The U.S. Open is very important for several over-40's players

113th U.S. Open (Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pennsylvania)

Peter Hedblom (43-years-old)

The three-time Tour winner has struggled for the past few seasons since his last win in 2009 at the Johnnie Walker Championship.  The Swede has played in 12 events this season and made only three cuts.  He was one of 12 players to qualify for the U.S. Open two weeks ago at Walton Heath, so he'll need to find some semblance of form for the difficulties of Merion.  Currently competing out of Category 12 (players who finished between 120-155 on the Race to Dubai last season), every event is important because they are few and far between.  The Swede made the cut at the Lyoness Open so hopefully he can take some confidence into the U.S. Open and get his season onto the right track.  His ball-striking will need to improve as he has only hit 63.2% of his greens (181st on Tour) and 58.8% of his fairways (142nd on Tour).

Darren Clarke (44-years-old)

The 2011 Open champion has struggled mightily since his win at Royal St. George's.  He finished 108th in the Race to Dubai last season and sits 125th this season.  He has started to show a return to form, with a tied-32nd at the BMW PGA Championship and has acknowledged he is happy with his game heading into the second major of the season.  It's all about holing putts with "DC."

Jose Maria Olazabal (47-years-old)

This will be the two-time Masters champion's first U.S. Open appearance since 2007, after having qualified at Walton Heath in a playoff.  The 2012 Ryder Cup captain finished inside the top-115 in the Race to Dubai last season for the first time since 2006, largely as a result of injuries.  Hitting fairways has always been an Achilles heel for Olazabal, as he hasn't hit above 60% of fairways in a season since 2006.  After hitting 49% last season, he's improved this season to 57%.  Unfortunately, he's only averaging 270 yards off the tee, so a course like Merion might favor him.  "Ollie" still has one of the best short games on Tour and that should serve him well at this season's second major.  If he can keep the ball in the fairway, he'll have plenty of opportunities to display his skills from 150 yards and in.  

Michael Campbell (44-years-old)

The 2005 U.S. Open champion's on-course struggles have been well-documented since his win at Pinehurst.  However, last season, he finished the back end of 2012 by playing his best golf since 2005.  He closed at 77th in the Race to Dubai after finishing 181st, 244th, and 249th in his previous three seasons.  The New Zealander's perseverance and determination has to be commended, and I thought that his resurgence deserved more notoriety.  "Cambo" hasn't made a cut at the U.S. Open since 2007, so he'll try to rectify that at this week's 113th U.S. Open.  Although he's not one of the longer hitters on Tour at 265 yards off the tee on average, he ranks 74th on Tour in greens in regulation (12.4 G.I.R., 68.7%).  Much like Olazabal, if his short game holds up, it could be a productive week for Campbell.

Paul Lawrie (44-years-old)

The Scotsman has an interesting story heading into the U.S. Open: he hasn't contested one since 2004 (has only played in four total).  Last season was the culmination of a long journey of hard work after several years of struggle with two wins, a place in the Ryder Cup team after his first, and only, appearance in 1999, and a 10th-place finish in the Race to Dubai.  This season has been a bit of a struggle, and one only has to look at his putting as the reason.  He's 172nd in both putts per round (30.4) and putts per green in regulation (1.8).  In contrast, he's 39th on Tour in greens in regulation at 12.9 per round at a 71.5% clip.  So his ball-striking is very good, but his putting is causing him to not shoot the scores that he deserves.  There has been some drastic improvement of late on the greens, with Lawrie leading the putts per greens in regulation stats at the Nordea Masters two weeks ago, and finishing 6th in putts per round in the tournament as well (he finished tied-21st on the leaderboard).  With his ball-striking being in good shape at the moment and with his positive outlook heading in, I expect "Chippie" to have a very good finish this week which will hopefully kick start his season.