2019 U.S. Open Preview, Prediction & Betting Odds

June 10th, 2019 By: Ren Richards

One of the most anticipated PGA Tour events of the year, the U.S. Open is finally set to tee off this Thursday, June 13th! Featuring some of the biggest names in golf like Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, and recent Canadian Open Champion, Rory McIlroy, the U.S. Open is sure to be ultra competitive this year. With so many talented golfers and plenty of prize money to be won, there’s certainly a lot riding on this year’s U.S. Open. Get your betting odds and tournament preview here!

The 2019 U.S. Open is coming to sunny Pebble Beach, California as the world’s best golfers flock to the gorgeous Pebble Beach Golf Links. Last year the tournament was hosted at Shinnecock Hills Golf Course in Southampton, New York. Brooks Koepka emerged victorious in 2018, narrowly edging out Tommy Fleetwood and Dustin Johnson for sole possession of first place.

This year will mark the sixth time that the U.S. Open is being played at Pebble Beach. While Pebble Beach isn’t the official home of the U.S. Open, it’s been played there more often than any other golf course in the last several decades. A seventh U.S. Open is scheduled for 2027, making Pebble Beach a staple course to learn for any professional golfer.

The U.S. Open is the third major golf championship played throughout the year. It features 72 holes of play across 4 days of action, with the lowest total score determining the winner. The U.S. Open is played at courses that place an emphasis on having a good deal of technical skill, which make it one of the harder tournaments to score at. Pebble Beach fits that description perfectly, with this year being the first time the U.S. Open has been hosted here since 2010.

Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of the most popular public golf courses in the entire country. A mixture of breathtakingly scenic views and perfect greens for golfing make the course one-of-a-kind, and a favorite amongst those who’ve played on it. The course spans more than 7,000 yards of play with a variety of short and long holes to make up a Par 71 for the U.S. Open.

Pebble Beach is also home to the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tournament. Any golfer that’s played at Pebble Beach understand that the course is far more daunting than it may seem. 7,000 yards makes for one of the shorter yards totals in recent U.S. Opens, but the design of the course requires a great deal of planning and careful calculation of angles. Golfers that come to Pebble Beach with the intent of blasting through the course are in for a rude awakening, making Pebble Beach focused on finesse over raw driving power.

This year the prize pool for the U.S. Open is more than $12 million, giving plenty of incentive to the talented field of golfers. Last year the trophy was claimed by Brooks Koepka, who won by just a stroke over Tommy Fleetwood. Koepka’s 2018 U.S. Open victory was actually his second in a row, as he also won the 2017 U.S. Open by four strokes at the Erin Hills golf course in Wisconsin.

Not only is Koepka is coming of consecutive U.S Open victories, but he also just won the PGA Championship last month for the second year in a row. Going back to April, Brooks also finished 2nd by just a stroke at the Master behind none other than Tiger Woods. If you can’t tell, this man is simply on fire. Despite recent success, Koepka blundered at the RBC Canadian Open last weekend, finishing 50th overall with two strokes under par.

One golfer who didn’t have any issue at the RBC Canadian Open was Rory McIlroy. McIlroy had been in a bit of a slump prior to the Canadian Open, failing to finish above 8th place since he won The Players back in March. The Canadian Open was an entirely different story, as Rory coasted to a 22 strokes under par finish, good for 7 strokes ahead of the second place finisher. That momentum should carry Rory well into this weekend’s action.

Another player who struggled at the Canadian Open was Dustin Johnson. Johnson was the favorite to win the whole tournament, but he tied for 20th overall as he finished with just a score of just 7 strokes under par. Coming into the U.S. Open, is being the tournament favorite actually a curse for DJ? The odds say they shouldn’t be, at least for now.

Who can forget Tiger Woods? Tiger set the golf world on fire when he won The Masters in April. Tiger already has one of the greatest golfing resumes ever, but adding another U.S. Open title certainly wouldn’t hurt. Tiger has won the U.S. Open three times already, in 2008, 2002, and nobody can forget his dominant 15 stroke victory in 2000. While Tiger did win the Masters, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship and finished just 9th at the Memorial Tournament.

Great Picks

Tiger Woods, 10:1 – With 15 championships in major tournaments, including 3 U.S. Open victories, you can’t go wrong with the experience and prowess of Tiger. He did also just win the Masters, but struggled a bit in the two events since. Woods is turning into that player that may not impress every night, but still has a great chance of winning every time he plays. That makes him a fairly safe bet, especially when you consider he’s one of the favorites.

Dustin Johnson, 7:1 – Another good choice here is Dustin Johnson. Even though he didn’t do as well as hoped at the Canadian Open, DJ is still one of the best golfers in the world. Johnson has played this course several times via the AT&T ProAm, so he has more personal experience than most other golfers here. Johnson’s definitely had mixed results, but top 6 finishes in 5 of his last 7 tournaments show that he’s still a force on the green.

Tommy Fleetwood, 30:1 – If you’re hoping for longer betting odds, you can’t go wrong with Tommy Fleetwood. Fleetwood hasn’t been terribly impressive lately, finishing just 48th at the PGA Championship and 36th at the Masters. However, he was just a stroke away from Koepka last year and always seem to rise to the occasion of the U.S. Open. Odds aren’t fantastic for him, but Tommy Fleetwood is a great long choice.