2019 U.S. Open: PGA Golf Odds and Predictions
Like the PGA Championship and British Open, the U.S. Open rotates among different courses each year. This weekend, it’s at arguably the top public course in America and also its most picturesque: Pebble Beach Golf Links on the Monterey Peninsula in northern California. Yep, anyone can play there, but it’s not cheap.
U.S. Open History, Date and Location
It’s the sixth time that Pebble Beach hosts the U.S. Open and first since 2010 when Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won at even par. The most memorable U.S. Open held at the course was easily in 2000 when Tiger Woods won by a major championship record 15 shots. He was the only player in the field under par: 12 under. That was arguably the most dominant performance ever in a major.
The U.S. Open is now the third of four major championships on the new PGA Tour schedule with the PGA Championship having been shifted from August to May. Pebble Beach isn’t overly long at 7,075 yards, but the winds will make it play much longer. It’s a par 71 and this is the 100-year anniversary of the course’s opening. It also hosts the annual Pebble Beach Pro-Am each February on the PGA Tour but two other courses also are part of that tournament. Players compete on Pebble once in the first three rounds and then all players are at Pebble for the final round. The course will play much tougher this week than it does for that Tour stop. The USGA generally tries to make the U.S. Open the most challenging tournament in the world.
This year’s U.S. Open will be played from June 13th to June 16th.
U.S. Open Betting Favourites
Koepka, the No. 1 player in the world, looks to join Scotland’s Willie Anderson (1903-05) as the only players to win the U.S. Open three straight years. Koepka won two years ago in Wisconsin by four shots and then last year in New York by one. No surprise, then, that he’s the +632 Sports Interaction favourite. Of course, Koepka repeated at the PGA Championship last month. He played last week at the Canadian Open and wasn’t a factor with a 50th-place finish.
Dustin Johnson is +680 and Rory McIlroy +692. Johnson had a three-shot lead entering the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open but blew up with an 82 on Sunday. His lone major title was at the 2016 U.S. Open. Johnson has won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am twice.
McIlroy won the 2015 U.S. Open. He was brilliant over the weekend at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in shooting a tournament-record 61 on Sunday to win the Canadian Open by a record seven shots in his debut in that event. Rory has missed the cut at the past three U.S. Opens.
Tiger is +1100 to win his record-tying fourth U.S. Open and first since 2008 down the California coast at Torrey Pines. Phil Mickelson (+2700) has done everything in his Hall of Fame career but win the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam. He has finished second in the tournament an astonishing six times. Lefty did win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February for a fifth time.
Canadian Golfer Odds
No Canadian has won the U.S. Open. Dave Barr was one of three second-place finishers in 1985 outside Detroit behind Andy North. Not likely a Canadian will win this year with Nick Taylor at +37700 and Mike Weir +150000. Taylor finished 27th last week, while Weir missed the cut. He was 80th at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble.
U.S. Open Winner Predictions
Take Johnson and Patrick Cantlay for Top 10s, but we’re going to say Mickelson finally gets the monkey off his back. Tiger won the Masters in April so Phil winning the U.S. Open would be equally fitting.
