U.S. Open 2024 Golf Odds, Top Players, Course Insight And Prepping For Pinehurst

America’s golf championship returns to the Cradle of American Golf and the Sandhills of North Carolina for the 2024 U.S. Open June 13-16. The 124th U.S. Open at the historic Pinehurst No. 2 course will be contested over the Donald Ross masterpiece and provide a severe and stiff challenge to the world’s top golfers. The 156-player field includes 84 fully exempt players, four added alternates and 68 players who made it through final qualifying and a pool of nearly 10,000 qualifyers who now prepare for the toughest and most mentally challenging test in golf.

U.S. Open Preview, Players, Odds, Stats

Check out some additional the course information, golf stats and project player performances as players prepare for golf’s most demanding challenge, where a winning score near level par is projected.

As you watch and wager on this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst and the toughest test of golf, fans can follow 47 hours across NBC, USA and Peacock, and another 36 hours of coverage of Live From on Golf Channel and Peacock.

U.S. Open Golf Odds

Leading favorites and contenders golf odds from FanDuel Sportsbook refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live betting.

• +300: Scottie Scheffler
• +1100: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
• +1400: Collin Morikawa
• +1800: Bryson DeChambeau
• +2000: Viktor Hovland
• +2200: Brooks Koepka, Ludvig Aberg
• +2800: Jon Rahm
• +3500: Tommy Fleetwood
• +4500: Cam Smith, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick
• +5500: Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa
• +6000: Sahith Theegala
• +6500: Tony Finau, Tom Kim
• +7000: Shane Lowry
• +7500: Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Min Woo Lee
• +8000: Seep Straka, Corey Conners
• +9000: Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Cameron Young
• +9000: Russell Henley, Dustin Johnson, Byeong Hun An
• +10000: Will Zalatoris, Robert MacIntyre
• +11000: Jason Day, Dean Burmester
• +12000: Si Woo Kim, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Alex Noren
• +15000: Denny McCarthy, Ryan Fox, Justin Rose
• +17000: Billy Horschel, Brian Harman, Harris English
• +20000: Adam Hadwin, Tom Hoge

Notable players odds changes from last week: Scheffler +410 to +300, Schauffele +1300 to +1100, Morikawa +2100 to +1400, Koepka and Aberg +2400 to +2200, Jon Rahm +2400 to +2800, Cam Smith +3600 to +4500, Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa +4600 to +5500, Wyndham Clark +4600 to +7500, Jordan Spieth +5500 to +7500.

Over/Under winning score and player picks and matchups in midweek edition of U.S. Open betting.

Types Of Bets And How To Read The Odds

Last year’s U.S. Open winner at LA Country Club was Wyndham Clark (-10), who was +8500, or 85/1 to win ahead of the tournament at many leading online sportsbooks. Rory McIlroy finished 1-shot behind in 2nd followed by Scottie Scheffler (-7), Cam Smith and a trio at -5 in Tommy Fleetwood, Min Woo Lee and 36-hole leader Rickie Fowler.

As you watch the action unfold and follow the golf news, odds and picks at Pinehurst, know that 26 of the previous 28 U.S. Open winners were within three shots of the lead after 36 holes. It will be difficult again to make up strokes at Pinehurst.

Just three players finished under par in the 2014 U.S. Open with runaway winner Martin Kaymer (-9) eight strokes in front of runner-up Rickie Fowler. On the most famous 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Payne Stewart (-1) won the championship as the only player under par and just in front of Phil Mickelson (E), Tiger Woods (+1) and Vijay Singh (+1). Stewart died in a private plane crash two months later, and a statue of him sits outside of the Pinehurst No. 2 clubhouse.

Key Stats

Look for accuracy to be more signficiant this week at Pinehurst and a U.S. Open setup. Strokes gained Approach, Around the Green, Putting (Bermuda) and Scrambling stats are an area of focus as you profile players of interest to grind their way to the top of the leaderboard.

The top players on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy this season are Collin Morikawa (77.72%), Sepp Straka (77.26%) and Tommy Fleetwood (74.9%) with top-10 players in driving accuracy also including notables Russell Henley, Shane Lowry, Si Woo Kim and Scottie Scheffler all above 72%.

A model from TheLines of top players in SG: Total in difficult scoring conditions includes these top players: Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Denny McCarthy, Tyrrell Hatton, and Collin Morikawa.

Late last month, women’s world No. 1 Nelly Korda missed the cut at the Women’s U.S. Open. Now the men’s most dominant player Scottie Scheffler plays Pinehurst off his 5th win of the season this past week at the Memorial Tournament. Scheffler’s odds to win continue to drop, from +410 last week to +300 at FanDuel Sportsbook as Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open approaches.

Scheffler is already among the greats of the game, and he’ll try to become just the seventh player to win The Masters and U.S. Open the same year joining Craig Wood, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and FanDuel ambassador Jordan Spieth.

Pinehurst No. 2

“We want to test every part of their game. We want them to hit it high, low, left to right, right to left,” USGA Chief Champions Officer John Bodenhamer said at last month’s U.S. Open media day. “We want them to think about their golf ball. What happens to when it hits the ground, not just in the air,” Bodenhamer said.

There is no rough or tall bermuda grass at Pinehurst No. 2. Instead, sandy wiregrass areas present problems just off the fairways, along with 117 sand bunkers. Water is in play on just one hole. But the biggest challenge is on the fast, bermuda turtleback greens, which are as large as 7,600 square feet to the smallest at 5,800 at Pinehurst No. 2.

“But the playing surfaces, the pinnable locations and the area that you can actually use, are so much smaller,” says course superintendent John Jeffreys. “The greens are large in square footage, but in pinnable spaces, they’re small, and the room for error hitting into them is so tight.”

Hole-By-Hole at Pinehurst No. 2

This will mark the 1st U.S. Open played on Champion ultradwarf bermudagrass greens, which means faster putting surfaces and an exceptional roll of the golf ball.

Players have backstops if they miss greens on approach, but they’re banking off of a ridge to the right and left with many pins on top of a plateau. There’s little or no room for error, and scoring will be most difficult.

U.S. Open Winners Insight On Pinehurse And Greens

Former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy (2006) provides insight on Pinehurst and the extremely difficult greens in the video above.

“Golf is just infinetely random really, which is why we love it.”

Pinehurst is a “brilliant golf course, but scary to play,” Ogilvy says. “It’s an incredible set of greens, and it just seems they’re all upside down (like a volcano), and the ball just seems to be rolling off everywhere.”

Very good shots get rewarded, but bad shots get really punished. “It’s a big difference between hitting the greens and just missing the green. It makes you tentative, and unsure of yourself,” Ogivly adds. “It’s hard to put great swings on it, so it’s really a mental challenge.”

Standing on downslopes or upslopes with the ball above and below your feet is in play. “It creates this apprehension, and you play more timid,” Ogilvy notes.

“That’s a hard head space to put confident swings on it at No. 2.”

You can bet on it.

MORE FROM FORBES

ForbesThe Memorial Tournament 2024 Golf Odds, PGA Picks, Props And Featured GroupsBy Jay GinsbachForbesOilers-Panthers Stanley Cup Finals 2024 Preview, Odds, Picks And Series TrackerBy Jay GinsbachForbesCollege World Series Odds And 2024 Super Regionals Baseball MatchupsBy Jay GinsbachForbesBelmont Stakes 2024 Betting Guide And Win Contender Horse ProfilesBy Jay GinsbachForbes‘It’s Part Of The Game,’ Trump Says As 2024 Presidential Odds Take Hit Following Trial And Felony ConvictionsBy Jay Ginsbach