US Open Golf 2024 Predictions – Can Anybody Beat Scheffler?

Despite the fact that the golfing season never seems to have a break, there are four major championships that captures everybody’s attention.

These are the Masters Tournament, the US Open, The Open Championship (often referred to as the British Open), and the PGA Championship.

All are equally as prestigious, and winning any one of them is a significant achievement for any professional golfer.

So much so that this year, there have been 10,052 entries for the 124th US Open Championship. That staggering number does include the defending champion, Wyndham Clark.

But with a field of just 156 that number will have to get significantly whittled down before the tournament starts at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club on June 13th.

That may seem like one almighty task, but given that the top 50 players in the official world rankings are also included, the job becomes a little bit easier.

And that brings us nicely onto which of them could go on and win the US Open this year.

Can Clark retain the title? Will Scottie Scheffler maintain his impressive run of good form? Or will we crown a new champion on June 16th when the final ball is putted?

2024 Betting Odds

Below, I’ve listed the ante-post odds on offer from Betfred for the 2024 US Open.

The list is not exhaustive, and there are plenty more golfers you can back, on bigger odds, further down the pecking order, all of which you can view when you go to Betfred.

Golfer	Odds
Scottie Scheffler	4/1
Jon Rahm	10/1
Rory McIlroy	10/1
Brooks Koepka	11/1
Viktor Hovland	14/1
Ludvig Aberg	14/1
Xander Schauffele	16/1
Patrick Cantlay	18/1
Collin Morikawa	20/1
Cameron Smith	22/1
Jordan Spieth	22/1
Wyndham Clark	25/1
Justin Thomas	28/1
Max Homa	28/1
Will Zalatoris	28/1
Bryson Dechambeau	30/1
Dustin Johnson	30/1
Tony Finau	30/1
Joaquin Niemann	33/1
Matt Fitzpatrick	33/1
Cameron Young	35/1
Hideki Matsuyama	40/1
Jason Day	40/1
Sungjae Im	40/1
Tommy Fleetwood	40/1
Tyrrell Hatton	40/1
Rickie Fowler	45/1
Min Woo Lee	50/1
Sahith Theegala	50/1
Shane Lowry	50/1

US Open Back-to-Back Winners

Before we take a deeper dive into the whose who of potential US Open winners, here’s an interesting fact as to why Wyndham Clark might not be the favourite.

In the history of the tournament, going all the way back to 1895, only 22 players have ever won it more than once. And of those 22 players, only four have won it a record four times each.

They are Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus.

And when it comes to back-to-back wins, the stats are even more stark. Willie Anderson won three on the bounce in 1903, 1904, and 1905, and John McDermott won in 1911 and 1912.

Bobby Jones won his third and fourth tournaments in 1929 and 1930 and Ben Hogan dominated in the 1950s.

It then took more than 30 years for Curtis Strange to win consecutive titles, winning in 1988 and 1989.

Since then only one man has managed to retain his title and that is Brooks Koepka who took the US Open in both 2017 and 2018.

That means in nearly 130 years, only SIX players have won and retained the US Open the following year.

Statistically and historically, the odds are not in Wyndham Clark’s favour. That is probably why he is as long as 25/1 to win it in 2024.

Predictions For 2024

Aside from history not being on his side, Clark also has to contend with an on-fire Scottie Scheffler, who if you scanned the betting markets across all tournaments, is pretty much the favourite to win all of them.

He could do that of course, but it’s not likely. So will his drought in the US Open finally end in June?

His best finish in the tournament to date has been second place in 2022 and while he finished -7 under par last year, that only got him to third place behind Wyndham and Rory McIlroy.

So he does have a point to prove and judging by his current form, this year could be his for the taking.

To date in 2024, he has played in 10 tournaments, won four and finished in the top 10 in another five of them. So if it’s an each-way bet you’re looking for, Scheffler looks good to place.

Rory McIlroy looks like his nearest rival but on paper hasn’t had as good a season. From his ten tournaments, he has only won once in the Dubai Desert Classic, though he was runner up in the Dubai Invitational as well.

Now we get into the contentious bit…

Jon Rahm has ‘officially’ only played in one tournament that counts towards the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) leaderboard, which has him in 5th place.

That is because he has been banned from PGA Tour events due to his affiliation with Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

However, the US Open, while considered part of the PGA Tour schedule, is not organised by the PGA Tour itself.

Instead, it is run by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and that means Rahm can play in it.

So, he has a point to prove and making it on US soil might be just the ticket for the Spaniard.

After all, I’m sure constantly looking at your $300 million in the bank from the LIV can get boring…

So, where does that leave us in of predicting the winner of the US Open?

No prizes for suggesting that Scottie Scheffler will have it in his sites but Jon Rahm will give him a run for his money.

I also think that Xander Schauffele could make it into the top 5 alongside and while Wyndham Clark may not win it, his form suggests he’ll be near enough to the top 3.

Or, I could be totally wrong and some random 250/1 could shock absolutely everybody and take home the trophy. Who knows!