US Open Golf 2011 Tournament Betting Odds and Predictions

Remember when identifying the favorite to win any of golf's four majors was as easy as saying Tiger Woods? In fact, to make that choice interesting, it became a pick between Tiger or the field. The only real question was were the low odds worth the bet?

Well, those days are a distant memory. The only relevant bet involving Tiger Woods and the majors now is will he play at all?

Picking the winner of this year's Open seems to involve as much guesswork as filling out a March Madness bracket. This tournament is wide open.

Consider that the lowest odds for any former U.S. Open champ are for Graeme McDowell and Retief Goosen at 40/1. Those odds are bolstered by the fact that they are past champions. Neither of those guys has been at the top of his game lately.

The world's No. 1 and 2 golfers, both of whom have yet to win a major, are the favorites—Lee Westwood is at 10/1 odds and Luke Donald at 12/1. Phil Mickelson is also at 12/1. 

Given USGA executive director Mike Davis' recent comments on who this course will favor, I think we can cross Donald off the list.

"It's a big golf course," Davis recently told the press. "If history tells us anything, you'd say somebody that's got the ability to really move the ball out a pretty good distance (off the tee) and then bring their approach shots in with a high ball flight would."

Donald's driving average is almost 20 yards behind Westwood and Mickelson, who both average near 20 yards. 

Westwood looks like a solid bet, but he has not been quite as dominant in 2011 as he was in 2010.

Mickelson is always a good U.S. Open choice—even though that choice has never been correct. He has been runner-up five times.

"I’ve played some of my better golf in the U.S. Open," Mickelson told the press. "I just need a few breaks here and there, or maybe a few less mistakes here or there, to be able to come out on top."

Mickelson has the perfect game for this kind of course. However, he has not recently on top of that well-suited game. I expect him to make some noise at this year's open, but I can't see Phil stringing together four solid rounds.

Rory McIlroy is fourth in the odds at 16/1. He also has a well-suited game for this type of course. However, I am not betting on McIlroy until he puts together a major performance that proves he is over his impressively thorough collapse at the Masters.

Speaking of major collapses, that leads me to my pick for this year's U.S. Open. It was the man entered the final round of last year's U.S. Open with a three-shot lead and then disintegrated with a hard-to-watch 82.

It was the kind of meltdown that could ruin a career. However, Dustin Johnson proved in the PGA Championship that he has the resiliency to bounce back (only to be undone by the bunker that wasn't, only it really was).

Johnson has the perfect game for this course. He has incredible hang time on his irons, and at 307 yards he is fourth on the PGA Tour in driving average. He also appears to be finding his game at the perfect time. He was rock solid with a fourth-place finish at the Memorial at the beginning of the month.

All of this makes the 25/1 odds on Johnson the best bet of this tournament.