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Tiger Woods is ready for the 2024 U.S. Open. And so is world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
The action at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2) will kick off on Thursday with the 15-time major champion teeing off together with Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick. Meanwhile, Scheffler will be teeing off along with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, as noted by Kyle Porter of CBS Sports.
Notable Thursday tee times.
7:29 — Zalatoris, Fitz, Tiger
7:40 — JT, Morikawa, Brooks
7:51 — Rickie, Hadwin, Phil
7:51 — Finau, Ludvig, DJ (the Tron group)
1:14 — Rory, Xander, Scottie
1:25 — Harman, Dunlap, Wyndham
1:25 — Bryson, Viktor, Homa
1:36 — Rahm, Spieth, Hideki
Tiger Woods at the 2024 U.S. Open
Woods is not expected to be a serious contender at the U.S. Open but he will look to shock everyone. He has appeared in three events so far in the 2024 PGA Tour season. He withdrew from The Genesis Invitational back in February and then finished just 60th overall at the Masters Tournament last April. In his most recent start, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship in May after going 7-over 149 after two rounds of action at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
Injuries and age have slowed down the legendary 48-year-old Woods, who, in the 2022-23 season, made just two starts in official PGA events, going T-45 at The Genesis Invitational and posting a withdrawal at the Masters during that campaign.
Nevertheless, Woods continues to be a big draw and will surely be attracting a ton of attention at Pinehurst. He has three U.S. Open titles under his belt, with the last one coming in 2008 when he outlasted Rocco Mediate in a dramatic playoff. His other US Open wins took place in 2000 and 2002.
Woods most recently won a major in 2019 when he topped the field at the Masters to score his 15th career major. He still trails Jack Nicklaus (18) for the most career major wins.
Scottie Scheffler to play at Pinehurst riding a wave of momentum
Unlike Woods, Scheffler is in an incredible form of late. It is perhaps fair to say that Scheffler is in some sort of vintage Tiger Woods form. The 27-year-old Scheffler is coming off a win at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday last Sunday — his fifth victory of the season. To further illustrate his sizzling form of late, Scheffler has finished no worse than T-8 in each of his last eight starts, a stretch that also saw him finish runner-up twice. Overall in the 2024 season, Scheffler is 13/13 with 12 top 10s.
Apart from his victory at Muirfield Village Golf Club, Scheffler also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS Championship, Masters Tournament, and the RBC Heritage this season.
Despite all the success he is having this year, the thirst is definitely there for Scheffler to win this week, as he aims to secure his second career major title. His best finish at the US Open is a T-2 back in 2022.
Woods, Scheffler facing tough US Open competition
The U.S. Open field is stacked. No surprises there. Scheffler is considered the favorite to win. No surprises there, either. However, there is no such thing as a sure shot in the majors. Just ask Wyndham Clark, who won the 2023 edition of the tournament as a long shot. Before he won last year at Los Angeles Country Club, Clark had never had a major finish better than 75th.
Other names to watch out for this week are the likes of Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepk, Bryson DeChambeau, and Viktor Hovland.
