Using Hollywood to break down the U.S. Open's top players in L.A.
The U.S. Open heads to Tinseltown this week with the historic Los Angeles Country Club hosting the 123rd playing of the nation's most prestigious event.
With the Hollywood sign just off in the distance, the filmmaking capital of the world will only add to the potential drama of the season's third major.
Here are the Hollywood categories a number of the top names would fit into this week as the action begins in Los Angeles.
Superheroes
The superhero genre remains the powerhouse in the Hollywood landscape, with four of the top-10 grossing films falling in that category. There's a good chance the winner in Los Angeles comes from one of the superheroes in golf.
Brooks Koepka - Koepka has numerous superpowers, from mental strength and immense power to his incredible ability to avoid danger around the golf course. Koepka is looking for his third U.S. Open title and the chance to become just the 14th man ever to win at least six majors. If there's a form of kryptonite to derail Koepka, it's that he appears to have been partying his face off for a month straight since winning the PGA Championship as his beloved Florida Panthers play in the Stanley Cup Final.
Rory McIlroy - There's no question that McIlroy's superpower is his work with the driver. He comes into Los Angeles fresh off a brilliant week bombing the ball in Canada, and the PGA TOUR's longest driver should benefit from LACC's generous fairways. But McIlroy's mediocre wedge play has been his nemesis lately. He enters the week ranked 136th on TOUR in approach play from 75-100 yards.
Jon Rahm - Rahm's all-around excellence is certainly a superpower, but his clutch ability to rise to the occasion sees him stand out among the rest. The Spaniard's back-to-back birdies on the 71st and 72nd holes to win the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines remains one of the greatest finishes in major championship history.
Scottie Scheffler - There's no clearer picture of a player's superpower versus their kryptonite than Scheffler's otherworldly ball-striking against his continued woes with the putter. Scheffler's last start at Muirfield Village demonstrated an outrageous gap in his play, with the World No. 1 gaining an absurd 20 strokes tee-to-green while losing a whopping 8.58 strokes on the greens.
Cam Smith - Smith's outrageous short game remains the best on the planet. With LACC offering numerous options from thick rough to tightly-mowed areas around the greens, expect the Australian to impress throughout the week. Driving accuracy has long been the only thing keeping him from running away with events. That could be a significant issue with the U.S. Open's notoriously thick rough.
Award winners looking to solidify superstar status
One of the toughest things in Hollywood is to keep churning out hits once you've reached superstar status. Names like Denzel Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio have kept themselves at the top of the game by consistently releasing solid films. Will Smith and Vince Vaughn are examples of two actors who were once at the pinnacle of the profession only for a series of poor choices to knock them from the top. These three names have made their major breakthroughs and come to Los Angeles eyeing another blockbuster to keep their profiles rising.
Collin Morikawa - The California native burst onto the scene with two quick major wins in his first two years on TOUR. With an Open Championship and PGA Championship already on his resume, a U.S. Open title would make Morikawa just the 11th man ever to win those three events.
Justin Thomas - With two majors and 17 PGA TOUR wins before hitting his 30th birthday, Thomas is unquestionably a star in the golfing world. However, the former Alabama standout's form has dipped drastically of late as he's slipped to his worst world ranking since 2016. Thomas needs another box-office hit to get back on track.
Matt Fitzpatrick - The defending champion went from one of the shorter hitters on TOUR to absolutely bombing the ball past his competition at The Country Club in Brookline last year. Fitzpatrick hasn't slowed down in 2023 either, with the Englishman already adding a victory at the RBC Heritage to his resume. A second straight U.S. Open title would put him alongside only seven men in history.
Child stars trying to recapture glory
From Macaulay Culkin to Drew Barrymore to Haley Joel Osment, a number of actors make it big as children and then spend the rest of their careers trying to live up to incredibly lofty expectations. A couple of those players are in the field this week.
Jordan Spieth - Much to his chagrin at the time, Spieth was once dubbed the golden child after bursting onto the scene as a 21-year-old. The Texan snagged three quick major wins and the FedEx Cup by age 24. However, Spieth has posted only two wins since taking the title at the 2017 Open Championship. His recent results show he might be on the verge of a huge breakthrough, with his ball-striking numbers looking similar to his peak in the mid-2010s.
Rickie Fowler - The long hair is gone, the loud orange outfits have been muted slightly, and prescription sunglasses now frame his boyish face. Fowler may have aged and his game may have dropped off since he hit the World No. 4 ranking in 2016, but he remains one of the most popular players on the PGA TOUR. Fowler started the year at No. 185 in the world, but he's risen to No. 45 based on his strong play heading into the U.S. Open.
Bryson DeChambeau - Given his various body transformations, DeChambeau might be better suited to a category of his own in homage to Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis. There's no denying DeChambeau's talent from a young age, as he won the NCAA individual title and the U.S. Amateur crown. Add his dominant U.S. Open win at Winged Foot at age 26, and the soon-to-be 30-year-old fits the bill of a child star.
Industry vets looking for blockbuster breakthrough
Hollywood is full of quality actors who never really get that big blockbuster breakthrough to skyrocket them to the top of the industry. There are also a handful of names - like Steve Carrell, Bryan Cranston, and Morgan Freeman - who earned a monster hit later in their career to establish themselves near the top of their craft. The following players will be looking for that type of situation with their first major this week at LACC.
Xander Schauffele - The California native is as steady as they come, but only three of his seven career PGA TOUR wins had full fields. Despite not breaking through yet, Schauffele is as solid a U.S. Open player as any. He has five top-10 finishes in six career starts in the event, with a T14 being his worst showing.
Patrick Cantlay - Schauffele's good friend and fellow Californian hasn't been outside the top five in the world rankings in almost a calendar year. While the big events used to be a sticking point for Cantlay, he's posted a top-15 finish in each of the last three majors.
Tony Finau - Finau's star is already rising thanks to the smashing success of his episode in Netflix's "Full Swing" documentary series. The popular American looks to solidify that rise with his first career major.
Max Homa - Speaking of Hollywood, Homa grew up in Los Angeles with a father who's a professional acting coach to several well-known actors. Homa also conveniently holds the unofficial course record at LACC, an opening-round 61 he fired as a collegiate player at Cal during the 2013 Pac-12 Championships.
Viktor Hovland - It feels odd to call Hovland a veteran at 25, but the Norwegian has already played 91 PGA TOUR events. It's all trending toward a first major for Hovland, as the former Oklahoma State star is fresh off a dramatic win at the Memorial and has three top-seven finishes in his last three majors.
Experienced stars looking for one more hit
There are plenty of stories in Hollywood about well-regarded actors looking for one last late-career hit. Sylvester Stallone signing on to "The Expendables" in his mid-60s, Anthony Hopkins grabbing the best actor Oscar at age 83, and Vin Diesel continuing to churn out "Fast and the Furious" films are examples of this. A few guys in the field at LACC have been stalwarts of golf for a long time, with three reaching No. 1 in the world rankings and the other widely regarded as one of the best players ever.
Dustin Johnson - It almost feels like a disappointment that a player of Johnson's caliber only has two majors to his name. The soon-to-be 39-year-old comes to Los Angeles looking to become just the eighth man to win two U.S. Open titles and at least one Masters.
Phil Mickelson - Shockingly, Mickelson is the only man in this quartet who hasn't been ranked No. 1 in the world during his illustrious career. He only needs the U.S. Open to complete the career grand slam, but he doesn't have a top-20 finish in the event since 2013. Given all the off-the-course happenings between the PGA TOUR and LIV Golf recently, a Mickelson press conference after a win would possibly be the most anticipated in the sport's history.
Jason Day - There was a time eight years ago when Day was unquestionably the best golfer on the planet. During that stretch, he won his only major at the 2015 PGA Championship. Since his ranking plummeted to No. 175 as recently as September, Day has been on a tear, with a victory and a number of top finishes. He currently sits 22nd in the world.
Justin Rose - Rose is another one-time major champion who was once the top player on the planet, and he's coming to Los Angeles in fine form. His ranking fell to No. 84 in January, but the Englishman won at Pebble Beach and has been extremely consistent in the events since to sit 25th in the current rankings.