Eighteen holes sit between Rickie Fowler or Rory McIlroy and one of golf’s great redemption stories. It sounds and looks so blissfully simple.
It would be utter folly, of course, to insist the 123rd US Open is now the domain of only two competitors. It is just that Fowler or McIlroy would deliver the finest tales. The $3.6m first prize would be irrelevant to both. This is about status, reputation and a return to golf’s top table.