Best bets
0.5pt each-way Justin Rose @ 40/1 first-round leader
2pts Stewart Cink @ 21/10 Top Senior
2pts Tyrrell Hatton @ 9/2 Top GB & Ireland
1pt Emiliano Grillo @ 4/1 Top South American
Thursday Threeballs
1pt Padraig Harrington @ 9/4 (20.59)
1pt Brooks Koepka @ 7/5 (21.54)
1pt Sebastian Munoz @ 15/8 (22.05)
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Prepare yourselves for a US Open like no other. Where else would you find a par three that’s closer to 300 yards than 250? Or another one that’s under 100? Or rolling terrain where you rarely get a level lie? Or fairways 50 yards wide or more? at a US Open? C’mon, you’re having me on!
But this is Los Angeles Country Club’s North course making its debut as a major championship venue and nobody really knows how it’s all going to pan out. Opening with a gentle par five under sunny skies in mid-June on rolling fairways, we could have a riot of low scores that normally the USGA, anxious to set a serious examination, hates to see. Or not.
It’s a bit of a mystery tour for punters but I’m hoping early starter Justin Rose – he tees off at 8.02am California time (16.02BST) alongside Jason Day and Rickie Fowler – can use the pristine greens to his advantage and set a target that will survive the day. He’s 40/1 to be first-round leader, a position he’s used to at Augusta – only Jack Nicklaus has equalled his record of leading the Masters four times after day one. The difference: Jack has won six Green Jackets, Rose none. But the stylish Englishman is a winner this year, and on a US Open course, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and arrives on the back of a solid eighth place in Canada.
Talking of the Canadian Open, surely the winner, Nick Taylor, must be one to take on after a weekend of celebrating and backslapping as the first home-bred champion for 69 years? He’s got all day to get more congratulations and sign more autographs before teeing off in the 22.05 BST threeball – yes, get ready for the late, late show!
Taking him on are LIV rebel Sebastian Munoz and Taylor Montgomery, an American newcomer who started his main-tour career looking like the best thing since sliced bread with eight top-15s in his first nine starts but currently finding life not the bowl of cherries he thought it might be.
Munoz started like an express train with a 62 at LIV Orlando in April and was only just reeled in by Brooks Koepka on the final day. We know how good he is! As the Colombian specialises in super-low scores (he has shot 60 twice), he gets the vote at 15/8.
Just ahead of the Munoz game will be Koepka himself in one of the day’s marquee threeballs. British fans will be fervently hoping the most popular golfer in the field, Rory McIlroy, gives the LIV star a good hiding. They certainly won’t be talking much as Rory said “I still hate LIV” following last week’s astounding climbdown by the PGA.
They tee off at 9.54pm with Hideki Matsuyama who might well beat both of them but I’ll be on man-on-a-mission Koepka at 7/5 as not even McIlroy knows where his game’s at right now.
Padraig Harrington is the 9/4 outsider against Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley at 20.59 but finished ahead of Lefty in the last major and, given Mickelson’s deplorable record in LIV events, there’s no reason why he won’t do so again. Bradley is a different matter but Pod has tremendous self-belief these days and for a 51-year-old is hitting it like a bullet.
However, I’m opposing Pod and Phil with 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink In Top Senior betting where he’s the 21/10 outsider of three. Cink made his Champions Tour bow last month when a close third to Steve Stricker and Harrington in the Senior PGA Championship. Before that he shot a bundle of sub-70 rounds on the main tour at Quail Hollow and the Nelson and looks set to make a fortune on the over-50s circuit.
Argentinian Emiliano Grillo isn’t one of my favourite golfers but there’s no arguing about his current form as he’s just won for the first time in yonks at Colonial after a number of eye-catching efforts. The 4/1 for Top South American holds some appeal. And Tyrrell Hatton’s streak of high finishes entitles him to serious consideration at 9/2 for the Top GB & Ireland ticket.
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