Golf's toughest test is headed back to Pinehurst and these five have the best chance to tame the course
It’s major tournament time once again in pro golf as the sport turns its attention to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, which is hosting the tournament for the fourth time and first since 2014.
U.S. Open leaderboard, live scores: See the latest results at the U.S. Open hub
Tiger Woods is in the field. Jon Rahm is not. And the question everyone has at this point is whether or not anyone in the field can contend with Scottie Scheffler during his Prime Tiger-like run.
We have five best bets listed below, each with varying odds but all worth a close look. Best of luck!
All odds via BetMGM
Ok, sure, let’s get this out of the way. You’re wagering on Scottie because there’s no reason not to. Even if the price is objectively awful for a field with more than 150 competitors. Scheffler is golf betting’s equivalent of applying to a safety school at this point. He won the Masters. He probably could’ve won the PGA Championship if not for some, uh, off-course distractions. Oh, and he just tore up Muirfield Village to win the Memorial while barely breaking a sweat. The concern, as always, with Scottie is his putter — and the greens at Pinehurst will do him no favors there — but as long as he’s putting the ball in the fairway like normal, he should be in contention again on Sunday.
Morikawa is built for a course like Pinehurst this week and if we were playing this event on paper (with Scottie’s name crossed out) he’d probably be our winner. Morikawa is No. 1 overall on Tour in driving accuracy, No. 4 in rough avoidance, No. 8 in three-putt avoidance and 23rd in scrambling. He doesn’t miss the fairway often, and when he does it rarely leads to dropped shots.
You can pretty much throw out the overall stats for Koepka when the majors roll around. There is perhaps no better big game hunter in golf than the two-time U.S. Open winner. In fact, Koepka has more top five finishes in the four majors (14) than he does missed cuts (four). I also wouldn’t advise betting against the noted Florida Panthers fan with his team so close to winning the Stanley Cup.
Is this an overreaction to Homa’s performance at The Masters? Perhaps, but it would be foolish not to take someone like Homa who both shows up on the big stage and is excellent at scrambling (29th overall). The U.S. Open is a test of how well a golfer can tame the toughest conditions. Things are going to go wrong. Trusting someone like Homa to make up for those errors with solid putting and approach shots makes plenty of sense.
Straka is a pick based on his strengths more than experience, though he hasn’t looked too bad in majors so much as he’s been inconsistent. He was T16 at 2024 The Masters and pulled off top ten finishes at the 2023 PGA Championship and the 2023 Open Championship. Since missing the cut at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, Straka has back-to-back T5 finishes at the Charles Schwab and the Memorial. There are three stats that truly make me like him here: He’s No. 2 overall on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, No. 3 in rough avoidance and No. 22 in three-putt avoidance. That’s a solid recipe to win a U.S. Open.
