Time to Shine

They're six of the best active players to have never won a major. Who of these can follow in the footsteps of the last three US Open champions – Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy – and make the tournament their breakthrough success?

Steve Stricker

For a man with as much PGA Tour success as Steve Stricker has had (eight wins since 2009), breaking through in majors has been incredibly difficult. At the US Open, he has two top-five finishes in 16 career starts, but those were back in the late 1990s. Stricker's lone lead after 54 holes in a major came at the 1998 PGA Championship, when he was tied with eventual winner Vijay Singh.

What we like: Striker is a brilliant grinder, thanks largely to his fabulous putting talents; you don't expect him to slip away too often when he's in or around the lead. Olympic has yielded more underdog US Open winners than any other venue: a Stricker win over the club's fearsome Lake Course sounds about right.

What's stopping him: At the age of 45, he'd be the oldest winner of the tournament in its 127-year history. Not an impossible scenario, certainly, but that fact alone doesn't exactly make you want to rush out and back him with your own money.

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Written by Alex Jenkins

Photography by AFP

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