The first round of the US Open takes place on Thursday when the entire field get to see Brookline County Club from a competitive standpoint. They will each do so with the aim of getting off to a good start in the penultimate major of the season.
With all that is going on in the world of golf this is a day for the big names in the sport to remind us that competitive play can be the frontrunner moving forward rather than the lure of dirty money which has dominated the landscape recently.
First Round Leader
As ever when a major comes around the first market we target is the first round leader one. The US Open has a morning and afternoon wave off the first and tenth tees but a look at the weather suggests that although the breeze picks up later in the day it is nothing that a professional golfer won’t be able to manage. I think that given hardly anyone in the field has any prior knowledge of the track that those who get to watch a bit of the action before tackling the course could have an advantage.
I also think it is a day where those at the top of the game who are against LIV golf will step up and be counted so the world number one Scottie Scheffler will be my first round leader pick. He is a major champion now so should be comfortable in this sphere and he has the skillset to tame Brookline. He’s a brilliant driver and wonderful iron player and has plenty of imagination too as we saw at Augusta. Rory and JT had the spotlight last week and I suspect Scheffler will want it here. He’s too big at 30/1 with seven places.
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Thursday 3 Balls
As mentioned earlier, the field go out in three balls on the opening day across two waves of action. The marquee group in the morning wave of players is the one featuring Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele. They go out at 12.40 BST. Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Max Homa are out 11 minutes before then. Moving through to the afternoon wave and it is the former winner Brooks Koepka, Players champion Cameron Smith and world number one Scottie Scheffler who will get most of the coverage. They go out at 18.25 BST with Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland and Tony Finau out 11 minutes prior to them. Those are the featured groups throughout the day but my three ball bet comes in another group.
Luke List/Austin Greaser/Corey Conners
Match tees off at 18.36 BST
One of the middle groups out onto the golf course in the afternoon wave of players is the one featuring the Farmers Insurance Open winner Luke List, the relatively unknown Austin Greaser and a man who will be coming off the thrill of playing in front of a home crowd in Corey Conners.
It is the latter I like in this group. You have to think on this tough a test and in this company that Greaser is going to get found out. All credit goes to him for qualifying but he’s in with a couple of good players here. One of them though in List looks bang out of form. Since he won at Torrey Pines in January he hasn’t recorded a single top 25 finish on tour and he has opened up the majors this year with rounds of 77 and 74 which doesn’t invoke a lot of confidence. That isn’t the case with Conners. He opened up with a 70 at Augusta on his way to a T6 finish and he finished in that position last week shooting a final round 62 so he is clearly hitting the ball well. His tee to green accuracy should really thrive on this golf course and his prior experience of playing it when he made the semi-final of the US Amateur nine years ago should further help him. He looks the pick of the three ball bets to me.
Tips
Back S.Scheffler First Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back C.Conners to beat L.List & A.Greaser for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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