2015 US Open Betting Preview: McIlroy and Spieth Favorites on Tournament Odds

Jordan Spieth will be trying to follow up his first major tournament win at the Masters with a victory at the U.S. Open this weekend as the 8-1 second betting choice behind the 7-1 favorite Rory McIlroy, who won it in 2011.

While Spieth and McIlroy will both be popular bets at Chambers Bay in Washington, defending champion Martin Kaymer is 40-1 to repeat, which is a feat that has not been done in the U.S. Open since Curtis Strange in 1989.

Three-time U.S. Open champion Tiger Woods is a 50-1 long shot after playing some of the worst golf of his career, shooting a 14-over-par 302 at The Memorial on June 7.

The 21-year-old Spieth is golf’s latest phenom. He has rebounded to place within the top three golfers in two of the last three tournaments he has entered, following a disappointing performance in THE PLAYERS Championship when he missed the cut.

Spieth finished third at The Memorial after placing second in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial two weeks earlier. Spieth’s best finish at the U.S. Open happened last year, when he tied for 17th place.

Meanwhile, McIlroy has won two tournaments since finishing fourth at the Masters as the favorite, taking the Wells Fargo Championship on May 17 by seven strokes with a 21-under-par 267. After winning the U.S. Open, he missed the cut the following year, then tied for 41st in 2013 and tied for 23rd last year.

Phil Mickelson (16-1), Dustin Johnson (18-1), Justin Rose (18-1) and Rickie Fowler (18-1) lead the second group of top contenders on the odds to win the U.S. Open behind the two favorites, although only one of them has actually won it in the past. Rose won it by two strokes over Mickelson and Jason Day in 2013 with a one-over-par 281.

Mickelson has either finished second or tied for second on six different occasions, including 2013, and the U.S. Open is the lone major tournament he has yet to win during his career.

The best career finishes at the U.S. Open for both Fowler and Johnson also took place last year at Pinehurst. Fowler tied for second with Erik Compton (200-1 this year), finishing eight shots behind Kaymer, while Johnson tied for fourth with Henrik Stenson (25-1), Jason Day (40-1), Brooks Koepka (50-1) and Keegan Bradley (66-1).