 career U.S. Open appearances – a T-6 in 2010, the last time Pebble hosted our national championship.

6.) Patrick Cantlay: One of the most complete players in the game (he’s third in strokes gained: total) he showed at Muirfield Village what had been lacking: A killer instinct down the stretch.

7.) Xander Schauffele: Four top-16 finishes in his last five major starts. For this 25-year-old, it’s a matter of when, not if, he grabs his first major.

8.) Phil Mickelson: One more chance at the career Grand Slam, but there are a few troubling signs: One top-30 since February; outside the top 100 in driving accuracy (206^th) and greens in regulation (108^th); and sagging putting. Can the friendly confines lead to that elusive breakthrough?

9.) Jordan Spieth: There’s a reason why his best finishes historically have come in majors, including this year – his golf IQ is off the charts and he’s able to develop a sound game plan. His iron play remains an issue, but he’s the best scrambler in the game.

10.) Francesco Molinari: Tiger may have broken Frankie’s spirit, because he’s gone MC-T48-T-53 since his watery finish to the Masters two months ago. Still, the fairways-and-greens machine should be a threat in any tournament in which par is a good score.

7. It feels as though it’s been a decade since the U.S. Open came and went without controversy. There have been unfair hole locations and baked-out greens. Too forgiving fairways and experimental venues. Dead putting surfaces and tricked-up sight lines.

In no other major does the host organization play such a vital role, but in no other major is the stated goal to provide the most complete examination in golf. Unfortunately for the USGA, it has largely flunked that test and no longer enjoys the benefit of the doubt from the players.

This week’s forecast, on one of the most iconic courses in the world, calls for moderate winds, plentiful sunshine and temperatures in the low- to mid-60s.

If the blue blazers manage to bungle this one ... well, then this bunch is entirely hopeless.

8. The last-second switch to the claw putting grip might be the career jump-start that Lexi Thompson needed.

Passed in recent years by players who were less dynamic but more consistent, Thompson reminded everyone Sunday of her immense talent. With a 20-foot eagle on the final green, Thompson won by a shot over U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6. It marked the seventh consecutive season that Thompson, 24, had at least one victory.

“I’ve put so much work into my putting,” she said. “Changing to the claw, it’s been a lot different. But I’m feeling very comfortable with it.”

Ranked 116th on tour in putting average, Thompson desperately needed a change. On the eve of the Women’s Open, she tried and switched to the claw putting grip, and then she putted reasonably well in tying for second at the Country Club of Charleston.

This wasn’t a particularly confident stroke in a pressure situation, but the resulting eagle was all that mattered at the ShopRite:

Alex Ross, a rising junior at Davidson, went stupid-low last week at the Dogwood Invitational, carding 13 birdies and an eagle during a 15-under 57, one of the lowest tournament scores ever recorded.

There’s a couple of unique things about this story.

That Ross was such an unknown quantity that he was ranked 561st in the Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings while playing the 1,082nd-most difficult schedule in the country.

That he’d opened his tournament with rounds of 75-73 and, on the back-end of a 36-hole day, playfully asked the first-tee starter about the course record at Druid Hills (60).

That he followed up his record day with a ho-hum 70, leaving him in 13^th place.

Hey, if you’re going to shoot a fluky score, you might as well make it a historic one.

This week’s award winners ...

Not a Bad Plan: Jason Day. In search of major title No. 2, Day will call on legendary caddie Steve Williams, who looped for 13 of Woods’ 15 majors, including his masterpiece at the 2000 Pebble Open. Put it this way: It can’t hurt to have that kind of experience on the bag.

Oldie But Goodie: Scott McCarron. The 53-year-old collected his tour-leading third senior title of the season, this time in Japan, and appears likely to once again cross the $2 million earnings mark in a season. That’s something he never did during his solid PGA Tour career. Like Bernhard Langer, he’s getting better with age.

Needing to Pull a Drake: Rory. On his way to the scoring tent, McIlroy pulled out a Raptors jersey to play to the home crowd. Too bad he’s now heading to Pebble Beach – and Warriors country. Anyone got a Steph Curry jersey handy?

Inextricably Linked: Maria Fassi and Jennifer Kupcho. The two stars of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur have been on media blitzes together and starred at the NCAA Championship and now they will partner in the LPGA’s new team event next month at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, after they received sponsor exemptions into the tournament. They both finished outside the top 30 in last week’s ShopRite.

See You This Summer: Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland. The Oklahoma State teammates and two best college players of the 2018-19 season both unveiled their pro plans for this summer, including their debuts next week at the Travelers Championship. (Hovland is playing this week at Pebble Beach as an amateur.) For Wolff, the Haskins Award winner, he’ll be showcased plenty over the next two months: He’s scheduled to play six of the next seven starts, as he tries to earn enough FedExCup points to either earn his Tour card for 2019-20 or qualify for the Web.com Tour Finals.

On the Shelf: Charl Schwartzel. The 2011 Masters champion has been in a miserable slump, with nine missed cuts in his last 12 starts, but he’s shutting it down for the rest of the season because of a wrist injury. He hopes that the time off will be able to reignite his career.

Blown Fantasy Pick of the Week: Scott Piercy. Most of the big names hit, but you got burned if you took a flier on Piercy, the Canadian Open champ from 2012 (the last time it was held at Hamilton G&CC) and the owner of six top-10s this season, including a runner-up showing last month in Dallas. Sigh.