We’re less than one month away from the 117th U.S. Open at Erin Hills, and the top contenders are scattered across the board.
Of course, Dustin Johnson, as he has been for most of the year, is ranked atop the charts. After DJ, though, that board is wide open and packed with notable names and recent winners.
Now, while fellow contenders Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Justin Rose will all be in the running, Dustin Johnson owns this tournament. He won in 2016 at Oakmont, finished runner-up to Spieth the year before and tied for fourth in 2014. The current odds on the U.S. Open favor him to take his second win in as many years, but given his short rehab time following his pre-Masters injury, the momentum may lie elsewhere.
Following his one-month back injury absence, he finished tied for second at the Wells Fargo. Since then though, he has tied for 12th at The Players and tied for 13th place at the AT&T Byron Nelson. His game has not fully come back to the shape it was in pre-Masters when he posted three wins in a row. Trailing Johnson tightly are Rory Mcilroy in front of Spieth, Day and Hideki Matsuyama. So while DJ is coming with the best -700 odds, he won’t have a lot of wiggle room.
Mcilroy is coming in to this tournament hot. Aside from his 35th place showing at Sawgrass, he has five top-ten finishes this year; six if you include his second-place finish at the European Tour’s BMW SA Open. Spieth, has a win, but is struggling of late. Following his win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February, he has finished out of the top 10 three times and missed three cuts, including two in a row.
Jason Day is in a similar position having only two top-five finishes this year, along with one missed cut, though he lost in a playoff at the Nelson.
The real dark horse on the board is Hideki Matsuyama. Outside of his five finishes of 20th place or worse and his missed cut, he’s won three tournaments this year and has had two second-place finishes.
At 22-to-1 (+2200), Masters champion Sergio, The Honda Classic winner Rickie Fowler, six-time U.S. Open runner-up Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott are all paying well and trending in the right direction as well as the 2017 U.S. Open field takes shape.
