The US Open begins on Thursday when the 156 player field tee it up at the Pinehurst Golf and Country Club but before the first shot is hit there is just enough time to take a look through the side markets on offer for the tournament.
As ever in a major championship there are many side markets on offer for us to attack from nationality bets to tournament props both from a player side or a statistical side and so much more. Having looked through them all there are three bets we like.
Top Great Britain & Irish Player
I haven’t taken a British or an Irish player in my outright selections so it makes perfect sense to have a look at this market for a side bet. Rory McIlroy is the favourite to win this market but I’m not convinced his game is in the best shape. I would say he is 70% in everything rather than nearer 100% in the elements that matter here. There are 15 players in this market in total with Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Bob MacIntyre and Justin Rose towards the head of the betting.
It is Fitzpatrick that I like here. He is a good iron player, has a good short game and can hole putts confidently and he has won this tournament in the past so he’ll know he can go well. I initially looked at just taking him in the top Englishman market but we only really add McIlroy, who as I’ve said I don’t think is on top form, and Lowry whose putting has fallen off a cliff so I don’t mind having them involved. I was tempted to take Fitzpatrick outright as this course does suit him well and on the hardest day of them all at The Memorial last week he carded a three under round but I’m put off by the fact he has the Tiger Woods bandwagon with him for the first two days. That might keep him back a little but I still think he has the rest of this market behind him when the last putt is holed on Sunday.
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Top South African
We are not used to looking at the South African market for a major championship and only seeing four runners in it but that is the case here at this US Open with just Dean Burmester, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Erik van Rooyen and Casey Jarvis so with no disrespect to the latter, I think we can concentrate on the first three when we’re looking at the winner of this thing.
Burmester went well at the USPGA until the final round where he couldn’t get going but he is seen as a decent putter and a long hitter which might work but I just can’t get away from the necessity to have a top level short game around here and that is where Bezuidenhout has more than an edge on the other three. Bezuidenhout was fourth last week which is significant with the greens as firm and fast there as they will be here, T13 at Sawgrass and generally has decent form in recent weeks. I’d have him favourite for this market so I’m happy to get on as a second favourite.
Top 20 Finish
Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of taking a top 20 finish in a major championship where I look to target a player who was high up on my outright shortlist but either others were preferred or the outright price wasn’t quite high enough to tempt me in with regards an outright punt. You can either bet this market that way or use it for one of the favourites as a sort of banker of the tournament kind of bet.
I’m very much of the former option and the player that interests me at 3/1 is Jason Day, a man who was tied fourth the last time this tournament was held here 10 years ago. That doesn’t surprise me because Day has always had a decent short game and he has never shirked big putts under pressure. Day has won a major since then and probably doesn’t come here with huge expectations. When I look at Pinehurst I just see a traditional Australian sandbelt layout with firm and fast fairways and greens and Day can lower the ball flight to get the maximum out of his shots and when he’s into, around and on the greens he is perfectly comfortable to go well enough for a top 20 finish here.
Tips
Back M.Fitzpatrick Top Great Britain & Irish Player (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with Spreadex (1/4 1-3)
Back C.Bezuidenhout Top South African Player for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Bet365
Back J.Day Top 20 Finish for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Coral
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