US Open Preview by James

With all the shouting about the Football World Cup this week and the whispers about who’s running where at Ascot next week, one of the biggest sporting tournaments of the year has been all but forgotten. Well not by me it hasn’t! Of all the sporting events this week the US Open will be the one getting my full attention. On Thursday night, when the majority of people are watching Brazilians diving all over a pitch somewhere in South America, I’ll be watching McIlroy, Rose, Mickelson and co. trying to tame Pinehurst. Still no Tiger and still question marks over Rory. He’s so frustrating. If he’s right nobody can touch him; the problem is, of late, he’s rarely right.

I’m looking to take the same approach that I normally use. We’ll go through a few golfers that will do well this week and a few that will do badly. Golf is all about bottle and the beauty of Pinehurst is that it tests bottle more than most courses. You need to putt well here. You simply will not get away with having a bad day around the greens. For this reason you can narrow the field down straight away. Let’s start with Justin Rose; defending champion. He’s paired with Phil on day one and that is just going to heap even more pressure on him. When this event is over and he no longer carries the baggage of being the US Open champion, he will breathe a little easier and relax again. Until then, he’s great value for us because we can sell and win.

Now I have to say I like Jordan Speith. He’s going to be an outstanding golfer in another year. At the minute however, he’s not quite there. He’s in great form, but I think mentally he’s not strong enough for this one. The mental toughness required around here, just isn’t there. We’ll be going against Jordan this time, but we won’t be doing it very often after this. The last of our list to do badly is Matt Kuchar. He has had 9 Top 10 finishes on the PGA tour this year, but had he had the required toughness, he’d have a couple of extra wins under his belt.

At the other end of the scale I’m going to take a chance on a couple. Jason Day has played very little this year due to injury. However, I saw enough at the Memorial to suggest that he’ll be fine come Thursday on a course that seems to bring out the best in him. Next we have another Jason…Mr Dufner. Even if he wins this week, we’re not likely to see too much of a smile. His form this season has been far from impressive and he had a disastrous Masters, but Pinehurst won’t phase him. He won’t get excited and I have a feeling come Sunday he won’t be far away.

Last but not least in the betting stakes, my man with the plan is Dustin Johnson. Didn’t make the cut at the Masters, didn’t trouble the leaderboard at the Players, but he hits it long, he hits greens and this week I’m expecting him to hit the heights.

Other than that, expect to see Poulter and Fowler both sporting shirts that wouldn’t look out of place in Brazil. If they’re trying to spread extra fear into their opponents, I can recommend better ways. Just do a Bernhard Langer and get your caddie to quote distances in centimetres not metres, that will always get your opponents sweating.

Bets
Sell Jordan Speith @ 9 on the Leaderboard 100 Index
Buy Justin Rose max finishing position @ 34
Sell Matt Kuchar @ 9 on Leaderboard 100 Index
Buy Dustin Johnson @ 11 on Leaderboard 100 Index
Sell Jason Dufner max finishing position @ 37
Sell Jason Day max finishing position @ 33

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• Any spread prices quoted are indicative and as always prices are subject to fluctuation.
• Please note the opinion, views and forecasts above are of the author and not of Star Spreads.