Best player without a major has been a dubious distinction in golf. Entering Thursday's 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, two players with Southern California roots will hope to earn their first major win. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele have been regular partners in team golf events and both would love to defeat a talented 2023 U.S. Open field in front of a home crowd. It will be the first major championship held in the greater L.A. area since the 1995 PGA Championship at Riviera and the first U.S. Open since 1948. Cantlay is 14-1 in the 2023 U.S. Open odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while Schauffele is 18-1. Scottie Scheffler is the 13-2 U.S. Open 2023 favorite, followed by Jon Rahm (8-1), Brooks Koepka (17-2), Viktor Hovland (10-1) and Rory McIlroy (11-1).
Before locking in your 2023 U.S. Open picks or entering any PGA DFS tournaments on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Our proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up more than $10,200 on its best bets since that point, nailing tournament after tournament.
McClure's model predicted Jon Rahm would finish on top of the leaderboard at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. And at the 2023 Masters, the model was all over Rahm's second career major victory heading into the weekend. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the third round, but the model still projected him as the winner. It was the second straight Masters win for the model, which also nailed Scottie Scheffler winning in 2022.
In addition, the model included Nick Taylor in its best bets to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. That bet hit at +7000, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned nearly $1,900. McClure's best bets also included Jason Day (17-1) winning outright at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, even though he hadn't won a PGA Tour event since 2018.
This same model has also nailed a whopping nine majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the 2023 U.S. Open is approaching, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected 2023 U.S. Open leaderboard.
2023 U.S. Open predictions for Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm
One shocker the model is calling for at the U.S. Open 2023: Max Homa, a six-time PGA Tour winner and one of the top favorites, stumbles and barely cracks the top 15. The No. 7 player in the Official World Golf Ranking has piled up six PGA Tour wins over the last four years and change and had four top-10 finishes over his last seven starts.
Unfortunately for Homa, he's struggled mightily in major championships thus far in his career. He's only had one top-25 finish in 15 career major starts and finished 43rd and 55th in the first two majors of 2023. The U.S. Open has been a particular challenge, as he's missed three cuts in four career starts. His career-best U.S. Open finish was a 47th last year. See who else to fade here.
The model has also locked in its projection for Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. The 2022 Masters champion hasn't piled up wins at the same clip that he did during his breakout season in 2021-22, but he's been arguably even more consistent during the 2022-23 PGA Tour season.
He's riding a streak of 16 consecutive starts in which he's finished 12th or better and has had two wins during that span. Scheffler is prone to cold stretches with the putter, but a bad week on the greens can be costly at the U.S. Open. He ranks 148th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting (-.248) this season. See where every golfer finishes here.
On the other hand, the model has examined Jon Rahm's chances to win his second major championship of the season. The 28-year-old Spanish star has been in a back-and-forth all year with Scheffler for the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and has piled up an impressive seven worldwide wins over the course of the last 15 months.
However, Rahm was admittedly tired coming off his Masters win and hasn't been at his best in recent starts. He finished 16th at the Memorial Tournament earlier this month and was a disappointing 50th at Oak Hill in the 2023 PGA Championship. Yet, he's the 2021 U.S. Open winner and he's been top 25 in this event in his last four starts. See the full U.S. Open projections from the model here.
How to make 2023 U.S. Open picks
The model is targeting four golfers with 2023 U.S. Open odds of 18-1 or longer who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big. You can only see the model's 2023 U.S. Open picks here.
Who will win the 2023 U.S. Open, which longshots will stun the golfing world, and where will Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler finish? Check out the latest 2023 U.S. Open odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected U.S. Open 2023 leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed nine golf majors, including the Masters.
2023 U.S. Open odds, field
See the full U.S. Open 2023 picks, best bets, and predictions here.
Scottie Scheffler +650
Jon Rahm +800
Brooks Koepka +850
Viktor Hovland +1000
Rory McIlroy +1100
Patrick Cantlay +1400
Max Homa +1600
Xander Schauffele +1800
Justin Thomas +2500
Jordan Spieth +2500
Collin Morikawa +2500
Cameron Smith +2500
Tony Finau +2500
Dustin Johnson +2800
Cameron Young +3500
Matt Fitzpatrick +3500
Tyrrell Hatton +4000
Hideki Matsuyama +4000
Bryson DeChambeau +4000
Sungjae Im +4000
Jason Day +4000
Tommy Fleetwood +4500
Joaquin Niemann +5000
Sam Burns +5000
Shane Lowry +5000
Rickie Fowler +5000
Sahith Theegala +5500
Justin Rose +5000
Wyndham Clark +7000
Corey Conners +7500
Joonhyung (Tom) Kim +8500
Patrick Reed +8500
Adam Scott +9000
Talor Gooch +10000
Denny McCarthy +10000
Louis Oosthuizen +12500
Keegan Bradley +12500
Si-Woo Kim +12500
Russell Henley +12500
Gary Woodland +12500
Mito Pereira +12500
Kurt Kitayama +12500
Keith Mitchell +15000
Tom Hoge +15000
Harris English +15000
Carlos Ortiz +15000
Justin Suh +15000
Phil Mickelson +15000
Abraham Ancer +15000
Min Woo Lee +15000
Lucas Herbert +17500
Victor Perez +17500
Seamus Power +17500
Adrian Meronk +17500
Taylor Moore +17500
Cam Davis +17500
Thomas Pieters +20000
Chris Kirk +20000
Eddie Pepperell +20000
Austin Eckroat +20000
K.H. Lee +20000
Taylor Montgomery +20000
Harold Varner +20000
Jason Kokrak +20000
