2023 US Open odds, picks and predictions for major at Los Angeles Country Club

The 123rd U.S. Open will tee off from Los Angeles Country Club on Thursday, marking professional golf’s third major championship of the 2023 season.

And the field is stacked.

While that may seem like an understatement, consider the landscape of the sport right now.

Not only is the future of golf influx with last week’s PGA Tour/LIV Golf announcement and what that may mean for players on each side, there’s also never been more parity in players across the board, from tee to green. And perhaps there’s more competitive fire than ever before because of those aforementioned factors.

Of course, it’s a major. Of course, it’s going to be competitive. Of course, the course is going to be hard and challenging. It’s the U.S. Open for Pete’s sake!

But this year’s tournament, coupled with the talent of the field and the current climate in which they’re playing (both on and off the course), could be one of the best events in recent memory.

Picking a winner is contorting – seemingly impossible with all the possibilities of such an accomplished roster of players. Maybe it would be wiser to throw a dart at a board full of the names of the top 20 (30 … 40 … 50?) golfers in the world than pour over the stats, analytics and trends?

One thing we do know for sure is that whoever does win the 2023 U.S. Open will definitely have earned it, besting the best field a professional tournament can assemble.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the favorite this week, sitting at +600 odds to win his first U.S. Open and the second major of his career, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Jon Rahm, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, is second on the odds boards at +900, along with defending PGA Champion Brooks Koepka.

Rahm could become just the seventh player in major championship history to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same season. Rahm has already won four times this year, including his first green jacket. He won the U.S. Open in 2021 at Torrey Pines.

Koepka is seeking his third U.S. Open title and the sixth major of his career.

Defending U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is +3500 to win, according to Caesars. He could become the first back-to-back champion since Koepka did it in 2017 and 2018. Before that, it was 30 years since the U.S. Open had a repeat champion when Curtis Strange did it in 1988 and 1989.

FrontPageBets takes a look at golfers to watch in the 123rd U.S. Open from the lush Los Angeles Country Club and its par-70, 7,421-yard North Course test.

Pick to win: Scottie Scheffler (+600)

If it seems too obvious or easy to pick the top golfer in the world, consider his resume over the last 18 months.

Scheffler has won six times on Tour since February 2022, including the Masters, The Players Championship and the WM Phoenix Open (twice).

In 2023 alone, he has 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts, including two wins and two runner-ups. He hasn’t finished out of the top 11 in any of his last nine starts. In the first two majors of the season, Scheffler finished tied for 10th at the Masters and T2 at the PGA Championship.

And if his record doesn’t prove it, maybe his ball-striking stats will.

Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in three of its strokes-gained categories: Tee-to-green, off-the-tee and approach to the green.

Simply put: Scheffler is the guy to beat this week.

Top-5 pick: Xander Schauffele (+350)

Ranked No. 6 in the world, Xander Schauffele may be one of the best current players in the game to have never won a major.

The 29-year-old with seven career wins has made 15 starts this season and never missed a cut. He has eight top-10 finishes, including a solo second at the Wells Fargo Championship. Schauffele also finished fourth at RBC Heritage and T4 at the Zurich Classic in consecutive weeks after his T10 Masters performance.

In five career U.S. Opens, Schauffele’s worst finish was T14 in 2022. In the other four, he’s got three top-5s and a T5. Read that again: He tied for fifth in 2017, tied for sixth in 2018, tied for third in 2019 then finished solo fifth in 2021.

Schauffele has made 26 consecutive cuts, which leads the PGA Tour. He’s also fourth on Tour in total strokes gained (1.971) and sixth in strokes gained on approach to the green (0.888).

Top-10 pick: Brooks Koepka (+115)

Other than Scheffler, it’s hard to argue the next-best golfer in majors this season hasn’t been Koepka.

The LIV Tour golfer won the PGA Championship last month at Oak Hill and finished tied for second at the Masters in April.

He’s a five-time major champion, including back-to-back U.S. Opens in 2017-2018. Oh, and in 2019, he finished runner-up at the event.

He missed the cut in his first U.S. Open back in 2012, but then went on a six-year stretch where he never finished outside the top 18.

Odds-on favorites to win the 123rd U.S. Open

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