US Open Preview

The US Open kicks off on Thursday (local time) at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Tiger Woods has found some good form coming into the tournament and will start as the 8.50 favourite. Westwood, Donald and 2011 US Open winner Rory McIlroy are the other favourites, with no other player under 20.00 odds. Bookmakers aren’t predicting back to back Majors for Bubba Watson. The 2012 US Masters winner starts as a 46.00 outsider.

I’m not aware of any Australian bookmaker promotions at the moment. Perhaps something will crop up closer to the event.

The final hours of each round will be aired on Fox Sports from 6 AM AEST daily (Friday to Monday).

The leader board for the event can be viewed here:
http://www.usopen.com/en_US/scoring/index.html

A form guide for the main names in the tournament can be viewed here:
http://www.iseekgolf.com/news/42953-us-open-form-guide

Below is a summary from the form guide, combined with notes from the PGA Tour Power Ranking and other titbits. Next to each player are his PGA Tour Power Ranking and tournament winner odds in brackets.

• Tiger Woods (2, 8.50)
  Won in dramatic style in the Memorial, which goes a long way to explaining his short odds. His win at the Memorial was his second win in five starts. Woods has won 14 majors, including the US Open three times. His last Major win was at the US Open in 2008.
• Lee Westwood (3, 12.00)
  Has not won a major championship but has been inside the top five on three occasions at the US Open. He won the Nordea Masters in Sweden by five shots over the weekend.
• Luke Donald (1, 13.00)
  In good form, having won the BMW PGA Championship for the second year running. He also had a last round of 68 for 12th at the Memorial. Donald has a poor record at the US Open, however. He has not made the top ten in eight attempts.
• Rory McIlroy (11, 15.00)
  The defending US Open champion is not in great form, having missed three consecutive cuts and losing his number one ranking. He had a much improved showing in Memphis last week, however a double-bogey on the final hole cost him the title. McIlroy was mercurial in Memphis. He had more birdies than any other player but also managed 14 bogeys and a double bogey.
• Phil Mickelson (7, 23.00)
  Has five runner up finishes at the US Open. The golf course this year (Olympic Club) is a style that suits him. Has finished inside the top five in six of his thirteen starts this season.
• Dustin Johnson (4, 26.00)
  Has recently come back from injury but has been in good form. He finished 19th at the Memorial and won in Memphis. He led the US Open into the final round in 2010 before scoring a round of 82.
• Justin Rose (5, 26.00)
  In good form, finishing runner up at the BMW PGA and winning the Cadillac WGC event earlier in the year. He has finished inside the top ten five times in eight starts. He has not played well at the US Open of late, missing the last three cuts.
• Matt Kuchar (8, 26.00)
  A consistent performer, ranked 2nd in the PGA for bogey avoidance. He has finished inside the top 15 in the last two US Opens.
• Jason Dufner (9, 26.00)
  In excellent form. In his last four starts he has won twice and finished 2nd once. He came 2nd at the PGA Championship in 2011, but has a terrible record at the US Open. He missed the cut last year and his highest ever finish is 33rd.
• Jim Furyk (6, 41.00)
  Won the US Open in 2003. Was tied for 2nd in 2006 and 2007, but hasn’t featured prominently since. He failed to make the cut last year. Furyk currently leads the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance and is ranked 2nd in fairways hit. He has finished inside the top 25 seven times in his last eight starts.
• Adam Scott (16+, 41.00)
  Has been up and down this season. He has yet to finish inside the top ten at the US Open in ten starts.
• Bubba Watson (16+, 46.00)
  Won the US Masters at Augusta earlier in the year but has played sparingly since. He finished 18th at the Players Championship but missed the cut at the Memorial.
• Jason Day (16+, 61.00)
  Was runner up last year, but hasn’t been playing as well since. He missed the cut at the Memorial but has had a couple of top ten finishes. He has been hampered by an ankle injury, which has reduced the number of events he has participated in.
• Ian Poulter (10, 61.00)
  Has enjoyed six top tens in his last fourteen starts. Known for his strong short game.

Below are the latest odds (subject to change):

Tournament winner betting is always a huge gamble, although the high player odds make the tournament fun to watch! Top 10 betting can be better value, especially for the more consistent performers. He hasn’t been discussed above, but one player to keep an eye on is Louis Oosthuizen (51.00 to win, 5.50 top ten). He was runner up in Augusta and won the Malaysian Open the following week. Oosthuizen was tied for 9th at the US Open last year and he knows how to win a major. Oosthuizen won the The Open Championship in 2010. Charl Schwartzel is another South African to keep an eye out for. The 2011 US Masters winner finished inside the top ten at the US Open last year.

McIlroy is arguably too short to back. I wouldn’t want to bet against Tiger Woods with the form he’s in. He didn’t participate in the US Open in 2011, but prior to that he has finished tied for 2nd (2007), 1st (2008), tied for 6th (2009) and tied for 4th (2010).

The US Open has a reputation for being unpredictable, so you may want to wait for the first day results before jumping in.