By Jason Bruno

Photo by Idris Evans

Pebble Beach, California - With all of the attention this week on Brooks

Koepka, Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and

the rest of the 156 man field, can any of the amateurs who qualified

to play at Pebble Beach seriously contend ? Maybe, but unlikely is the easy

response. 2019 marks the 7th consecutive year that 10 or more Amateurs

made it through to the championship. Last year 20 Amateurs qualified to

play at Shinnecock Hills.

There were 9,125 entries into 2019 U.S Open qualifying, and 16 that

aced the examination of local & regional qualifiers to reach the Monterey

Peninsula. Here's the the list of Amateurs playing at Pebble.

1 Viktor Hovland - 2018 U.S Am Champion

2 Jovan Rebula - 2018 British Am Champion

3 Matt Parziale - 2017 U.S Mid Am Champion

4 Luis Gagne - LSU Senior qualified at Streamsong

5 Stuart Hagestad - 2016 U.S Mid Am Champion

6 Michael Thorbjornsen - 2018 Junior Am Champion

7 Kevin O'Connell - 2018 U.S Mid Am Champion

8 Brandon Wu - helped lead Stanford to NCAA title

9 Chun An Yu - finished 3rd in NCAA Championship

10 Austin Eckroat - finished 8th in NCAA Championship

11 Chandler Eaton - (Duke)

12 Noah Norton - (Georgia Tech)

13 Spencer Tibbits - (Oklahoma State)

14 Cameron Young (Wake Forest)

15 Devon Bling - 2018 U.S Am Runner up (Junior UCLA)

16 Daniel Hillier - Co-Medalist (stroke play) in 2018 U.S Am

Our prognostication narrows it down to three Ams that can actually

make waves against the best in world at Pebble. Viktor Hovland,

Stuart Hagestad and Matt Parziale are all worthy based on form

and or past experience playing with the very best in the world.

Although Viktor Hovland has little experience vs the tour's best, he

has dominated the best in college golf. A senior to be at OSU this fall,

Hovland won the Ben Hogan Award as the top collegiate golfer. The

Norwegian was the low Amateur at this year's Masters finishing tied

for 32nd. Keep in mind Hovland won his U.S Amateur here on Pebble

Beach Links. We'll be very surprised if Hovland - who is the no.1

amateur in the world, doesn't post an impressive showing.

Stuart Hagestad who won the 2016 U.S Mid Am, also was the low

amateur at the 2017 Masters and a member of the winning Walker

Cup team that same year. Hagestad plays the elite Am circuit and

has plenty seasoning to be sneaky here on a track that doesn't cater

to the bombers.

Matt Parziale, known as the firefighter from Brockton, Massachusetts.

The 32 year old has made the most of his tour starts - most recently,

he finished 48th at last year's U.S Open at Shinnecock Hills. Pebble Beach

will be Parziale's 14th USGA Championship.

Amateurs in Recent U.S. Opens

Year Number Made Cut Top Finisher

2019                    16

2018                    20                                    3                             Luis Gagne, Matt Parziale, 48th (tie)

2017                    14                                    2                             Scottie Scheffler, 27th (tie)

2016                    11                                    1                             Jon Rahm, 23rd (tie)

2015                    16                                    6                             Brian Campbell, 27th (tie)

2014                    12                                    1                             Matthew Fitzpatrick, 48th (tie)

2013                    10                                    4                             Michael Kim, 17th (tie)

2012                      8                                    3                             Jordan Spieth, 21st (tie)

2011                    12                                    3                             Patrick Cantlay, 21st (tie)

Rory McIlroy celebrates after winning the RBC Canadian Open

Ontario - Rory McIlroy fired a final round 9-under 61 on Sunday to rout

the field by seven shots at the RBC Canadian Open. McIlroy joins Tiger Woods,

Lee Trevino, Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen and Arnold Palmer as the only

players in history to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens. Rory was

enamored with the trophy, and the names on it - Snead, Bobby Locke, Palmer,

Woods, "For me to put my name on this is something special," McIlroy said.

In his first appearance in the event, the Northern Irishman made it clear that

he wanted to add a sixth national title in his trophy case. The U.S. Open - 2011,

Open Championship - 2014, Australian Open - 2013, Irish Open - 2016 (and

Hong Kong Open) were McIlroy's previous national titles. With the result no

longer in doubt, McIlroy flirted with a different type of history late on the back

nine on Sunday.

After nine birdies and an eagle on No. 17, he was on pace for a record-setting

round. But a bogey on 16 put a 59 out of reach. His bogey on the 18th meant

that he would not match the tournament record 10-under 60 set by Brandt

Snedeker on Friday and Carl Pettersson in 2010. However, his 9 under par

final round finished off the field at 22 under par (258 total).

"Yeah, 61... it's um. Yeah," said McIlroy ."I had a chance to shoot a 59.

Sorry for being disappointed up here but I had a chance.". "I played 17

wonderful holes, I was 10 under through 17 holes. I shot 4 under through

the back nine with two bogeys, so I guess that was pretty good too."

Webb Simpson into a tie for second with Shane Lowry (67).

Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html

Patrick Cantlay celebrates with Jack Nicklaus after winning the Memorial.

Dublin, Ohio - Earlier in the week the greatest champion in golf history

counseled Patrick Cantlay on how to close. He told the young pro to relax

and enjoy himself down the stretch, enjoy the scenery. Easier said then

done. On Sunday at Muirfield Village he employed the lesson and executed

to perfection - firing a bogey free 64 to hold off Adam Scott by two strokes.

In fact, Cantlay's 64 was the finest final round score in the history of the

Memorial. Starting out 4 shots back of 54 hole leader Martin Kaymer, Cantlay

was flawless - his longest putt for par was from 8 feet on the final green, with

Nicklaus watching from behind the green. As he shook the Golden Bear's hand

afterward he said, "I finished it."

Adam Scott rallied with three straight birdies on holes 14-16, before just barely

missing on 17 and 18. Scott's 17 under par total has only been bettered 6 times

in the history of the Memorial, but unfortunately for him Cantlay was one of those

this week. "It's disappointing not to win this week for sure," Scott said. "I really

played good golf this week, but it just wasn't good enough."

With the win, Patrick Cantlay moves to 6th in the Fedex Cup standings.

Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html