Wednesday, June 15, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.
Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.
The 105th U.S. Open gets under way this week over the 7,214-yard, par-70, Pinehurst No. 2 course in Pinehurst, N.C.
Like most Open venues, this layout will penalize those who fail to find the fairway, so (a) accuracy off the tee is a must; and (b) because the majority of greens are similar to inverted saucers, an excellent short game is also mandatory. To complete this equation, (c) the players with the aforementioned qualities along with the ability to successfully putt on the sloping and no doubt ultra-fast greens will have a huge advantage.
With that in mind, the following are my personal choices and odds on who will win:
As all golfers are aware, any Tour player on any given week can break through with a victory. Remember Ben Curtis in the 2003 British Open and Shaun Micheel in '03 PGA Championship? In essence, anybody in this year's U.S. Open field could win. So, who do you like?
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