US Open preview

Rory McIlroy defends US Open (Getty Images)

published 12 June 2012

Lowdown: The second Major championship of 2012 will be decided this week at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy travels to California as defending US Open champion.

With Tiger and Rory seemingly back on form, Westwood coming off the back of a victory, so too Dustin Johnson and with Luke Donald showing no signs of losing his incredible consistency, this should be one of the most exciting US Opens in recent memory.

This will be the 112th running of the US Open, a tournament first held in 1895 and won by Horace Rawlins of England. Through the mid and latter part of the 20th Century the event was dominated by home players but over the last 20 years, an eclectic selection of nations have enjoyed success in this historic tournament. Since, and including when, Ernie Els took the title in 1994, nine US Opens have been won by Americans and nine by international players.

The Lake Course at Olympic Club is a unique and historic track. There are no water hazards to contend with, neither is there any out of bounds. There's only one fairway bunker to negotiate (on the sixth) but there are 30,000 trees to avoid. It's a challenging course that Johnny Miller (a junior member at Olympic) describes as "no nonsense."

It's not an overly long course but, with small greens and testing tee shots, it's not a layout that will be taken apart. It's unlikely we'll see a winning total of 16-under-par like Rory McIlroy produced last year. The first six holes at Olympic are extremely tough. According to USGA Executive Director Mike Davis, it's the "hardest start in golf."

Player Watch: Luke Donald - The Englishman's game should be ideally suited to this course - tight and tricky, not overly long and demanding accuracy and good recovery skills. Perhaps this could be the event Donald breaks his Major duck...

Jason Dufner - The American has been flying under the bookies radar somewhat, but he's the PGA Tour's form player with two victories and a second place in his last four starts. Over the last year he's transformed himself from a journeyman pro into a world beater.

Key hole: 17th. The second of back-to-back par 5s, Olympic's penultimate hole is a real birdie or eagle chance. It's just 522 yards so it's reachable for the whole field. In previous events it was played as a par-4. The difficulty lies around the green. To the back and right, there's a testing, sloped run-off. Head down there and you'll be facing an extremely challenging pitch.

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?