Los Angeles Country Club is hosting a major championship for the 1st time this week, bringing the best players in the world together for the 2023 U.S. Open. Matt Fitzpatrick’s title defense begins on Thursday morning with Round 1 from Beverly Hills.
Below, we search for the best value prop bets among the 2023 U.S. Open odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler continue to battle for the title of World No. 1, with Scheffler entering the week atop the Official World Golf Ranking. Rahm, however, is the top golfer in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, followed by Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy. Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. Open last year, is ranked 25th.
Players will be taking on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club this week, a par 70 playing 7,423 yards. Two of the par 3s will be at least 280 yards, making them 2 of the longest in tournament history. The course opened in 1928 and was restored in 2010 by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford. The fairways will be wider than most U.S. Open courses, but several greens are narrow and will be protected by unmanicured bunkers.
2023 U.S. Open Championship
Follow the 2023 U.S. Open Championship leaderboard, scores, news, groupings, course details and more from Golfweek and USA TODAY. Catch the tournament June 15-18.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3011″ ]
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3012″ ]
U.S. Open – Top-5 picks
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 3:35 p.m. ET.
Brooks Koepka (+250)
After winning the PGA Championship, Koepka now has 14 top-5 finishes in 36 major championships, including 2 this year. At +250, he’s still a very good value to come in the top 5, especially considering both Scheffler (+150) and Rahm (+225) have shorter odds.
Viktor Hovland (+350)
Hovland tied for 7th at the Masters and 2nd at the PGA Championship, which are 2 of his 7 top-10 finishes already this season. It’s by far the best year of his career and I fully expect him to continue with another high finish at LACC this week, a course that demands top-level ball striking.
Cameron Smith (+500)
Smith continued his impressive major track record this year with a T-34 at the Masters and T-9 at the PGA Championship. LACC sets up well for him with his recovery skills around the greens and putting ability on these tricky, undulating surfaces. He already has 5 top-5 finishes in majors in his career.
Other T5 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Tony Finau (+650)
- Xander Schauffele (+350)
WATCH: PGA Tour is live on ESPN+! Get ESPN+
U.S. Open – Top-10 picks
Xander Schauffele (+175)
When it comes to the majors, and specifically the U.S. Open, bet Schauffele for a top-10 finish. He has 10 of them in his major championship career, with 5 of those coming in his 6 U.S. Open starts. His only finish outside the top 10 in the U.S. Open was in 2022 when he tied for 14th.
Max Homa (+240)
Homa has not played well in the majors. That’s well-documented. But this is a U.S. Open in his home state and at a venue where his 61 is the course record, set in college for Cal at the Pac-12 Championship. He has 8 top-10s in 16 starts this season; he just needs to break through and do it in a major.
Tyrrell Hatton (+275)
The fiery and often frustrated Hatton doesn’t seem like a good match for a difficult U.S. Open, but he’s one of the hottest players on the planet right now – and I’m not talking about his temper. He hasn’t finished worse than T-19 in his last 6 starts, a stretch that includes 3 top-5s. His U.S. Open record isn’t great but he’s never played this well in his career.
Other T10 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Justin Thomas (+350)
- Dustin Johnson (+350)
U.S. Open – Top-20 picks
Rickie Fowler (+140)
Fowler has been a top-20 machine this season, notching 11 such finishes in 17 starts. He has 4 top-20 finishes in his U.S. Open career, so he’s played well in this challenging championship before, but this week is an excellent shot for him to claim his 1st major title in his home state.
Tommy Fleetwood (+150)
Fleetwood has been trending up for a little while now, peaking with a runner-up finish on Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open, losing to Nick Taylor in a playoff. He tied for 18th at the PGA last month, a similarly difficult test to the U.S. Open. He finished 4th and 2nd in the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018, too.
Eric Cole (+450)
One of my long shots this week is Cole, whose only real weakness is driving the ball. In most U.S. Opens, fairways are narrow and penalizing when you miss them. But LACC features wider fairways than usual, which helps Cole, who has 5 top-25s in his last 7 starts. He tied for 15th at the PGA and 27th at the Players, 2 of the biggest tournaments he played this year.
Other T20 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Min Woo Lee (+350)
- Justin Rose (+140)
U.S. Open – Matchups
Suggested play is golfer in bold.
Dustin Johnson (-120) vs. Bryson DeChambeau (-105)
This isn’t a bomb-and-gouge golf course or one that necessarily sets up for big hitters. Obviously, both DJ and Bryson are long off the tee, but Johnson typically has better control over his driver. As well as DeChambeau played in the PGA Championship, I favor Johnson’s game this week.
Min Woo Lee (-105) vs. Joaquin Niemann (-120)
Lee missed the cut at the Masters, but he was in contention at the Players (T-6) and finished T-18 at the PGA Championship. Niemann missed the cut at the PGA Championship and may not be in the type of form that Lee is.
Rickie Fowler (-135) vs. Cameron Young (+110)
Young’s sophomore slump has been shocking and disappointing after a fantastic rookie season. He hasn’t finished better than T-51 since the Masters and only has 6 top-25s in 15 starts. Fowler, on the other hand, has been as steady and consistent as anyone.
U.S. Open – Top Scandinavian
Viktor Hovland (-225)
Yes, the odds are very short for this bet. However, Alex Noren (+500) and Vincent Norman (+550) are the only other Scandinavian players with odds shorter than +1200 to win this bet. As long as Hovland makes the cut, this bet should cash because neither Noren nor Norman are legitimate threats to win at LACC.
U.S. Open – Top debutant
Cam Davis (+600)
It’s somewhat surprising that Davis has never played a U.S. Open before, but after seeing the way he played at Oak Hill in last month’s PGA Championship, I have no doubt he can succeed on this course in these conditions. Taylor Moore (+750) and Adam Svensson (+1000) are among the others vying to be the top debutant.
U.S. Open – First-round leader
Viktor Hovland (+2800)
Hovland had a share of the lead at the Masters after Round 1 after shooting 65. At the PGA Championship, he was 2 off the lead with a 1st-round 68. Why not go back to him in the U.S. Open after he just won his last start at the Memorial Tournament?
Max Homa (+4000)
Can the hometown kid come out and fire a low number at LACC where he has more experience than just about anyone in the field? Homa ranks 6th in 1st-round scoring average this season, too, so he’s played well on Thursdays all year.
More expert prop bet predictions
Group D winner: Tommy Fleetwood (+333)
This is a strong group with DeChambeau, Rose, Thomas and Johnson, all of whom are legitimate contenders to win this week, along with Fleetwood. Fleetwood comes in with arguably the best form after his runner-up finish last week and he deservingly has the 2nd-best odds in this group.
Fitzpatrick, Morikawa and Fleetwood to make the cut (+138)
Fitzpatrick got back on track after missing the cut at the PGA Championship, Morikawa is a pure ball striker who should excel on this course and I’ve already detailed my backing of Fleetwood this week. All three are good bets to make the cut.
Will there be a hole in one? No (+125)
Call me the no-fun guy, but I like the odds for there to be no aces this week. Even with 5 par-3s, these are no bargain. Two of them are 280-plus, another is 228 and the fourth is 171 yards. The most gettable one is a short 124-yard shot on the 15th, which could play as short as under 100 yards.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”5″ ]
Play our free daily Pick’em Challenge and win! Play now!
For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.
Golfweek:
- Photos: Hats, T-shirts, flags and more in the 2023 U.S. Open merchandise tent
- State-by-state rankings of best private courses; LACC on list
Follow @camdasilva on Twitter. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
[lawrence-newsletter]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1364]