Spieth on a roll in the majors going into US Open

Spieth tees off the 10 tee at 8.35am local time Thursday with reigning US Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau and Open champion Zach Johnson. After holding a share of the 54-hole lead at that Open, as well as at the British Open a month later, Day finally cashed one in at the PGA Championship the month after that. Spieth was among those who predicted no one will finish the week under par – as was the case in 2007, when Angel Cabrera won with a 5-over-par 285.

Jordan Spieth went down in flames in his first major title defence at the Masters, but he’s ready to contend again at the US Open, with the help of a morale-building victory at Colonial.

Think you can pick better than me?

In many ways, the same could be said for what happened with Spieth past year at the U.S. Open, when Dustin Johnson three-putted from 12 feet at the final hole to give him a one-shot victory. “That takes place once a year, and it’s at one of the hardest venues this year”.

Jordan Spieth:: Can he defend US Open title? “I’ve been very close to winning a U.S. Open, especially the last few years”.

How brutally tough is Oakmont? “It’s just because being No. 1 in the world, having a lot of expectations on you, having to practice so hard to keep that No. 1 spot, trying to win as many tournaments as I can, puts a lot of stress and pressure on your shoulders”.

He said: “I think you can lay back here at this golf course, and you can try and overpower it”. But a pair of misfires cost him a second straight Masters two months ago. He lost to Danny Willett by three. From the time he missed the cut at Valhalla in the PGA Championship in 2014, Spieth has not finished worse than fourth in his last five majors.

“It’s awesome how we played the game in those days and how we play today with the golf ball, and a lot of us were still using wooden drivers back in ’94 and so forth”. He beat back whatever demons grew from the 12th hole by winning at Colonial in his third start after the Masters. I’m probably one of the favourites to win this week. “You just never know”. So now I can draw back on those last few holes, the pressure that I felt and the speed control and kind of the control of the ball to the most minute detail.

“It’s unbelievable to think I said that but at the time I felt so stressed out that I really felt if I ever got to number one I would be done”, Day told AAP.

Three days out from the tournament getting underway, the defending champion hasn’t changed his tune. He doesn’t have to host a dinner for past champions.

Spieth has no such duties this week.

Spieth said he feels refreshed and as prepared as he can be for the tournament to get underway and was eager for Thursday to roll around.

“I had a week off. You get the feeling Brady will be retired and perhaps dead and this thing will still be going on in the courts”.

“I want to play on the Ryder Cup team very badly and that’s going to be the key part of the season”. I’m driven to win tournaments just because 10 tournaments that I’ve won is not enough. He’s trying to do something only five men have done before him, and he’s eager to prove that what happened on that Sunday at Augusta National remained at Augusta National.

“Trepidation, I guess”, said McIlroy, when asked to describe the prevailing pretournament emotion. Nowadays, you can’t really do that.

“This week it’s definitely.it’s not excitement”.