Early Odds to Win the 2015 US Open Post-Masters Edition
A day after Jordan Spieth’s final putt rattled in the 72nd hole of the Masters, the focus now turns to the Pacific Northwest and Chambers Bay for the U.S. Open.
The talk all weekend at Augusta National Golf Club was Spieth’s wire-to-wire win, the first in 39 years. Spieth deserved every word, but as we turn our attention to golf’s second major of the year, there are players who want to redeem themselves and knock Spieth off his rodeo horse.
So the field will convene at Chambers Bay in about two months’ time for the 2015 U.S. Open, where they’ll traverse the golf course of nearly 8,000 yards (7,742 yards, precisely) of waterfront outside of the Seattle area. Spieth will look to go back-to-back, while Phil Mickelson goes for the career Grand Slam, and Martin Kaymer tries to defend.
Read on for the odds, courtesy of Odds Shark, for the 115th U.S. Open.
Bubba Watson
1 of 10
Odds to Win: 28-1
Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champ, had a less than inspiring trip around Augusta National.
Once the weekend started, Watson struggled hitting fairways. Then he struggled to hit greens. As you know, these things go hand-in-hand.
Prior to the 2014 U.S. Open, Watson said, per Gary Van Sickle of Golf.com:
"There are a lot of times I’m going to lay back and I’m going to have 200-plus yards into par-4 greens. So for me, it’s the second shots that are going to matter most. It’s iffy if you hit into — I don’t know what they call it, the rough dirt, sand. You don’t know what kind of lie you’re going to get. So I’m going to lay back and have longer shots into the holes. It’s going to be a tough test. In four days, I’ll tell you how much I really like it or how much I really hate it. And hopefully it’s four days, not two days.
"
That will be the key: getting in the fairway and accepting longer iron shots. Chambers Bay promises to be narrow and windy, and being more conservative should help Watson score low.
Martin Kaymer
2 of 10
Odds to Win: 28-1
Martin Kaymer missed the cut at Augusta, but he can boast that he's the defending U.S. Open champ. He hasn’t been the same player who went wire-to-wire to win the 2014 U.S. Open, but he’s the same guy capable of painting the fairways and pock-marking greens.
At Pinehurst in 2014, he went 65-65 through the first two days. After Spieth did what he did in the Masters this year, maybe the best way to win these tournaments is to force the issue by going super low on Thursday and Friday.
Kaymer said after the 2014 U.S. Open, per Alan Shipnuck of Golf.com:
"I was talking to my brother before I went out on the golf course. I said, 'How can I find the way to keep going? How do you do it from the inside like it's a true feeling?' A lot of people can say they want to play aggressive. But then somehow they hold back. You just have to do it. You have to convince yourself. You have to believe. You have to play brave.
"
Kaymer needs to find that swagger. He’s a two-time major champion. It’s there. He just needs to find his mojo again.
Henrik Stenson
3 of 10
Odds to Win: 25-1
Maybe it was the flu talking, but Henrik Stenson snapped yet another club over his knee in the Masters. His temper is well-known, and now the world No. 3 player must recover and focus his attention on Chambers Bay.
Stenson does most of his damage on the European PGA Tour, but when he comes east to the States, he still manages to tear it up.
In three events in March, he finished tied for fourth at the WGC event at Doral, fourth at the Valspar Championship and second at Bay Hill.
Like Spieth, he’s not long off the tee, but he’s accurate, he hits greens, and he can putt. Those are all winning attributes heading into a major golf tournament, especially the U.S. Open.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Jason Day
4 of 10
Odds to Win: 22-1
If you forget his lackluster final round at Augusta, you’ll remember that Day finished in a tie for second in the 2013 U.S. Open and tied for fourth a year ago. Can he make it a third win in a row for the foreigners? You bet.
Day has length off the tee but also the ability to shape his shots. His recent performances in the U.S. Open suggest that he’s not intimidated by the narrow fairways and tight, near-par scoring one usually sees.
He ranks ninth on tour on putts from eight feet. Those are U.S. Open putts, since it’s so hard to get closer than eight feet with a shot at birdie.
His Masters performance will make him an afterthought heading to Chambers Bay, but discount him at your own risk.
Dustin Johnson
5 of 10
Odds to Win: 16-1
Dustin Johnson has two top-10 finishes in U.S. Opens, including a share of fourth place a year ago.
And in 2015, after a six-month absence, Johnson came back and has had a sizzling start to his season. Were it not for a sour back nine at Augusta on Saturday, he would have been in one of the final pairings.
Johnson can bomb the ball—no secret there. It’s his short iron game that doesn’t get as much credit. He can bunt a runner over if he has to. He carded a record three eagles on Friday thanks in part to the deliverance of his short irons and putting.
Johnson, if he plans on being a legitimate threat at Chambers Bay, will need to clean up his accuracy off the tee. At Augusta, he hit just 50 percent of his fairways on the weekend. That won’t be good enough at Chambers Bay.
Take out the 3-wood, big fella!
Justin Rose
6 of 10
Odds to Win: 22-1
Justin Rose reminded everyone just how good he is with his 14-under, tied-for-second performance in the Masters. It was only two years ago that Rose won the U.S. Open.
His move on the back nine on Saturday was an elite charge up the leader board. He played himself into the final pairing and just got beaten by a golfer who was historically dialed in for four days.
Rose said, per Ewan Murray of The Guardian: “It was nice to stay patient and get rewarded with a hot finish. It’s amazing, and it put me in with a great opportunity tomorrow now. It’s a great lesson, as well, to stay patient, because you never know when you’re going to get your run.”
And that history of having won a U.S. Open will buoy his spirits heading to Chambers Bay.
Phil Mickelson
7 of 10
Odds to Win: 22-1
Phil Mickelson has reached the "I only care if it’s a major" point of his career. Well, he’s been there for a few years now, but no more was that evident than at the Masters this year.
His prep tournaments looked like junior varsity golf. Then he goes to Augusta National and shoots a winning score of 14-under par. He won his first two Masters at nine under and seven under par.
Mickelson will turn it on again for his most coveted and most elusive major title yet: the U.S. Open. Lefty has finished second six times in the U.S. Open, the one tournament missing from his major cabinet.
Mickelson has never played Chambers Bay at an official tour event, so suffice it to say he’ll get in some serious reps. Mickelson said, according to Scott Hansen of The Seattle Times:
"I think I’ll spend a little time at Chambers Bay. But really, I don’t think I will spend an inordinate amount of time on the golf course. When I played well and won at Muirfield in 2013 (for the British Open), I really didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time on the golf course. I just got my game sharp, and I think I’ll probably take that approach more with Chambers Bay.
"
Mickelson proved he can turn it on when he wants to, and if he wins the U.S. Open, he may just drop the mic and walk off into the Pacific Ocean.
Tiger Woods
8 of 10
Odds to Win: 14-1
For Tiger Woods, what can’t be ignored is how he played at the Masters, given where he was in the spring. At that time, he sprayed or chunked chips. He didn’t know where the ball was going, and then his back forced him out at Torrey Pines.
He’s come a long way, and ESPN senior golf writer Jason Sobel said on Mike & Mike in the Morning:
"I think that Tiger woods went from a place where not only he played terrible golf in 47 ½ holes where his chipping was just awful, took nine weeks off, wasn’t even sure a week before the Masters if he was going to play. Only decided the Friday beforehand and goes out and plays four good rounds. The two in the middle were really good rounds. He’s proud. I think he takes a lot of confidence going forward.
"
Woods needs to clean up his driving. On Sunday, he hit only two fairways. More negatively, he missed 12 fairways. That won’t cut it in the U.S. Open.
Jordan Spieth
9 of 10
Odds to Win: 7-1
Spieth, now No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, is the second choice to win the U.S. Open after smashing the Masters in a record-tying 18-under par.
With 7,742 yards of USGA mayhem hiding in the grass at Chambers Bay, not being long and accurate will put him at a slight disadvantage. He's got the accuracy down, so we'll see just how the length will affect his chances.
Spieth does have an uncanny ability to manage a course. He never looks to sledgehammer it.
Phil Mickelson said of Spieth, per Steve DiMeglio of USA TODAY: "He has no weaknesses. He doesn't overpower the golf course, but he plays the course strategically well. And he has that ability to focus and see things clear when the pressure is on and perform at his best when the pressure is on. That's something that you really can't teach."
Mickelson spoke specifically of the Masters there, but it may as well apply to any course.
Rory McIlroy
10 of 10
Odds to Win: 11-2
After the world has time to come down from the Spieth high, it will remember the No. 1 player in the world, Rory McIlroy, is only 25 and has four major championships. He's a deserving and sensible favorite to win his second U.S. Open.
“I’m happy with how I played,” McIlroy said after his final round at Augusta on CBS. “I take a lot of positives from it. If someone had told me I’d finish 12 under par at the start of the week, I would have taken it and seen where I’d finish.”
As previously stated, McIlroy has won a U.S. Open, his first major back in 2011 at Congressional. What separates McIlroy from Spieth is the pure power off the tee. In the final round of the Masters, McIlroy averaged 306 yards off the tee, while Spieth averaged 285. That 20-yard difference is a whole club and more loft/control for McIlory.
On tour, McIlroy drives the ball 305.1 yards, and Spieth averages 292.5 yards off the tee.
Going back to the Masters, McIlroy hit 77 percent of his fairways while driving it long. Strategically, that gives him the edge over Spieth heading to Chambers Bay.
As much as the world at large wants to anoint Spieth as the face of golf, look no farther than the man who had the co-low round of six under in the final round at the Masters to earn sole possession of fourth place.
That's McIlroy—no longer the flavor of the month but the man to beat heading west to the Pacific Ocean.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
