The secret to Sawgrass for The Players Championship: Play well and stay out of trouble
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The 24 newcomers to The Players Championship probably won't take much solace in hearing that only one player — Craig Perks in 2002 — has conquered the diabolical Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass in his debut over the last four decades.
Just as curious is the case of Scottie Scheffler. Last year he became the first player in the history of this championship to win in consecutive years .
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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
US Open 2025: Odds, Predictions, Best Bets on the Board
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The 2025 U.S. Open is finally upon us, as the world's best golfers descend onto Oakmont Country Club just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There are endless storylines for the season's third major championship. Scottie Scheffler will look to retain his stranglehold on professional golf. He has three wins in his last few starts, including running away with the PGA Championship. Rory McIlroy will be looking to regain his form that saw him make history at the Masters. Once again, the best players from LIV Golf get to play alongside the PGA Tour's best. There are 14 members of LIV in the field, with several that can make some noise. But as bettors know, you don't always need to know who will win the tournament to make money. With that said, let's get to the U.S. Open odds, predictions and best bets on the board. 2025 U.S. Open Odds We could spend time listing out the odds for all 156 players in the U.S. Open field, but that does not seem like a good use of time. Knowing the history of the event, the winner will likely come from these 20 golfers. Scottie Scheffler +275 Rory McIlroy +850 Bryson DeChambeau +900 Jon Rahm +1200 Xander Schauffele +2000 Collin Morikawa +2500 Tommy Fleetwood +3500 Ludvig Aberg +3500 Joaquin Niemann +4000 Justin Thomas +4000 Tyrrell Hatton +4500 Sepp Straka +5000 Patrick Cantlay +5000 Brooks Koepka +5500 Shane Lowry +5500 Corey Conners +6000 Viktor Hovland +6000 Russell Henley +6500 Jordan Spieth +7000 Hideki Matsuyama +7000 Predictions for U.S. Open Winner Over Par This year's tournament is expected to be a bloodbath. Several players including McIlroy have taken practice rounds at Oakmont recently, leaving the impression of carnage. 🚨😳⛳️ #LOOK — Ben Griffin shows off the thick, 5+ inch rough at Oakmont's 1st hole. U.S. Open week is officially upon us. (Via bengriffingolf / TT) — NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) June 8, 2025 The rough is unbelievably deep and thick. The greens are exceptionally fast. If a player manages to finish under par, that might be a small miracle. For these reasons, I firmly believe the winning score come Sunday evening will be at least a few strokes over par. When Dustin Johnson won the U.S. Open here in 2016 at 5-under, the conditions were not nearly as brutal. But also, it was the first time in PGA Tour history a player led the field in Driving Distance, Greens in Regulation, and Scrambling. It is highly unlikely we see that again. The winner of the tournament will be the player whose bogey avoidance is at its strongest. This week will be all about hitting fairways, missing in the right spots, and avoiding big numbers. Rory McIlroy Misses the Cut The Northern Irishman finally got the monkey off his back winning the Masters. That also completed the career grand slam. But since that time, his game appears to have fallen off a cliff. After he was forced to switch out drivers ahead of the PGA Championship, his strength from the tee has disappeared. Last week, McIlroy posted his worst 36-hole finish of his PGA Tour career, finishing 149th and missing the cut. Knowing what the rough at Oakmont looks like, expect Rory to be hacking through 36 holes and heading home early. Best U.S. Open Bets on the Board Sepp Straka Top 5 at +800 When we are looking for value, look no further than Straka. The Austrian pro is having an exceptional season on the PGA Tour. He already has two wins, the American Express and the Truist Championship (previously Wells Fargo). The latter of which is played at another highly challenging course at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. He ranks third in the FedEx Cup standings due to his stellar play and consistency. Straka has two wins, five top 10s, and is coming off a strong third-place finish at The Memorial. Beyond that, he ranks among the best on Tour in some key statistics: namely the aforementioned Greens in Regulation (2nd) and Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (2nd). At 8-to-1, I will happily toss a few bucks on the four-time PGA Tour winner to finish on the leaderboard. Viktor Hovland to Win +5500 DUBLIN, OH - MAY 29: Viktor Hovland of Norway laughs on the putting green during the 1st round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday 2025 at Muirfield Village Golf Club on May 29, 2025... DUBLIN, OH - MAY 29: Viktor Hovland of Norway laughs on the putting green during the 1st round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday 2025 at Muirfield Village Golf Club on May 29, 2025 in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Miller/) MoreOk, I know I wrote that the winner will likely come from the top 20. But it can be argued that Hovland is the best player on Tour without a major to his resume. He has won 11 PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, was a Ryder Cup stalwart, and captured the 2023 Tour Championship. After a year in which he was searching for his game, the Norwegian has shown signs of life this year. He snapped his winless skid when Hovland won the Valspar. He has four other top 25s to his credit in 10 starts. Historically speaking, Hovi has four top 10 finishes in majors since 2022. So, he has shown he has the gumption to be there at the end. Of course, his biggest bugaboo has been his Strokes Gained: Around the Green. But with the rough looking the way it does at Oakmont for this U.S. Open, that weakness may not be as glaring. How the ball comes out of that thick stuff will largely be dependent on luck. On a related note, in his 19 major appearances, he has curiously gained strokes around the green in 12 of them. Not to mention the oversized greens at Oakmont present several chances to play it safe and two-putt for par. Players won't be doing much pin seeking and playing it safe is something I expect Hovland to do a lot of this week. At 55-to-1 and his skill level, it is worth a few shekels. Bryson DeChambeau Top 5 at +190 DeChambeau will once again be one of the betting favorites. His ability to hit it so far off the tee will undoubtedly be an advantage. As we discussed, if someone is not able to hit it straight, they will suffer the consequences. But unlike some other U.S. Open courses the USGA set up, this one is not incredibly long. I expect DeChambeau to attempt to simply overpower the course as he did in 2020 at Winged Foot. He will be looking at a lot of 75 yard chips out of thick rough, but everyone if they miss the fairway, will be in much tougher shape. I do not believe he will win, but a top five is not out of the question for the two-time U.S. Open champion. More Golf: Scottie Scheffler Tweaks Tour Schedule with Major Ramifications
Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
US Open ‘25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' With or without trees, Oakmont has stood the test of time Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses , which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016). In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' — won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason' While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot , which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd,' Scheffler told Horvat. How well that critique applies to Oakmont will be seen this week. ___ AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. ___ AP golf:
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
US Open '25: Decades ago under dark of night, Oakmont began removing trees and started a golf trend
Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong — removing trees from courses. This week, the world's best player and favorite to win the U.S. Open will play a course that did just that, but didn't become one bit easier the way some layouts do when the trees go away. Under the dark of night three decades ago, the people in charge of Oakmont Country Club started cutting down trees. They didn't stop until some 15,000 had been removed. The project reimagined one of America's foremost golf cathedrals and started a trend of tree cutting that continues to this day. While playing a round on YouTube with influencer Grant Horvat, Scheffler argued that modern pro golf — at least at most stops on the PGA Tour — has devolved into a monotonous cycle of 'bomb and gouge': Hit drive as far as possible, then gouge the ball out of the rough from a shorter distance if the tee shot is off line. 'They take out all the trees and they make the greens bigger and they typically make the fairways a little bigger, as well,' Scheffler said. 'And so, the only barrier to guys just trying to hit it as far as they want to or need to, it's trees.' Scheffler and the rest in the 156-man field that tees off Thursday should be so lucky. While the latest Oakmont renovation, in 2023, did make greens bigger, fairways are never wide at the U.S. Open and they won't be this week. Tree-lined or not, Oakmont has a reputation as possibly the toughest of all the U.S. Open (or any American) courses, which helps explain why it is embarking on its record 10th time hosting it. In the two Opens held there since the tree-removal project was completed, the deep bunkers, serpentine drainage ditches and lightning-fast greens have produced winning scores of 5-over par (Angel Cabrera in 2007) and 4 under (Dustin Johnson in 2016). In an ironic twist that eventually led to where we (and Oakmont) are today, the layout was completely lined with trees in 1973 when Johnny Miller shot 63 on Sunday to win the U.S. Open. That record stood for 50 years, and the USGA followed up with a course setup so tough in 1974 that it became known as 'The Massacre at Winged Foot' -- won by Hale Irwin with a score of 7-over par. 'Everybody was telling me it was my fault,' Miller said in a look back at the '74 Open with Golf Digest. 'It was like a backhanded compliment. The USGA denied it, but years later, it started leaking out that it was in response to what I did at Oakmont. Oakmont was supposed to be the hardest course in America.' It might still be. In a precursor to what could come this week, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott played practice rounds last Monday in which McIlroy said he made a 7 on the par-4 second and Scott said he hit every fairway on the front nine and still shot 3 over. Nicklaus: Trees should only come down 'for a reason' While Oakmont leaned into tree removal, there are others who aren't as enthused. Jack Nicklaus, who added trees to the 13th hole at Muirfield Village after seeing players fly a fairway bunker on the left for a clear look at the green, said he's OK with tree removal 'if they take them down for a reason.' 'Why take a beautiful, gorgeous tree down?' he said. 'Like Oakmont, for example. What's the name of it? Oak. Mont. What's that mean? Oaks on a mountain, sort of. And then they take them all down. I don't like it.' A lot of Oakmont's members weren't fans, either, which is why this project began under dark of night. The golf course in the 1990s was barely recognizable when set against pictures taken shortly after it opened in 1903. Architect Henry Fownes had set out to build a links-style course. Dampening the noise and view of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which bisects the layout, was one reason thousands of trees were planted in the 1960s and '70s. 'We were finding that those little trees had all grown up and they were now hanging over some bunkers,' R. Banks-Smith, the chairman of Oakmont's grounds committee when the project began, said in a 2007 interview. 'And once you put a tree on either side of a bunker, you lose your bunker. So, you have to make a decision. Do you want bunkers or do you want trees?' Oakmont went with bunkers – its renowned Church Pew Bunker between the third and fourth fairways might be the most famous in the world – and thus began a tree project that divides people as much today as it did when it started. 'I'm not always the biggest fan of mass tree removal,' Scott said. 'I feel a lot of courses that aren't links courses get framed nicely with trees, not like you're opening it up to go play way over there.' Too many trees, though, can pose risks. Overgrown tree roots and too much shade provide competition for the tender grasses beneath. They hog up oxygen and sunlight and make the turf hard to maintain. They overhang fairways and bunkers and turn some shots envisioned by course architects into something completely different. They also can be downright dangerous. In 2023 during the second round of the Masters, strong winds toppled three towering pine trees on the 17th hole, luckily missing fans who were there watching the action. 'There are lots of benefits that trees provide, but only in the right place,' said John Fech, the certified arborist at University of Nebraska who consults with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. When Oakmont decided they didn't want them at all, many great courses followed. Winged Foot, Medinah, Baltusrol and Merion are among those that have undergone removal programs. Five years ago, Bryson DeChambeau overpowered Winged Foot, which had removed about 300 trees, simply by hitting the ball as far as he could, then taking his chances from the rough. It's the sort of golf Scheffler seems to be growing tired of: 'When you host a championship tournament, if there's no trees, you just hit it wherever you want, because if I miss a fairway by 10 yards, I'm in the thick rough (but) if I miss by 20, I'm in the crowd," Scheffler told Horvat. AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed. ___
