US Women’s Open golf odds: Rose Zhang favoured in third tournament as a pro

A busy stretch of the LPGA Tour season begins this week with the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

The pre-tournament narrative: Over the next six weeks, three LPGA Tour majors will be played — and this one could be a coming-out party for Rose Zhang. Entering her third professional event, Zhang is a 11-to-1 favourite in a wide-open field, while Canada’s Brooke Henderson carries 33-to-1 odds to win.

BOOST: Brooke Henderson to finish top 20 (+225, was +188). Click here to bet

U.S. Women's Open odds

Golfodds as of 2:50 p.m. on 07/04/2023.

Best U.S. Women's Open golf odds

The favourite: Rose Zhang (+1,100)

If you merely looked at the Women's World Golf Rankings, which have Zhang ranked No. 45, it would be difficult to justify her place as the favourite to win this tournament.

Zhang is no ordinary 45th-ranked golfer, though. She’s a newly anointed pro who wasted no time making her mark.

At her LPGA Tour debut last month, Zhang earned a playoff victory in the Mizuho Americas Open. Three weeks later, she followed that up with a T8 at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Although Zhang is new to the Tour, she is not an out-of-nowhere performer.

The former Stanford golfer is a two-time NCAA individual champion (the only female golfer to win the individual NCAA title twice), and she was the low amateur at last year’s Women’s British Open. She’s only 20, and yet she’s already participated in — and made the cut at — each of the LPGA Tour majors.

Still, her newness to the Tour means we’re not working off a significant track record. So although Zhang is the frontrunner, she’s only -125 to finish inside the top 20.

Brooke Henderson's odds

Henderson to win (+3,300)

After winning her first event of the year (January’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions), Henderson hasn’t been able to capture the magic in the subsequent months.

The Smiths Falls, Ontario, native has failed to get back inside the top 10 this season, though she has carded three additional finishes inside the top 20. Henderson’s top finish at the U.S. Women’s Open came in 2015, when she finished T5.

Overall, Henderson has 13 career victories, including a pair of major victories (more than any other Canadian golfer).

Plenty of eyes will be on Henderson’s grouping for Thursday and Friday, as the No. 11 player in the world is matched with Zhang for the first two rounds.