US Open Golf Betting Tips

Off-the-course politics have dominated golf over the last ten days but the top players in the world can put all the quarrelling behind them at this week’s US Open.

The best players from the variety of tours head to Los Angeles Country Club for the third Major of the year and they will all be looking to succeed Matt Fitzpatrick, who claimed the crown at Brookline 12 months ago.

World number one Scottie Scheffler is set to go off favourite, but he faces stiff competition particularly from Brooks Koepka, who pipped him to glory at last month’s US PGA Championship and is aiming for his third victory in this tournament.

But the last two US Opens have been won by a European and former champions Jon Rahm, who won the Masters in April, and Rory McIlroy, who won by eight shots at Congressional in 2011, will both have their eyes on the prize.

Tip 1 - Viktor Hovland to win outright @ 15/1

There is plenty of talent at the top of the market and one player who should not be overlooked is Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who is in a rich vein of form.

It seems only a matter of time before he joins the illustrious list of Major winners and he has already come tantalisingly close twice this season.

He fell to seventh at the Masters after a disappointing closing 74 when right in the mix and he got even closer at the US PGA when he was joint runner-up with Scheffler as Koepka triumphed at Oak Hill.

Rather than dwell on the disappointment, though, he has used those results as a springboard, winning the Memorial Tournament last time out by beating Denn McCarthy in a playoff.

There will be few players heading to Los Angeles in better spirits and this could be the week he sheds his Major championship maiden tag.

Tip 2 - Justin Rose to finish in the top five @ 17/2

It is ten years since Justin Rose claimed his only Major to date when he won this tournament at Merion and the Englishman looks in a good enough space now to make another strong challenge.

Rose has already claimed the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this year and he heads to California with his game in a good place after finishing 16th at the Masters and ninth at the US PGA.

He has maintained that form with 12th place at the Charles Schwab Challenge and eighth at last week’s Canadian Open, and he has the patient temperament to get into the mix this week, so he looks a decent bet to finish in the top five.

Tip 3 - Bryson DeChambeau to finish in the top ten @ 19/5

Many golf fans find Bryson DeChambeau an acquired taste but it is worth remembering that he won the US Open by six shots in 2020 when he was the only player who got to grips with Winged Foot.

A stratospheric rise from there has not materialised, but his game is emerging from the doldrums of the last year and his recent form suggests he could be a factor in LA.

He was fourth at the US PGA, a performance that came in the middle of two top-ten finishes on the LIV Golf Tour, and on a course with fairways wide enough for him to take advantage of his length off the tee, he could post a similar performance this week

The History Of The US Open

The first US Open Championship took place on a nine-hole layout at Newport Golf and Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. The third golfing Major of this season traditionally takes place in June with the final round usually played on Father’s Day.

Often billed as the ultimate test in golf, the present day US Open owes much to the giants of the game who have graced its fairways down the years.

Early Pioneers Of The US Open

Founded in 1895, the US Open was originally played concurrently with the more prestigious US Amateur Championship. The Open was then something of an afterthought and no big deal. Indeed, there were only 10 professional entrants and a solitary amateur at the inaugural championship.

Having learnt as much as he could carrying clubs for members around assorted English golf clubs, a young chap named Horace Rawlins from Hertfordshire set sail for America following in the footsteps of his brother who had gone before. Rawlins then joined the Newport club, alongside Scotsman Willie Davis, where his job was to “teach golf, tend greens, and stay out of the way.”

First US Open Winner

Having learnt all he could about the course at which he was employed, Rawlins became the first ever winner of the US Open, beating the hot favourite Willie Dunn by just two strokes to etch his name into the golfing history books.

The following year, the Open moved to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York. Since then, the famed links course has hosted the US Open on a further four occasions, most recently in 2018. Rawlins was runner-up in the Open's second year and during the next 18 editions, Horace would compete in the event a further 13 times.

As the event became ever more popular, golfers flocked from around the world to take part but the US Open would not crown its first American winner until 1911 when a 19-year-old John J. McDermott Jr took the title. The Philadelphia native would win the event the following year and remains the second youngest winner ever of a golfing Major.

The US Open has been dominated by Americans ever since. In the following 90 years in which the tournament was staged, the Championship Trophy - which was first presented at the very first competition - was claimed by golfers from the USA in every year bar three.

Notable US Open Milestones Down The Years

Fast forward to 1930 and the US Open was now firmly established as one of the greatest prizes in golf. That year, the Interlachen Country Club was chosen to stage the championship. Until then, the more prestigious clubs on the East Coast had tended to host the Open. Interlachen in Minneapolis was a little more remote and the US Open was billed as the biggest sporting event ever to be held in the area.

Quite the buzz greeted Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr. when he arrived by train in Minneapolis. Jones had already claimed the US Amateur championship, and its British equivalent, along with the British Open in 1930 and he won his fourth and last US Open at Interlachen. No one has ever won those four titles in the same year and likely never will again.

The 1960s began with perhaps the most famous swing in golfing history claiming its first US Open. Arnold Palmer’s driving technique was unorthodox and unique but it powered one of the greatest names in the game to his maiden Open over a young Jack Nicklaus and an ageing Ben Hogan. The 1960 event was the only time Palmer would win the US Open amongst his six other Major titles. Nicklaus would defeat Palmer the following year for the first of his 18 Major titles.