Steve Palmer's US Open golf specials betting and best bets

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 3.30pm Thursday

Best bets

Justin Rose top Englishman
2pts each-way 11-2 Betfair, Power

Phil Mickelson top left-hander
2pts 3-1 general

Cameron Young to make cut
2pts 13-8 bet365

Taylor Pendrith to make cut
2pts 13-8 bet365

Brendan Steele to make cut
2pts 11-8 bet365

Abraham Ancer top Mexican
2pts 8-11 Coral, Ladbrokes

Preview

Justin Rose has been enjoying himself in the Majors this year, employing all his experience at the age of 40, and the former US Open champion can end the week as the top Englishman at Torrey Pines South.

Rose, seventh in the Masters before a fast-finishing eighth in the US PGA, has arrived at Torrey Pines as a course winner. He was victorious in the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open there. He can boast five top-tens in the US Open.

Rose, up against Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Casey, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and others, will probably have to play well to win the market, but Betfair and Paddy Power are offering four each-way places (fifth the odds), making jaunty Justin an attractive each-way option.

Phil Mickelson will be hogging much of the early spotlight in the wake of his dramatic US PGA Championship triumph. Lefty, gunning for the career Grand Slam, may fall just short of delivering the fairytale of back-to-back Major glory, but the San Diego man can be fancied in the top left-hander market, and 3-1 is a surprisingly generous price.

Mickelson knows Torrey Pines South well and has won three times there in the Buick Invitational. He was 18th in the 2008 US Open at Torrey and course-comfort can give him the edge over first-timer Garrick Higgo in this market.

Bubba Watson has been dire in his last two tournaments - he is one of the few players displeased to see galleries returning - while Brian Harman and Robert MacIntyre are the other left-handers at Torrey.

There should be enough Mickelson magic for him to win this section.

Abraham Ancer, fifth in the Valspar Championship, runner-up at Quail Hollow, eighth in the US PGA and 14th at Colonial in his last four PGA Tour starts, seems a solid favourite in the top Mexican market for punters happy to play at odds-on.

Ancer has three much more erratic opponents to beat - the Ortiz brothers, Carlos and Alvaro, and qualifier Mario Carmona.

Complete your attack on the tops and specials by backing three players at odds-against to make the cut. Cameron Young, Taylor Pendrith and Brendan Steele are all odds-on quotes to miss the cut but those prices look disrespectful.

Will Zalatoris finished sixth in the US Open last year when competing as a Korn Ferry Tour star and Young could follow in those footsteps to some degree. The 24-year-old has won two of his last four Korn Ferry events, as well as winning the New York US Open qualifier.
Young has played in a US Open before, narrowly missing the cut at Pebble Beach, and this time he is playing well enough to go the distance.

Pendrith is another who has impressed on the feeder circuit. The Canadian powerhouse, who has finished runner-up four times on the Korn Ferry Tour, can qualify for round three, as can Californian Steele, a two-time PGA Tour champion in the Golden State. Steele has not missed a cut in 13 events this year.

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