THE BATTLE FOR LOS ANGELES

For a city that puts a premium on chill (they don't call it El Lay for nothing), there's an intensely competitive edge to the place. That killer instinct will surface at Los Angeles Country Club, where the drama about to unfold is called the U.S. Open. The fighting will be fierce, and the biggest unanswered question is: Who'll be the leading man?

- Dylan Dethier

The U.S. Open’s June return marks its first stop in Los Angeles in 75 years. But the U.S. Open isn’t just in Los Angeles. The U.S. Open is Los Angeles. This is the City of Dreams and the City of Broken Dreams, where starry-eyed hopefuls have flocked for decades, ignoring incredibly long odds to chase even the briefest moment in the spotlight.

It’s unlikely coincidental that this year’s Open set a record for entries. A remarkable 10,187 golfers signed up for a chance to compete in the national championship—this author included—thinking optimistic thoughts and visualizing procaliber golf shots, one after the next after the next, all the way to LACC.

“In Los Angeles,” Denzel Washington once said, everyone isa star.” Jack Kerouac called it the loneliest and most brutal of American cities.”

Maybe they’re both right. Incredibly, every scratch golfer is just an application and three good rounds from playing in the U.S. Open, which means it’s the tournament for those who dream. But once they’re there? Reality sets in. Competitors face a course pushed to its limit: the firmest greens, the longest rough, the narrowest fairways, the toughest test. Stay a dreamer too long and you'll miss your chance at becoming a contender. So who’s likely to emerge from this year’s brawl in Beverly Hills? Let’s run through the players with the most compelling cases.

THE FAVORITES

Jon Rahm has become the standard against which the rest of the golf world is measured. The 28-year-old Spaniard already owns a Southern California U.S. Open, thanks to ajawdropping two-birdie finish at the 2021 edition contested down I-5 at Torrey Pines. He owns another two SoCal wins in 2023 alone, after cruising to victory at the American Express in Palm Springs and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, less than 10 miles from LACC.