Who -- if anyone -- is ready to shed BPNTHWAM?

It's that time of the year again, when we wonder who might break through and win their first major championship, securing fame, fortune and -- most importantly -- kissing goodbye that inglorious title of "best player never to have won a major."

By T.J. Auclair, PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

OAKMONT, Pa. -- It's as predictable as the sun rising, Tiger Woods being the favorite at any tournament in which he sticks a peg in the ground and the Chicago Cubs missing out on yet another World Series.

Whenever a major championship is played, inevitably, various top players who haven't already done so are asked whether or not they're ready to shed the dreaded tag "best player never to have won a major."

And once again here at Oakmont Country Club for the 107th playing of the U.S. Open there are plenty of great players looking to get rid of the BPNTHWAM label.

But unlike the usual suspects, namely Colin Montgomerie, who lost in a playoff at Oakmont in 1994 and tied for second at Winged Foot last year, the attention has turned toward the younger players. Guys like Adam Scott, Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, as well as 30-something Padraig Harrington.

Let's start with the Europeans -- Casey, Donald, Garcia and Harrington. If history counts for anything, it could be argued that the major obstacle standing in the way of these fine golfers is the continent they call home.

A European has not won a major championship since Paul Lawrie kept the claret jug in Scotland after his unlikely win at Carnoustie in the 1999 British Open ... or, since the U.S. last won a Ryder Cup. Even more astoundingly, a European has not won a U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin managed to take the trophy to the other side of the pond 37 years ago in 1970.

To put that into perspective, Harrington, the eldest of the aforementioned European crew at 35, wasn't even born yet.

"I think that's a way of just using historical data to try and put something on a future event," said Harrington, who is 0-for-35 with seven top-10s in majors. "At the end of the day, who knows who is going to win this tournament this week? If the Europeans have won the last 25, would we have a better or less chance of winning the next one? The law of averages says a European will win one eventually."

And perhaps that European could be Garcia, who boasts 12 top-10s in his 33 major championship starts. However, Garcia is less flattered and seemingly more annoyed when asked why a European hasn't come out on top in a U.S. Open since the Nixon administration.

"I don't know," he said. "No, I've got no answer for that."

Really? Nothing?

"You guys are always asking about that, but if I had the reason why, you know, I'm sure we would have fixed it," Garcia said. "The only thing you can do is play and, you know, try and win it. If you don't, the only thing you can do is keep trying. But I don't know why. I can't give you like an exact reason why that's happened."

Casey and Donald are 0-for-17 each in the big ones. Casey's best finish in one of golf's crown jewels was a tie for sixth at the 2004 Masters, while Donald tied for third at both the 2005 Masters and 2006 PGA Championship.

Defending U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy turns 30 on Monday. If someone under the age of 30 fails to hoist the hardware here come Sunday night, there will be zero major champions in their 20s -- the first time this has happened since the 1991 PGA Championship.

"One of the reasons is because Tiger has just turned 31, so that doesn't help," Garcia said, half-jokingly. "[We're] just not good enough, I guess. We have been giving it good shots, guys in their 20s, trying to win majors, and we've been really close. But it hasn't happened. There's a lot of high-quality players here this week, and only one guy can win."

Could that guy be Scott, who is 0-for-24 in Grand Slam events? The Aussie, whose best major finish was a tie for third at Medinah last year in the PGA Championship, comes to Oakmont with his game a little iffy.

Over the last two weeks, he led at various stages at both the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley and the Stanford St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Unfortunately for Scott, though, he left the home of the blues singing the blues after blowing a three-shot lead in the final round with a 5-over-par 75. Granted, Woody Austin shot a magical 8-under 62 to win the Stanford St. Jude Championship. But had Scott played well and still lost to Austin, it surely would have been an easier pill to swallow entering the year's second major.

Scott does have a victory to his credit this year, having won the Shell Houston Open despite a near-disaster on the final hole where he made an incredible par despite hitting a ball into the water.

Scott also had an aquatic final-hole adventure en route to his win at the 2004 PLAYERS Championship with a gulp!-inducing up-and-down bogey to edge Harrington by a shot.

The silver lining for Scott is there's no water on the final hole at Oakmont. And for the Europeans? They're hoping to have something silver on Sunday night.