September 17th – 20th, 2020

Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck, New York

Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,477

Purse: $12.5 million with $2,250,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:  Gary Woodland

It kindof seems mental to be saying this in late September but welcome to my 2020 US Open Betting Preview and Tips. Winged Foot in New York is the venue this week, expect it to brutal, Geoff Ogilvy won at +5 here in 2006, they’ve been fertilising the rough up to last week to try to recreate that feel, and hey trollers this video is not a stick to beat me with, it’s a betting Preview, I WILL give my five best each way bets, but I’ll mention other guys in different categories and you can make up your mind who you like from there!

Dustin Johnson at 17/2 is the untouchable favourite coming in off victories in the Tour Championship and Northern Trust. And when he wasn’t winning he was nearly winning the BMW and the PGA Championship.  It’s four years since his win at Oakmont and while everyone is of the opinion that underdogs thrive without crowds in attendance but really it’s Dustin Johnson who is loving it the most.  Driving it on a string and in the top-5 in the GIR stats in four of his last five starts, I can see a lot of early money on the nose for DJ.

Just about outside my 10/1 odds cutoff is Jon Rahm and in winning the BMW Championship at the brutally tough Olympia Fields he put his hand up to say he’s ready to win a  US Open.  Also a winner at the perennially difficult Muirfield Village and fourth last time out at the Tour Championship and I think Rahm can better his best US Open finish of T3 last year at Pebble Beach behind Gary Woodland.

Mister consistency is Xander.  Post lockdown he has played 10 events, finish in the top-25 in 9 of them  with 4 top-10’s.  Looks to be hitting form at the right time too with a brilliant T2 at East Lake in the Tour Championship.  This will be just his fourth US Open, his first was at Erin Hills in 2017 where he placed T5, then was T6 in Shinnecock and was T3 last year in Pebble.  Super each way look at 16/1.

Hideki’s form is definitely on the up, but he still doesn’t hit enough greens to get a win.  Having said that he’s a great course manager, his putting is superb and a T3 at the BMW Championship a couple of  weeks back signalled he’s worth a squeak here.  It’s three years since his T2 behind Brooks Koepka at Erin Hills but Hideki comes in in better form this time and you know he will grind until the end.  And with the greens staff predicting scores like +5 and +8 it WILL be a grind.

With the primary defences of US Opens traditionally being very difficult rough and length it should play into the hands of  the huge hitters like Tony Finau but it hasn’t quite panned out that way for him. Yet!  Best of Tony’s four US Open starts was 5th at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 but you just feel he is still growing as a competitor on Tour and he comes in this year off a T4 at the PGA Championship, a solo 5th at the BMW, and 17th at the Tour Championship.  I think Finau will be at the business end of affairs this week.

From 2012 to 2016 Jason Day was the first name on your betslip for the US Open because he was guaranteed to scrap and fight and survive all the calamity.  He went five years straight in that time with top-10’s but since 2017 he’s been hampered by injury and hasn’t hit those heights.  Until 2020 when he shows up fully fit post lockdown and reels off four excellent results of T7 Workday, T4 Memorial, T6 St Jude and T4 at the PGA Championship.  Granted his form tailed away in his last two starts but I just wonder will a thoroughly rested Jason Day show up at Winged Foot this week and score big. I say yes.

The day that Matt Fitz gets out of his own way at a Major he will win.  Brilliant finishes at Memorial, WGC St Jude and the BMW Championship, notably all on tough courses and I think his ball striking will see him up there this week.  Matt’s a great late season performer too; four of his five European Tour wins have come in the September, October, November months.  T12 in his last two US Opens.

We know in Europe how good Tyrrell Hatton is and showed at the Arnold Palmer that he has the game to win on the PGA Tour too.  His form hasn’t been super lately, but a T16 last time out at Olympia Fields was decent and he’s proved like Matt Fitz to be a great late season performer too.