Our golf tipster Jamie Worsley is working overtime this week with a full US Open preview as well as 1st round leader, in-play and special bets. Here he has four angles for the weekend…

US Open Specials

• 1 pt each-way (without Scheffler, Rahm, Koepka & McIllroy) – Si Woo Kim – 40/1
• 1 pt  Top UK&Ire – Justin Rose – 6/1
• 1.5 pts Top 20 – Harris English – 9/2
• 1 pt Top 20 – Austin Eckroat – 7/2

Welcome to my specials preview of the US Open, where I’ve had a dive into the extra markets for this week’s event and come up with four selections that I think can give us some added interest at Los Angeles Country Club.

I was incredibly close to backing Si Woo Kim outright this week. He ranked 6^th in my model in this elite field and has some nice correlating form, most notably when 4^th last-time-out at Muirfield Village. However, he’s yet to really catch fire in the majors and I felt it hard to see him actually winning the thing against these proven major performers.

Having said that, he looks well placed to produce the best major performance of his career this week and in this market without the top 4, he looks tantalising value.

Si Woo kicked the year off in style by winning the Sony Open – his fourth PGA Tour win – and his form has been ticking over nicely since, missing just three cuts in his last sixteen starts. Though he has stepped his form back up a notch over his last four starts.

Just four starts ago, Kim finished 2^nd to Jason Day in the AT&T Byron Nelson. Though following that with a disappointing missed cut in the PGA Championship, he bounced back in solid fashion in the Charles Schwab Challenge, finishing 29^th, where he hit the ball well but struggled with the short game.

Then came that 4^th at the Memorial; a performance that was engineered by a superb tee-to-green performance that saw him rank just 2^nd behind the unmatchable Scottie Scheffler.

That T2G prowess sees Kim rank 14^th on the PGA Tour this season, excelling particularly in the ball-striking department, ranking 21^st in approach and 30^th off-the-tee. A ranking of 26^th in scrambling, as well as 11^th in bounce back and 28^th in bogey avoidance completes a strong profile for the Korean’s suitability to the test this week.

Despite failing to crack the top 10 as yet, Si Woo has recorded a top 15 finish in each of the four majors; a record which has been steadily improving year-on-year. In those finishes is a 12^th at Augusta, whilst his 4^th at Muirfield Village last time out also bodes well and was his second top 10 there after finishing 9^th in 2021.

This, coupled with the quality of his tee-to-green game of late leads me to believe Kim will finally achieve that major top 10 and he looks a good shout to be “best of the rest” behind the market leaders this week.

2013 US Open champion, Justin Rose narrowly missed out on a place for us in Canada last week but there was little wrong with his game there – as has been the case a lot recently – and he looks set for another strong major showing this week. One that will hopefully see him finish as the top player from the UK & Ireland.

Rose’s win at Pebble Beach earlier this year was his first in four years, since taking the Farmers Insurance Open in 2019 – both in California.

After missing a couple of cuts following that, Rose burst back into form when 6^th in THE PLAYERS Championship and has maintained a good level of form since; hitting the top 25 in each of his last five starts and recording two top 10s of: 9^th in the PGA Championship and 8^th last week in Canada.

He’s looking good across the board, though it’s with his irons he’s impressing most, ranking 7^th in this field over the last three months in approach and is 14^th in proximity from 200+ yards for the season. Additionally, the short game has looked sharp, ranking 23^rd in scrambling and 31^st around-the-greens; whilst he’s also one of the best bentgrass putters in the field.

Rose has a great US Open record, having won at Merion in 2013 and recorded further top 10 finishes when 3^rd in 2019 and 10^th in 2007/2018. In addition, he’s twice finished 2^nd at Augusta; part of a strong book of correlating form that has seen him win at Muirfield Village and finish 2^nd at Bay Hill.

This is no doubt a competitive betting heat, with Rory McIlroy as favourite, followed by Tyrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and then Tommy Fleetwood alongside Rose at 6/1; with all in good form and going well last week in Canada. However, with a 15^th place finish at Augusta and 9^th at Oakhill in the PGA Championship, Rose’s 2023 major form exceeds the level of each of theirs; when combined with him ranking top in my model of this group of players for this test, he looks decent value to be the best of the bunch this week in L.A.

Harris English has an excellent US Open record over recent renewals and with him starting to find form this year following a tough prior 18 months due to injury, he looks in a good place for another big US Open display in L.A.

English returned from hip surgery in the second half of last year but understandably struggled for form initially. Though did show signs of promise when 9^th in the Fortinet Championship towards the end of last year.

He failed to follow up on that effort over the remaining events of 2022, carrying that over into the new year by missing three of his first four cuts in 2023; however, he discovered some form when 12^th in the Genesis Invitational and his form has been much more positive since.

Just two starts after that, he finished 2^nd in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he finally started to find something in his long game (particularly in approach), after his 12^th at Riviera was largely engineered by the putter.

English then produced an incredibly eye-catching performance when 3^rd at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship four starts ago. Though the putter was once again strong there, it was his iron play that impressed most, as he ranked 2^nd in the field and recorded his best ever strokes-gained numbers in approach, gaining +2.03 strokes per round.

Whilst not quite as good as at Quail Hollow, he’s continued to hit his irons well, especially at Colonial when finishing 12^th, but he even hit them well when missing the cut at the PGA Championship; his quality around-the-greens, where he ranks 25^th, as well as 31^st in scrambling is another plus around L.A CC this week.

English has never missed the cut at the US Open and produced his only two major top 10s in this event, when 3^rd at Torrey Pines in 2021 and 4^th the year previous at Winged Foot. His 2^nd at Bay Hill earlier this year show further his ability on firm championship-like tests and if his approach performance two weeks ago was merely a blip, expect him to add another praiseworthy US Open performance to his C.V this week.

Former #11 amateur, Austrin Eckroat has started to truly find his feet on the PGA Tour this year, achieving his best finish to date when 2^nd at the AT&T Byron Nelson three starts ago. As a strong driver who has found form with the irons over recent weeks, he can go well on just his second major start this week.

Eckroat earned his way onto the PGA Tour this season via the Korn Ferry Tour last year, where he finished the season in excellent form, including recording a 2^nd place finish in the Korn Ferry Tour – Tour Championship.

He was solid enough in the wraparound events at the end of last year and after finishing 12^th in the Sony Open on his first start of 2023, looked a real player to follow this season. However, he endured a tough time afterwards, missing his next six cuts.

He improved out of the blue when 5^th at the Corales Puntacana alternate event in March and after following that with a missed cut in the Texas Open he’s sinch found consistency; making each of his last five cuts, including that 2^nd at TPC Craig Ranch – where he led the field on the greens and hit the ball well – also looking impressive when 16^th in the Charles Schwab Challenge and 30^th last-time-out at Muirfield Village.

Eckroat is pretty solid all-round but excels with the driver, ranking 28^th on the PGA Tour this season. This has partially engineered that recent run of form, though has been helped immensely by his improvements in approach, where he ranks 35^th over the last twenty rounds in this field; looking particularly good with the long irons, ranking 21^st on tour in proximity at 200+ yards this season.

A ranking of 8^th in bounce back is a further positive and points to a player not just hitting the ball well enough to go well this week, but to a player who has the right type of mentality for the challenge that awaits in California.

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