2012 Olympic Preview/Picks

OK. Who's excited for the U.S. Open at Olympic Club? Not everyone at once please!. Why aren't folks excited for this Open? There's a long list of reasons:

• No list of great winners other than Hall of Famer Billy Casper. 
• He the recipient of Arnold Palmer's infamous collapse on the back nine when he lost a 7-shot lead with 9 to play.
• Other winners: Fleck, Simpson, Janzen (ZZZZZ...)
• There really isn't a signature hole at Olympic.
• Sure, folks say it's the 18th hole, but we're talking about a 344-yard finishing hole with a ribbon fairway. Remember 1998 when Payne Stewart's ball rolled all the way to the front of the green after a missed sidehill putt? Yea. Though that won't happen again, that doesn't help Olympic's cause.
• There is no par 5 on the course until you hit #16. Oh, and the next hole is a par 5 too. Really?
• The protection on this course is the "Reverse Camber" effect, where basically the holes turn right to left but the ground is going to the right, and vice versa. Yea, that's exciting.
• How about the fact that when they go off split tees the first 2 days, half the field actually starts on #9. AWKWARD!
• And finally, controversy is already starting to boil about the shaved areas to the left of the par 3 13th hole and the right side of the now reachable par 5 17th hole. Mike Davis even admitted last night that #13 has gotten away from them and they are letting the grass grow now there.
• But hey, Johnny Miller grew up playing here so he's excited!

OK. So who's going to win the thing? Well, given that other than Tiger, no players at the top of the World Rankings have actually won an Open the last few years, I think you have to look a little deeper down the Rankings to find that player who is solid, but clearly an underdog. So I'm going with none other than Swede Peter Hanson. That would be Sweden's 1st major win if he actually pulls it off.

He's played well in some big events lately and played solid last week in his home country. My one concern is the serious jet lag he may encounter crossing so many time zones, but despite that, he fits perfectly with the list of winners on this track.

The rest of my top 10  list is probably not much of a surprise except no Tiger, Phil or Rory. I'm just not feeling it on this track. I hope I'm wrong about Phil though.

• Luke Donald - great short game and don't need to be all that long here.
• Justin Rose - starting to win more often on Tour and is in that list of 2nd tier players who need that major soon to justify their status as a great player.
• Matt Kuchar - hard to pick Kooch to win this after grabbing the Players since no one has ever won both in the same year
• Steve Stricker - running out of time, but great short game should give him advantages (see Luke)
• Jum Furyk - not as consistent as in previous years, but has played fairly well this year overall
• Ian Poulter - while I don't love this guy, he's usually solid in big events even though he's never really contended in any one of them (don't tell me about that putt at the British...he wasn't that close to the lead)
• Zach Johnson - playing great of late, has won a major and putts well. Can you imagine if Zach collected a 2nd major before some of these other guys like Westwood, Donald, Sergio won their 1st?
• Ben Crane - All the "Golf Boys" (P.S. - make it stop) has actually won since that ridiculous video and although Ben won't win, he's had some good finishes this year too. It would be great to see him walk down #18 with a 2-shot lead and pull out the helmet as he walked up to the green.
• Lee Westwood - a favorite by many experts but I just don't trust his short game down the stretch.

So there you have it. Who are your picks for Olympic in this Olympic year? Let me know!