The U.S. Open

Today the golf media is giving Lee Westwood the nod as being favored to win the Open at Pebble Beach this week. But I stand by my guns when it comes to Westwood; he does not have what it takes mentally to close the deal when he is contending down the stretch!

Sure, he won last week, but he finished his round three strokes behind the leader at the time, Robert Garrigus. Westwood was heading to the airport when he heard Garrigus triple-bogied the last hole to fall back into a tie with Westwood and Robert Karlsson.

It takes a killer instinct to win on the PGA Tour, and only a small percentage of the tour players have it. Lee Westwood has never had it and it would take a massive intentional move on his part to go through some kind of hypnosis or positive thinking training classes before he might be able to change his thinking process for the better.

Don't believe me? Just look at the gaze in his eyes the next time a TV camera zooms in on his facial expression and you will see what I am talking about. I usually see confusion in his eyes. What do you see?

A few days ago I mentioned that my choice for a winner this early in the week, before the tournament actually started, was Justin Johnson for a number of reasons. There is so much talent on the PGA Tour that we have to look at the body language and facial expressions of each player to see who is "up" for the tournament, and who has other things on their mind that may be non-golf related.

I remember last July at the Open Championship on Thursday and Friday, when I saw Tiger Woods slamming clubs, cussing, and throwing clubs. I was watching the TV and talking to my brother on the phone from 800 miles apart. I told him Tiger's mind was not on golf, but on other non-golf related subjects.

That was four months before the public learned about his fight with Elin that night in November. Who knows? He might have been arguing with one of his mistresses through texting messages at the time he was playing at The Open, and could not even think about golf. He went on to miss the cut due to something outside of golf bothering him.

Watch the U.S. Open this Thursday and Friday and look for signs in each player's body language to see if he is showing positive or negative vibes early in the tournament.

Whoever wins, it will be the player who is the most positive in his mental function that will be holding the trophy after 72 holes.