U.S. Open Predictions

Just a few predictions before the Open starts tomorrow:

1. Mickelson misses the cut. For anyone who reads this site, you know this one hurts me. I'm a big Mickelson fan, but I just worry about his wrist. And not so much that I think it's really that bad, but I know from recent experience how concern of an injury can haunt your mind and mess with your game. I say Phil gets in the rough one too many times and the fear of hurting his wrist more gets into his head and causes him to waste more strokes than usual. They say the rough is a 1/2 shot penalty. For Phil this week, I think it will be almost a full shot.
2. Tiger doesn't finish in the top 20. It all depends on his putter. If he's got it going, it takes a lot of stress off his tee-to-green game and it's lights out. But based on his putting in his past couple of events, and the difficulty of the Oakmont greens, I put him outside of the top 20.
3. Johnny Miller pisses somebody else off on camera. This is pretty much a no-brainer. I watched his "Open & Honest" interview on the Golf Channel last night. I like the guy and agree with a huge amount of what he says. I think the guys just don't like to hear the brutal truth sometimes. But I also think he says things sometimes just for effect.
4. Someone gets on the verge of shooting 88 or worse and doesn't withdraw before finishing their round. That's all I've got to say about that.
5. Mark Rolfing makes me sick at least once a day because of his unquestioning devotion to Tiger Woods. Seriously, is it just me, or is this guy the biggest Tiger fan in the business? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
6. Jim Furyk finishes in the top five and Sergio Garcia misses the cut. My Furyk prediction comes down to consistency. Sergio's prediction comes down to putting.
7. Padraig Harrington is the top European finisher.
8. Adam Scott wins. This is a difficult one as well for me. I predicted Scott to win the Open about 3 weeks ago, and I'm going to stick with my pick, simply because I'm stubborn. I'm not happy at all with his finishes the past couple of weeks, especially with his putting, so it's nuts to pick him based on my analysis above of Tiger's chances this week (because of putting), but I'm going to stick with my gut feeling from a few weeks back. I think Scott is "right there" as they say. If he can hold it together for 72 holes, he's got just as good a chance as anyone, in my opinion.