#US Open: Eight golfers worth betting on at Winged Foot

World No. 1 and new FedEx Cup champion Dustin Johnson is the 8/1 favorite at BetMGM. Jon Rahm (9/1) is still seeking his first major championship, but it only seems like a matter of when, not if, for the 25-year-old as he already has 12 worldwide wins in just four years as a pro. Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele are next on the odds board at 14/1 followed by Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa at 16/1.

Here are some players who are worth a Winged Foot wager:

Jon Rahm (9/1)

The closest event we’ve had to a U.S. Open this year in terms of difficulty was three weeks ago at the BMW Championship where Rahm battled with Johnson down the stretch and Rahmbo came out on top at the first playoff hole, draining a 66-foot putt with 10 feet of break. Would it shock any of us if history repeated itself here this weekend with these two battling for the championship?

Rahm checks all the boxes from a statistical standpoint. You cannot just bomb and gouge your way to win on this golf course this week. You also cannot just be accurate and too short on almost a 7,500-yard track. Rahm has the proper balance of distance and accuracy.

Xander Schauffele (14/1)

This could be the week where X marks the spot for Schauffele. He has finished T-5, T-6 and T-3 in his three career U.S. Opens. The only thing left for him to do is win the darn thing. Seven of the last 10 U.S. Open winners have been first-time major winners.

Daniel Berger (28/1)

Two years ago, Berger found himself in Sunday’s final pairing at the 2018 U.S. Open. He’d shot 66 on Saturday on a tough Shinnecock Hills course. Unfortunately for Berger, he fell prey to being a first-timer in that situation for a major championship and fell to a T-6 finish on Sunday. That moment started his fall from a top-40 player all the way out of the top 150.

In the restart from the pandemic shutdown, Berger won the first event at Colonial and nearly went back-to-back with a T-3 at the RBC Heritage. Berger still is not in the Masters field, which could serve as motivation.

Tony Finau (33/1)

The other member of that final pairing with Berger two years ago at Shinnecock Hills was Finau, who ended up finishing T-5. Finau has four top 5s and five top 10s in the last nine overall majors.

Adam Scott (40/1)

Scott has played a light schedule this summer but that could be a good thing for him that he did not go deep into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The Aussie has three top-10 finishes in the last six U.S. Opens.

Tyrrell Hatton (40/1)

While he doesn’t match the statistical profile as much as some other selections, Hatton has played well in recent years at the majors in the northeast with a T-6 at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and a T-10 in the 2016 PGA at Baltusrol.

Jason Day (40/1)

Day had five top 10s in his first six U.S. Opens (2011-16) and has an excellent record on these A.W. Tillinghast/Gil Hanse designs.

Shane Lowry (80/1)

The still-reigning British Open champ was the 54-hole leader at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont before finishing T-2, and finished T-8 at the 2019 PGA at Bethpage Black.