Day, Fowler, McIlroy and Spieth must conquer Oakmont for title

Their average age is 26, and their average world golf ranking is just a hair under three.

Between them, they have 32 PGA Tour wins, seven major victories and one prestigious nickname to uphold.

Golf's “Fab Four” of Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and its most recent addition, Rickie Fowler, has accounted for four wins on tour this season, with three coming from Day, the world's top-ranked player.

The expectations that lay in front of them are big, and they include contending at the 2016 U.S. Open on June 16-19 at Oakmont Country Club. If the prolific youngsters are in the mix come Sunday, spectators can expect the blend of charisma and competitiveness that has helped vault them to world golf fame.

“I really am excited by the fact that we do have a real nice group of young players. Not only can they play, but they get it. They understand their responsibilities with the media. They understand their responsibilities with the fans. They're great with their sponsors,” two-time U.S. Open champion ESPN golf analyst Andy North said. “We throw the word ‘get' and ‘get it' around a lot, but I think all these guys really do.”

Fowler is the lone member of the “Fab Four” entering the U.S. Open in search of his first major title. The 27-year-old scored the biggest win of his career with a come-from-behind victory at last year's Players Championship and has two major runner-up finishes, his best chance coming at the 2014 Open Championship, in which he finished two strokes behind McIlroy at Royal Liverpool.

Through several close calls, Fowler said he learned what it takes to close.

“Looking back to last year, and kind of I guess seeing or watching other guys kind of close out events, I think patience is a big key,” said Fowler the Tuesday before The Players Championship. “You look at especially like a U.S. Open, probably one of the biggest things in a week like that is having patience on one of the toughest setups.”

After closing the first wire-to-wire victory at The Players Championship since 2000, Day said he has come a long way in the department of fighting adversity and winning even when he is not at his best.

How much can he improve upon a career that already has yielded 10 PGA Tour wins?

“Totally up to me,” Day said.

But, the father of two added, there needs to be a balance to that want for greatness, even with a goal of 20 or more wins on tour.

“Granted, there's things like having a family and having other priorities that are sometimes more important at certain times in your career that take away from practicing and doing certain things that get you to this point,” Day said after his Players win. “So the biggest thing for me is to find that balance, which I feel like I've found that balance, and then from there it's work as hard as I can, try and win as much as I can.”

McIlroy, ranked No. 3 in the world, leads the “Fab Four” with four major wins and won in Dubai in November and at the Irish Open in late May but is in search of his first PGA Tour win this season and his first U.S. Open victory since 2011.

McIlroy finished in the top 15 in four consecutive starts beginning with the World Golf Championships Match Play and ending with The Players Championship but said the week before his Irish Open win that he hadn't put together four consecutive rounds of his best golf this season.

“Everything is just not clicking, and hopefully as the summer approaches, everything can start to click and I can go on a run, because I really don't feel like it's too far away,” McIlroy said after tying for 12th at The Players. “I feel like it's right around the corner, and it just takes one week for everything to sort of click, and you get some momentum and you get a win and you're off and running.”

Perhaps a three-stroke victory at The K Club was the “click” McIlroy needed.

The 27-year-old from Northern Ireland got his first look at Oakmont the Tuesday after the Memorial Tournament.

Spieth, at 22 the youngest of the bunch, got his first look in early May, playing 27 holes in a two-day span as he prepares to defend his U.S. Open title.

He took a month off after a final-round collapse at the Masters before making his return at The Players, where he missed the cut by a stroke. Some inconsistency on the greens accounted for that result, Spieth said, but so did heavy self-criticism.

He recognizes he needs to try to have more fun.

“I just think that, you know, I'm beating myself up a little bit too much on the golf course, and it's affecting me and I realize that now,” Spieth said after his second round at The Players.

The Dean & DeLuca Invitational at Colonial Country Club provided a few more smiles as Spieth held off Harris English for his second win of 2016.

With more time and tournaments under his belt, the No. 2 player in the world has shed most of the rust from his putter, but that won't make Oakmont much easier.

After his first full 18 holes there in early May, Spieth acknowledged as much.

“I'd sign for even par right now for 72 holes in June,” he said.

Andrew Erickson is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aerickson@tribweb.com or via Twitter @AErickson_Trib.