Captain Keegan to show Ryder Cup hopefuls the way

2pts each-way Keegan Bradley @ 40/1

2pts each-way Viktor Hovland @ 30/1

1pt each-way Cameron Young @ 40/1

1pt each-way Patrick Cantlay @ 20/1
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Golf is being pretty mean to me at the moment. I thought I had a 60/1 winner of the US Open as Sam Burns seemed to have it covered with nine holes to play, just as I thought the same player held all the aces in Canada the previous week when I put him up at 28/1.

He couldn’t hack it then and he certainly couldn’t hack it at Oakmont Country Club, a course that demands everything and gives you nothing but heartache … unless your name is JJ Spaun.

A best-priced 125/1 outsider, the homely 34-year-old from LA looked cooked when he dropped five shots in the first six holes on Sunday and was promptly crossed off everyone’s list. But three Spaun birdies in the last five holes as Burns and Adam Scott crumbled in near-impossible conditions turned everything around and holing a 64ft birdie putt at the last put the icing on the cake.

It was a spectacular finish although not strictly necessary as two putts would have done the job. But it meant Spaun, with a one-under-par 279, was the only player to beat fearsome Oakmont.

Not very big (only 5ft 8), not very long but very straight, very good at avoiding the double bogeys that plagued the bigger names, sound on the greens, resilient and possessed of an unflappable temperament under pressure, Spaun, with only one previous win on his CV, let the others beat themselves.

Favourite Scottie Scheffler rallied to finish T7 without his A game, Rory McIlroy closed with a 67 for a top-20 but was never at the races, and a lot of big names were humiliated by the five-inch rough and treacherous greens running at 14.5 on the stimpmeter.

Ludvig Aberg, Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry (17 over for 36 holes), Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay were just five giants who missed the cut. The extra two days of relief away from the carnage of Oakmont may be a blessing in disguise this week at the Travelers Championship, the PGA Tour’s only visit to Connecticut and an absolute doddle of a golf course after Oakmont.

Only 6844 yards long, River Highlands is a par 70 made for birdies. It’s where Jim Furyk shot the only 58 in PGA history in 2016, Cameron Young shot a 59 in round three last year, and Cantlay while still an amateur got it round in 60 back in 2011. It’s not the greatest choice for Signature status – it’s the eighth and final $20m purse in the series – as it’s too much of a putting contest but the 72 no-cut qualifiers who will share it aren’t complaining.

A Signature tournament for only two years, the improvement in the quality of the field has been considerable. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley cracked the record with 23 under in 2023 with Scheffler and Tom Kim almost matching it last year when the world No. 1 edged home in a playoff.

He had finished only 41st at Pinehurst in a disappointing US Open the week before; this year he was T7. Bradley was top putter at River Highlands two years ago when he dotted up by three. He still harbours ambitions to play in the Ryder Cup and at 40/1 I see him as the main danger to Scheffler as McIlroy can’t wait to get home and looks golfed out after achieving his career Slam dream. Before a respectable 33rd at Oakmont, Bradley had put up some good numbers, seventh at Memorial, eighth at the PGA, and arrives with a very consistent game.

Also starting to hole putts is Cameron Young who must surely win a tournament one day. He tied ninth here last year and is showing improved form. As a New Yorker he’s close to home – as is Bradley, a native of Vermont – and brings with him fourth places at the US and Canadian Opens.

Apart from brave Spaun, nobody impressed me more last week than Viktor Hovland who still has his driving to sort out but everything else looked in good order, particularly the attitude, The Norwegian hung on for third place in a Major that gave Europe plenty of Ryder Cup encouragement with Bob MacIntyre second, Hovland third, Tyrrell Hatton T4 and Jon Rahm T7.

Sadly, the LIV boys have to go back in their box this week but with Hatton, Rahm and Carlos Ortiz in the top seven at Oakmont, there was little evidence that joining the Saudi breakaways thas sent their games into decline.

The Travelers has not been particularly good for Europeans, their last winner Russell Knox nine years ago, but a second victory of the year for the revived Hovland would come as no surprise and with doubts over McIlroy and Aberg, the 8/1 for Viktor to be Top Euro rates a sound each-way wager. Aberg has not been right since he made a mess of his last round at Augusta when he still had a winning chance.

It’s an absolute age since Cantlay won anything but he’s been T5 and T4 the last two years and has had positive vibes for River Highlands ever since his days as world No. 1 amateur. Expect a big showing from him and his Ryder Cup partner Xander Schauffele, winner here in 2022 before its Signature days and gradually making up for lost time after a rib problem kept him out of the game at the start of the year.

Spaun is down to play too and he’s not the sort to let a sponsor down. Right now he’s a very popular man with bookmakers who can’t have believed their luck.

Sam Burns will probably win now that I’ve deserted him, ditto Scheffler but I can’t advise you to take a price as cramped as 27/10 about the favourite on a course that won’t necessarily separate the men from the boys and is little more than a lottery.

There’s a stormy start to the week on the weather front but the last 36 holes should be dry.