Americans on a mission at the Congressional Country Club

By Brendon Hanley Jun 14, 2011, 10:57 GMT

Bethesda, Maryland - Since 1996 Tiger Woods has been ever-present at the US Open.

Winning three times and making the top ten eight times, Woods missed the cut just once and has grabbed most of the headlines since 1999, when he finished third - two shots off the lead.

This time around, Woods will get his fair share of the headlines again, but presumably most of them will be in the run-up to Thursday's opening round as the former world number one has withdrawn as he did not recover in time from his latest knee and Achilles' injuries.

Once the competition starts getting serious on Thursday, Woods' name should disappear from the sports-pages at least for the four days.

However, who will replace him remains wide open and former number one and current PGA champion Martin Kaymer said that there are some 30 to 40 players in with a realistic chance to win the second Major of the season.

American golfing fans are hoping that an American can lift the trophy come Sunday to restore - what they would like to believe to be - golfing order.

Only once before - in 1994 - were all four Majors in the hands of non-American golfers.

But with South African Charl Schwartzel wearing the green jacket of the Masters' winner, his compatriot Luis Oosthuizen holding the Open crown, Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell being the defending US Open champion and Kaymer being PGA champion, the US are currently Major-less.

Phil Mickelson leads a strong American contingent and after five second-place finishes as the US Open, it is the one tournament that Lefty is eager to win.

He has said time and again: 'As a kid I dreamt of winning this tournament,' but success has so far alluded him.

There must be at least a dozen other Americans in the field in with a realistic chance of winning the competition, such as Bubba Watson, 2009 champion Lucas Glover, or even young Rickie Fowler.

The US will certainly be hard pushed as most of the top golfers in the world - and six of the top ten are from Europe - will be competing at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Kaymer is one of several players expected to be in the mix, as are the current world number one, Luke Donald and number two, Lee Westwood.

Kaymer, who has been drawn to play the opening two rounds with Westwood and Donald in a pairing that sees the world's top three golfers together, said he believes one of the keys to success in a Major is patience.

'I think patience is the biggest and the most important thing you need to have at big tournaments, if it's the US Open, the (US) PGA. All of the Majors. And obviously it will be a long week, very tiring because the golf course is so tough. It's tough to play and mentally very difficult.

'In normal, regular tournaments, you need to play fairly aggressive from the first day on, from Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. At the Majors, it's important to avoid the big mistakes. It's easy to kick yourself out of the tournament by Friday.

'So I think it is all about giving yourself a chance on Sunday to win, to put yourself in position and to be really patient with that. If it happens, then you might have a chance on Sunday. And if not, then you wait for the next Major.'

Kaymer, Westwood and Donald are, of course, not the only non-Americans in with a shot.

Defending champion McDowell, his compatriot Rory McIllroy or a number of strong Scandinavians could challenge, as could the Molinari brothers and Matteo Manassero, who has taken the golfing world by storm since turning professional last year.

South Africans, who currently hold two of the four Majors have several players capable of mounting a challenge, with five previous Major winners amongst the competitors.

It seems only a matter of time that another golfer joins Yang Yong-eun as a Major winner from Asia and Kaymer believes that Ryo Ishikawa has a chance.

With so many players in the hunt, the first Tiger-less US Open since 1996 is far too open to call.

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