TSE Week in Golf - The 2007 United States Open Championship

I'll stay away from a full and in depth preview (if you want one, try here, or here) but it goes without saying that anytime a major comes about, it is certainly worth posting about, and thus here we are. Jed made us aware of his thoughts on this tournament (I'm a Masters fan myself, if only because I hate NBC's golf coverage) but it is almost certainly worth watching this weekend. The biggest reason is the venue.

Oakmont, in the eyes of the pros, will be very, very difficult this week. The rough will seem like it's knee-high, the greens will be like putting on ice and only the most consistently precise ball-striker will be able to score this week (sounds like my last two girlfriends, but seriously). Basically, there's potential for the pros to go around and, while their scorecards won't necessarily say what yours would, the way they're playing will. Imagine, if you will, easy-swinging Ernie Els putzing around your local muni course and shooting 10-over per side. If you ask the pros, there is a strong likelihood that this could happen.

So for some predictions, I've gone ahead and scanned the Internets. Here we go:

T.J. Auclair (PGATour.com) : Tiger Woods

Cameron Morfit (GOLF Magazine): Padraig Harrington

David Dusek (GOLF.com Editor): Jim Furyk

Alan Shipnuck (SI): Zach Johnson (if there's a God, I hope not)

Gary Van Sickle (SI): Steve Stricker

Jason Sobel (ESPN.com): Jim Furyk

John Antonini (Golf World): Ernie Els

There are plenty more people picking Tiger, but this was a good smattering and who's not for a little variety (wait, how many Sopranos posts did we have on Monday?) from time to time? My pick was between Sean O'Hair and Reteif Goosen and I'm taking O'Hair, who has played well throughout his rookie year (with a win at the John Deere, no less) and seems ready for a major breakthrough (see what I did there?) and on a course where everyone is going to play like dogshit, I'll take the guy who is most afraid of going over par.

The US Open begins tomorrow at 7am. We'll be updating throughout the rest of the week and weekend.