U.S. Open Betting Favorites

Article ByKyle Garlett

June 12, 2023

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Posted in: US Sports Betting News, US Fantasy Sports News, US Gambling News

It’s been quite a last week for the world of golf. Off the course, we have the “don’t call it a merger” between the PGA and LIV, ending that two-year golf civil war. Then on the course on Sunday, Nick Taylor dropped a 72-foot putt for an eagle on the fourth playoff hole for an incredible win at the Canadian Open.

Taylor, the first Canadian to win the Canadian Open in 69 years, now heads to Los Angeles with the rest of the golf world for the U.S. Open, the best field of the year.

Odds provided by BetUS.com.

Scottie Scheffler (+650)

Of course, Scottie Scheffler begins U.S. Open week as the favorite. He won the Masters 15 months ago, and then followed that up with a runner-up finish at the 2022 U.S. Open. And proving that last season was no fluke, he won the Phoenix Open this year, The Players Championship, and he was just tied for runner-up at the PGA Championship.

Overall, Scheffler has 16 straight finishes of at least T12 or better, and Los Angeles Country Club is set up perfectly for his superiority around the green. He also helped lead the U.S. Walker Cup team to victory at LACC in 2017.

Jon Rahm (+900)

The former No. 1 ranked player in the world won the U.S. Open in 2021, and he was The Masters winner this April. Because he just finished T50 at the PGA Championship, there is a little concern about exactly which Jon Rahm will show up in L.A.

Rahm is No. 1 in par-3 scoring this season, which is important at LACC, and it’s why he’s playing the second-shortest odds in the field.

Brooks Koepka (+1000)

After an awful run through the four majors in 2022, where he missed the cut twice and finished 55th twice, Brooks Koepka is back in a big way. He was T2 at the Masters, and he just won his fifth major at the PGA Championship in May.

Koepka has twice won the U.S. Open (2017 and 2018), and three other times he has finished fourth or better. On this stage and on this type of golf layout, Koepka is at his best.

Rory McIlroy (+1000)

At some point, Rory McIlroy needs to win another major to continue to justify his continually high ranking on the favorites’ board. Tied for the third-shortest odds with Koepka, McIlroy hasn’t won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship. Koepka won all five of his majors since then.

McIlroy did finish T7 at the PGA Championship, but he also missed the cut at the Masters. He’s also coming off a bad final round at the Canadian Open, which saw him drop from second to ninth, losing six strokes to eventual winner Nick Taylor.

Patrick Cantlay (+1600)

Patrick Cantlay is tied for the highest-ranked player on the favorites’ board who has never won a major. He’s local, hailing from just down the 405 Freeway in Long Beach, and he played his college golf at UCLA, which is less than two miles from LACC.

Cantlay doesn’t have a win at a major. But in his last four major starts, he finished T14 (U.S. Open), T8 (The Open Championship), T14 (Masters), and T9 (PGA Championship).

Viktor Hovland (+1600)

As hot as Cantlay has been recently as a nonwinner, Norway’s Viktor Hovland has him beat. He finished T2 at last month’s PGA Championship, T7 at the Masters in April, and T4 at The Open Championship last year.

Hovland also just won at the Memorial two weeks ago, besting a field that included Scheffler, Rahm, McIlroy, and Cantlay.

Xander Schauffele (+1800)

The last of the golfers paying less than +2000 is Xander Schauffele, a 10-time top 10 finisher in his majors career, but never a winner. Twice he has finished as the runner-up, and his best career finish at the U.S. Open was T3 in 2019.

In recent weeks, Schauffele finished fourth at the Heritage, T4 at the Zurich Classic, and he was the runner-up at last month’s Wells Fargo Championship. The statisticians at Data Golf, which ranks players by field-strength adjusted scores, has Schauffele third in the world behind Scheffler and Rahm.