The brand new Finest Gamers With out A Main? They lead the U.S. Open

PINEHURST, N.C. — When Xander Schauffele received the PGA Championship final month, he shed one title (Finest Participant With out A Main) for one more (Main Champion). Which means the previous wants a brand new proprietor.

There are many contenders, however the standards is subjective. Does it belong to the majorless participant with the very best present type, no matter longevity? Or a majorless participant who has constructed the strongest resume over years of success? Good query.

Let’s go to the candidates.

Viktor Hovland, 26: World No. 5, 6 PGA Tour wins
Ludvig Aberg, 24: World No. 6, 1 PGA Tour win
Patrick Cantlay, 32: World No. 9, 8 PGA Tour wins
Max Homa, 33: World No. 10, 6 PGA Tour wins
Rickie Fowler, 35: World No. 43, 6 PGA Tour wins

That is one implausible grill-room debate, and since everyone seems to be entitled to their very own opinion — together with golf writers (like me) — let’s hand out some {hardware}.

Runner-up for Finest Participant With out A Main: Viktor Hovland
Finest Participant With no Main (Physique of Work Division): Patrick Cantlay
Finest Participant With no Main (Present Type Division): Ludvig Aberg

And right here’s the kicker: the 2 co-winners are main this 124th U.S. Open.

Cantlay opened with a five-under 65 on Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2, and within the group behind him Aberg shot a four-under 66. That duo was alone atop the leaderboard after the morning wave completed.

Cantlay made only one bogey and closed with birdies on three of his final 5 holes in a spherical that was a stark distinction to Aberg’s. Gamers who hit lots of greens, have robust brief video games and putt effectively have been regarded as favorites coming in. In case you miss greens right here, that’s the place the difficulty begins. Cantlay hit simply 10 greens however bought up and down 7 of 8 instances, together with each situations he was in a greenside bunker (considered one of which, on the eleventh, he holed for birdie). He leads the sphere in SG: Across the inexperienced.

Aberg, then again, was so persistently good he was boring. He didn’t miss a fairway and hit 16 of 18 greens — the ultimate one a dagger to six ft on the par-3 ninth, his closing gap, that led to a closing birdie. Each instances he missed the inexperienced he made his solely bogeys.

“I feel staying very disciplined is vital,” Aberg stated. “There’s lots of pins the place you don’t actually take into consideration going for. So me and Joe [Skovron], my caddie, now we have lots of good conversations about sure areas that you just attempt to hit it on. It’s troublesome to be very, very exact with the numbers and people issues. However attempt to get a gauge on the place to hit it, the place to overlook it, be sure that we keep disciplined towards issues.”

In a comply with up, Aberg was requested if it was troublesome to be disciplined.

“Yeah, completely,” he stated. “It’s the U.S. Open, it’s imagined to be exhausting.”

That is Cantlay’s thirtieth main begin, however he’s solely had 4 high 10s. None of them have been in a U.S. Open, though he’s tied for fifteenth (as soon as) and tied for 14th (twice) in his final three appearances right here.

As for Aberg, that is nonetheless simply the third main begin of his profession. Actually, the extremely adorned collegiate golfer made a right away affect on the European Ryder Cup final fall earlier than he even performed in a significant. Then, when he did play in one of many 4 massive ones, he didn’t disappoint. He was within the penultimate pairing alongside Max Homa on Masters Sunday, shot 69 and completed solo second, 4 photographs behind winner Scottie Scheffler however three strokes forward of the subsequent closest rivals.

He’s been racking up robust finishes all season: T9 on the Farmers, 2nd at Pebble Seashore, eighth on the Gamers, T10 on the RBC Heritage and T5 on the Memorial final week. He was a stunning missed reduce on the PGA Championship final month, however at this level that week looks like an outlier.

Cantlay and Aberg lead early, nevertheless it’s nonetheless so, so early.

On Tuesday, Tiger Woods predicted that the low on Thursday is likely to be the successful rating come Sunday. Cantlay didn’t agree or disagree with that, however he did provide one prediction.

“I think about they will get the golf course as troublesome as they need,” Cantlay stated. “With the Bermuda greens and no rain within the forecast, I count on the golf course to play very troublesome within the subsequent few days.”

Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of many sport’s most-read information and repair web sites. He spends most of his days writing, modifying, planning and questioning if he’ll ever break 80. Earlier than becoming a member of GOLF.com in 2015, he labored at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State College in Mankato, Minn., he resides within the Twin Cities along with his spouse and two children. You’ll be able to attain him at [email protected].