The PGA TOUR heads to Oakmont, Pennsylvania this week for the U.S. Open. Oakmont Country Club will be the host course, and measures as a 7,372-yard par 70 with Poa Annua greens.
We have a full field, 156-man major championship this week that will feature a 36-hole cut, with the top-65 and ties making the weekend. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the overwhelming betting favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook at +275. Bryson DeChambeau (+750), Jon Rahm (+1200) and Rory McIlroy (+1200) round out the top of the odds board.
Below I have outlined my two favorite bets for the week.
Viktor Hovland to win (+6000)
We should know the drill at this point, any time the conditions become impossible is when you should look to target Hovland. The Norwegian has four top-seven finishes across his 20 career major starts, and has victories at the Memorial, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship.
Hovland’s U.S. Open record is actually weaker than the other three majors, but he does have a T13 back in 2020 at Winged Foot, which is about as close of a comp course as you’re going to find to Oakmont.
After a miserable start to the 2025 season, Hovland won the Valspar Championship back in March and has since rattled off four top-28 finishes in his subsequent five starts. The one constant for him has been his elite iron-play, where he ranks fifth in this field in SG: Approach over his past 24 rounds. The putter has also heated up, as Hovland has now gained strokes with the flat stick in four of his past five starts.
We know the one bugaboo for the 27-year-old is his shoddy around-the-green play, but with insanely thick rough expected this week, most are going to struggle in that department.
It very much feels like Hovland is flying a bit under the radar this week, which is absolutely a positive because he’s drifted all the way to 60/1 on DraftKings Sportsbook. This is a great number for a guy I fully expect to be in the mix on Sunday.
Harris English to win (+10000)
It’s actually crazy how good Harris English has ben in U.S. Opens in his career. The 35-year-old has not missed a cut in any of his eight Open starts this decade, while posting three top-eight finishes over the past five years. Most notably, English finished in solo fourth back in 2020 at Winged Foot, which as mentioned above, bares a striking resemblance to Oakmont.
English is on record saying that he prefers when conditions are difficult, and his play has certainly backed that up. So far this year he’s won at Torrey Pines, while finishing T12 at the Masters, T2 at the PGA Championship and then T12 at the Memorial in his most recent start.
English has really been dialed in with his ball-striking of late as well, ranking 12th in this field in SG: Off-the-Tee and 35th on approach over his past 16 rounds. He also ranks 23rd in driving accuracy and 13th in GIR% in the same time frame, two areas that will be of the utmost importance around Oakmont.
English has never won a major before, but has been close on multiple occasions and has five career PGA TOUR wins to his name. There’s a very strong chance that the winner this week will rank highly in both putting and finding fairways, two things that the Georgia native excels at.
Getting him at 100/1 to with the way he’s been playing this year is a gift.