114th US Open 2014- Golf Betting Tips & Preview

114th US Open 2014 : Former Champions To Excel At Pinehurst – The second Major of the season starts this Thursday, below we have guidelines to find a winner from Europe.  The US Open was first played in 1895 and this will be the 114th staging of the event.
 
Course : No 2 Course, Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, North Carolina – Yards 7,562 Par 70 – Donald Ross designed the course, which opened in 1907. The first nine holes were completed in 1901. Ross would fine-tune the layout several times through 1946. Rees Jones completed renovations prior to the 1999 U.S. Open. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restored the course to Ross’ original design, bringing back many of Ross’ original design characteristics. The restoration was completed in March 2011.  This is the third U.S. Open Championship and the seventh USGA championship to be conducted at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2).  The course has seen some good weather over the past few days and the greens are said to be very difficult due to the hardness of the surface, there are also large contours on the greens which will take the ball away from the hole, the grounds staff have been informed not to water the greens as this will make the course easier to play, although there is a possibility of some storms which have been forecast for later in the week.

In 1999, Payne Stewart made a par-saving putt from 18 feet on the final hole to defeat Phil Mickelson by a single stroke en route to his second U.S. Open Championship. With an even-par round of 70, Stewart was the only player to finish under par for the championship, with a 1-under total of 279. Mickelson finished at even-par 280. Tiger Woods and Vijah Singh made bids for the lead in what was a four-man race on Sunday, but they each ended up two back at 1-over 281. Stewart used just 24 putts during the final round and one-putted the last three greens when it mattered most. He won two U.S. Opens and posted two runner-up finishes in the 1990s.

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In 2005, Michael Campbell became the first New Zealander to win the U.S. Open when he made an important birdie from 25 feet on the par-3 17th that helped him off Tiger Woods by two strokes. He also was the first sectional qualifier to win the Open since Steve Jones in 1996. As 54-hole leader Retief Goosen slipped back, it quickly became a two-man battle, with Woods playing in the third-to-last group, just ahead of Campbell.  Woods had struggled with his putting all week, but found the hole for birdies on holes 10, 11 and 15 to pull within two strokes of Campbell.  Campbell answered the challenge with his birdie on No. 17, the third time he had birdied that hole in the championship.

 
Inside The Field : Phil Mickelson, now seeking the final leg for a career Grand Slam after numerous near misses here at the US Open, and Masters titleholder Bubba Watson join defending champion Justin Rose atop a list that figures to include 58 of the top 60 in the world rankings.  World No. 4 Tiger Woods, a three-time U.S. Open champion, and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn have given up automatic berths because of injury.   Kevin Na, runner-up at the Memorial after losing out in a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama has claimed a place in the field.  A total of 79 entrants came through 36-hole sectional qualifying, including 22 that survived both local and sectional tests. 
Bernd Wiesberger will become the first Austrian to play in the US Open Championship after earning his spot in the field at Pinehurst Resort courtesy of his runner-up finish at the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity.  Bubba Watson has a chance to become just the fourth player since World War II to sweep the Masters and U.S. Open. Jack Nicklaus was the last in 1972, preceded by Arnold Palmer (1960) and Ben Hogan (1951, ’53). 
 
Previous Winners
 
2013 – Justin Rose 

2012 – Webb Simpson 

2011 – Rory McIlroy 
 
2010 – Graeme McDowell 

2009 – Lucas Glover
 
Selections

I have based my selections this week around players from Europe, three out of the last five winners of the US Open have come from over the pond,  I think it is also very important to look at players who have actually won before America.  The course is set up very long for a Par 70, the courses total yardage is 7,562 with some particularly long par 4's.  This should play in advantage to the longer hitters of the tee, we are not so sure on how penal the rough is going to be this week, but one factor we know that is going to be tough is the greens.  Apparently the greens are very fast due to the weather conditions in North Carolina and the ground staff have been told not to water the greens until at least Thursday – there are expected storms forecasted which may help the greens to soften up.  All aspects of the golfers will be tested as it should at the most difficult Major in golf.
 

Rory McIlroy  11/1  Win Open a new William Hill account by clicking this link and get a free £25 bet. 

Rory has shown some good form so far this season and he will certainly be very confident of a good week here in North Carolina after winning his first tournament of 2014 when he recently won the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club just days after his well publicized split from tennis star Carline Wozniacki, McIlroy beat Shane Lowry by one stroke at the event based in Surrey, England.  He has also played well on the PGA Tour without getting the win he craves, he has been very solid in his play achieving five top 10's already thus far in America.  He actually was very close to victory in America at the Honda Classic after having a great chance of victory he shot a final round 74 to leave himself in a four way playoff which he eventually lost to American young gun Russell Henley.  Rory is a former US Open Champion, which he won at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland where he won by a massive eight strokes to Aussie Jason Day in doing so he broke some long standing records.  Most notably his 72 hole score of 268 ( – 16 ) was a new record and he also became the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923.

Justin Rose   25/1  Each Way Open a new Coral account by clicking this link bet just £5 and get a free £20 bet!

It’s the 25th Anniversary of when Curtis Strange won back to back US Opens, Curtis is actually the last of 6 players to claim this magnificent record, and I feel that Justin Rose can right himself in the history books this week at Pinehurst.  The Englishman played brilliantly to win his first Major last year at Merion Golf Club where he staved of the fight from American Hero, Phil Mickelson and Aussie, Jason Day when he beat both men by two strokes.  With that win he became the first Englishman in 43 years to win the US Open, he was obviously very emotional on Father's Day Sunday after losing his Father back in 2002.  Rose has played in America for a number of years and he is not ready to give up his title of US Open Champion easily.  Justin had a slow start to the year after injury, but he has blossomed over the past few months – he has four top 10's this season – his best finish so far was at the Players Championship just a few weeks back.  The greens here are very difficult and Rose is one of the best players on Tour getting up and down which he showed last year at the Merion Club.

Graeme McDowell   55/1 Each Way  Open a new William Hill account by clicking this link and get a free £25 bet. 

Here is another Former Champion who I feel has real potential to go on and win his second Major Championship.  G-Mac won his first Major the US Open at Pebble Beach back in 2010 becoming the first Northern Irishman to accomplish this feat, and also becoming the first European US Open Champion since Tony Jacklin which was back in 1970.  Graeme who also plays a lot of his golf over in America these days will be very comfortable here in North Carolina.  His game looks to be in good shape at the moment he has played in 10 events in America only missing the cut on one occasion.  He also had a very good 2013 in which he won three events – two of which where on the European circuit at the Volvo World Match Play were he beat Thongchai Jaidee and he also won at the Alstom Open de France.  He also won in America which I consider very valuable at the RBC Heritage in April 2013 when he beat 2012 US Open Champion Webb Simpson in a sudden death Playoff.  One stat that has jumped out at me from G-Mac is that he is currently ranks second in strokes gained by putting which could be massive here on these fast firm greens.

Jonas Blixt      100/1 Each Way Open a new Ladbrokes account by clicking this link, and get a £50 free bet!

Jonas is my outsider for the US Open.  This is his first time at the event so we are abit unsure to how the Swede will take to this tough type of setup, but he has shown that he can play in big Major tournaments before.  He hasn't had the best of seasons so far to date with only one top 10 finish in 2014 on the PGA Tour, that one top ten was very significant though as this was at the first Major of the season the Masters back in April when Bubba Watson claimed his second green jacket.  The Swede has certainly shown a taste for the big occasion out of three Major tournaments he has competed he has finished in the top 5 on two occasions which is very impressive indeed.  Also add to the equation that Blixt is also gunning for a spot in the European Ryder Cup team, that's if Paul McGinley didn't take the hump after the Swede forgot his name at a press conference after the Masters event !!  I also like that Jonas knows how to win in America, he has won twice since earning his PGA Tour card in 2012 which is no mean feat, his last win was at the Greenbrier Classic back in July of 2013.

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