Our team of guest writers pick out their best bets from the side markets ahead of the US Open. Find out who is backing Rory McIlroy to miss the cut...
Sky Bet special: 80/1 all four win
Sky Bet have quoted 80/1 that the below selections all land for Sporting Life readers, available by clicking on this link.
Please note that ties are paid in full, so if Young were to finish tied for 10th with eight more players, for example, and the other selections all won it would be settle as a winner at the full price.
Other Sky Bet specials on our selections available via the below links. For those unable to access them visit Sky Bet's golf page, click on the US Open outright market, and scroll to find 'SportingLife Picks' at the foot of the page.
- All four of Ben Coley's outright picks T20 or better at 20/1 - CLICK HERE
- Migliozzi top Italian, Matsuyama top Japanese, Perez top French at 15/2 - CLICK HERE
- McIlroy, Scheffler and DeChambeau all to finish outside the top 10 at 10/1 - CLICK HERE
Cameron Young top-10 finish
Former Sky Sports Golf editor Dave Tindall is a regular contributor to betting.betfair.com and various other publications.
Imagine a couple of years ago getting such a big price on CAM YOUNG making the top 10 in a major.
In 2022 the American finished third at the US PGA and runner-up in the Open Championship before he added another pair of top-10s in 2023 (Masters and Open).
When Young posted tied ninth in the 2024 Masters, that made it five top-10s in his last eight majors. He was very deserving of the tag 'specialist' when it came to the big four.
His form has dipped since although he did still make all four cuts in the 2024 majors even if not getting in the hunt.
But he heads to Oakmont with a bunch of momentum again. He sneaked through qualifying to book his place and either side of that he's finished fourth in Canada, seventh in the Truist Championship and 25th at the Memorial.
Ranked third for strokes-gained: off-the-tee in his last two starts and wielding a hot putter, Young looks a good fit for Oakmont and is a huge price in this market.
Xander Schauffele top-20 finish
Matt Cooper is a golf journalist and long-time Sporting Life contributor who previews the women's majors for the website and provides tips for multiple tours for betting.betfair.com and others.
There’s not much doubt that last year’s PGA Championship and Open winner is having to grind in 2025. But even so, XANDER SCHAUFFELE finished eighth at the Masters and was only one shot outside the top 20 in the PGA Championship.
That latter result broke a run of 12 straight top 20 finishes in the majors for the Californian and he’s 8-for-8 in the US Open itself.
Given the struggle to find his A game, and the fearsome nature of Oakmont, it is, of course, entirely possible that this week will see that national championship run ended.
But, equally, Jack Nicklaus once said that many golfers in a US Open field are broken before they start, knowing the intensity of the challenge and their inability to withstand it. Schauffele, in contrast, seems to thrive on the difficulty.
It’s also notable that, while he’s 7-for-8 at being top 20 with 18 holes to play, the closest he has been to the lead is four strokes, and yet he fights on through Sunday while others are beaten up. Last week at the Memorial he was asked: "Have you ever been tempted to quit at a US Open? I mean, just figure you’re too far back and go through the motions?"
"I play to the whistle," he replied. "Always."
Max Greyserman top-40 finish
Tom Jacobs is the host of the Lost Fore Words podcast and also provides tips and previews for Oddschecker.
I tend to spend too much time rambling on these things, so I am going to keep this one fairly brief, as it's a very 'by the numbers' pick.
After a strong couple of seasons on Tour, MAX GREYSERMAN has started to garner a bit of attention in the bigger events, and while he failed to break through and win last year when presented with a couple of opportunities, he is definitely an improving player.
That much has been made clear by his last three major starts, which have seen him finish T21, T32, T33. The T21 came in last year's US Open, the T32 came on his Masters debut, the T33 his PGA Championship debut, so all are pretty impressive.
And while he did miss the cut on his US Open debut back in 2017, he's been consistently on the fringes in the biggest events since his rise in the game, and I certainly think a fourth consecutive top 40 is well within his capabilities at a nice price.
It also helps that he's finished inside the top 40 in six of his last seven starts overall, with a T54 finish at the Truist Championship the outlier. Greyserman has been T33 (PGA), T22 (Charles Schwab) and T25 (Memorial) since.
Rory McIlroy to miss the cut
Martin Mathews is a golf tipster who provides weekly betting previews for the PGA Tour via his own website, and major previews for Paddy Power.
Roll the clock back less than two months to that Sunday at Augusta and it is impossible to even contemplate that I would now be putting up a bet for the grand slam winner to miss the cut in the year's third major. Still, here we are and with two months being a long time in golf quite clearly all is not well with RORY MCILROY.
McIlroy returned to action post-Masters at the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and a 12th place there followed by seventh at the Truist gave no indication of what was to come. Following this he struggled at the PGA, finishing well down the field at his beloved Quail Hollow, before the wheels well and truly came off in Canada last week on a layout that an in-form McIlroy would have bullied in to submission in his sleep.
Whether it is a case of him struggling to reset and find motivation after achieving a lifetime ambition, or whether it is down to the now infamous non-conforming driver at the PGA and his subsequent struggles to get a suitable replacement in the bag, or indeed a combination of the two, McIlroy looked totally lost in Canada when beating just four players home.
There is a risk of course that we look really stupid come the weekend as the Northern Irishman rediscovers his mojo, however Oakmont is not a place to turn up to when struggling and having missed the cut here in 2016 when arriving on the back of four top-fours in his previous six starts, he may not have particularly fond memories of the layout.
I'll happily take the risk then at the odds on offer that it's a second consecutive weekend off for this years Masters champion.
Posted at 1330 BST on 11/06/25
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