US Open Predictions - Overall winner & outsider
The golfing world turns its attention to Moore County, North Carolina, on Thursday when the 124th US Open commences at the renowned Pinehurst Number Two course.
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This iconic venue has hosted the Major tournament on three previous occasions – 1999, 2005, and 2014 – with Germany’s Martin Kaymer running away from the field to record an eight-shot victory 10 years ago.
A formidable test of precision, patience and shot-making ability awaits the best players in the world with world number one Scottie Scheffler leading the pack as the firm 3/1 favourite going into the event.
Fresh off his impressive victories at April’s Masters and last week’s Memorial Tournament, Scheffler already looks like being the man to beat in North Carolina while recent US PGA Championship winner, Xander Schauffele, available at 9/1, seeks to continue his recent run of form.
Elsewhere, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, priced at 10/1, and Norway’s 18/1 shot Viktor Hovland provide Europe with their best hopes following on from 2022 champion Matt Fitzpatrick and 2021 winner John Rahm by seeing off another strong home challenge.
Tip 1 - Collin Morikawa to win @ 16/1
Collin Morikawa’s game is back to where it was when he won the 2020 US PGA and the 2021 Open, adding to the widespread belief that he can reverse last week’s placings with Scheffler.
The 27-year-old was pipped to the title at Muirfield Golf Village by one stroke, but his second place at Jack’s place adds to an already solid run of recent results.
Morikawa tied for third place at Augusta this spring and has since finished ninth, T16, T4, and fourth in his four events prior to being the runner-up last week.
The Californian’s precise approach play and red-hot putter make him a standout contender to have success on the slippy greens of Pinehurst.
Tip 2 - Tyrell Hatton to win @ 66/1
Tyrell Hatton will bid to follow in the footsteps of his friend and Ryder Cup teammate Fitzpatrick when he tees it up in North Carolina this week.
The 32-year-old has the right blend of youth and experience to finally emerge as a contender at a tournament where he earned his best major placing of sixth back in 2018.
Now part of the LIV Tour, Hatton’s world ranking has fallen in the last year, but he was superb off the tee and around the greens at Augusta earlier this year when finishing T9 at the Masters. That secured the Englishman another crack at winning the fabled green jacket again next year, but his all-round game that has no discernable weaknesses looks better suited to a US Open set-up.
Some critics have suggested Hatton’s temperament is stopping him from winning a major, but he ticks a lot of the boxes for the type of challenge offered up by Pinehurst this week and should not be overlooked as an outsider bet.
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.