Ludvig Aberg has a one-shot lead heading into Saturday’s third-round of the U.S. Open.
Aberg is the favorite at +330 to win the Open.
Patrick Cantlay (+900), Bryson DeChambeau (+400) and Thomas Detry (+1100) are tied for second at -4. Rory McIlroy, at -3, was third on the DraftKings Sportsbook oddsboard at +450.
Pre-tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler made the cut number at +5 and dropped to +5500 to win the Open.
Tiger Woods missed the cut at +7.
VSiN’s golf experts offered their second-round observations and third-round predictions.
U.S. Open third-round tee times
Kelley Bydlon
It’s an impressive leaderboard after the second round at the U.S. Open. Some stars have fallen, but there’s some quality players at the top including Ludvig Aberg looking for a breakthrough win, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Rory McIlroy, and Hideki Matsuyama right up there.
After holding off for too long, I will likely be adding a Bryson DeChambeau outright overnight. Everything seems to be clicking for him so far and I expect him to be right in the mix come sunday.
Matt Brown
Just 15 of the 156 golfers that teed it up for the US Open at Pinehurst #2 are under par after two rounds. You gotta scroll…and scroll…and scroll to find names such as Scottie Scheffler, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, and Brooks Koepka (all made the cut on the +5 number).
Those who won’t be playing the weekend include Viktor Hovland, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods.
With how tough Pinehurst #2 is playing, this thing is far from over. Bogeys and big numbers lurk everywhere, and over the course of two rounds, I think anyone at even par or better legitimately has a shot to win this thing (Sam Burns and Billy Horschel shot 3-under rounds Friday and moved up 49 spots…Hideki Matsuyama shot 4-under and moved up 42 spots).
Ludvig Aberg is going to win a lot of golf tournaments, I’m just not sure it’ll be this one. The 36-hole leader is riding a red-hot putter through two rounds (5th overall in the tournament) while actually losing a little bit SG: Around-the-Green through two rounds. That’s a scary formula for the way this course has been playing.
I added Tony Finau yesterday, and still think he’d be the addition for me headed into the weekend. He gained everywhere except putting but the flatstick didn’t kill him today (only lost -0.26 strokes to the field in round 2).
Matt Youmans
It appears the U.S. Open winner will be one of the top eight players on the leaderboard going into the weekend — Ludvig Aberg, Thomas Detry, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Matthieu Pavon, Rory McIlroy or Hideki Matsuyama. I really like my plays on Aberg (7-1 after the first round) and DeChambeau (21-1 pre-tournament), so I’ll make no additions Friday night. From tee to green, Aberg and DeChambeau have been as good as it gets.
The Scottie Scheffler implosion has been stunning to watch, but there’s a reason golf is a four-letter word with an “F” in it. The bookmakers are set to scoop up all of the Scheffler futures bets and must love the way this tournament is playing out. Scheffler, who’s sneaking through on the 5-over cut line, has been a flop along with several other former major winners, including Brooks Koepka. If Detry or Pavon win on Sunday, the books will clean up. Let’s root against the books and hope a player who’s popular with bettors gets the money.
Wes Reynolds
In last night’s column, Matt Youmans and myself made a case for an add on Ludvig Åberg at 7/1. The Swede goes into the weekend with a one-stroke lead at five-under par in just his third career major championship.Åberg (+330) currently leads the field for Driving Accuracy having hit 26 of his 28 fairways (92.9%) and Greens In Regulation (30/36, 83%), plus also leads for Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. He is also ranked 5th in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting (+4.9 strokes gained on the field through two rounds).
Bryson DeChambeau (4/1), doing what he typically does by the leading the field for Driving Distance (316.3), will join Åberg in Saturday’s final pairing.
Patrick Cantlay (9/1) was the first round co-leader but fell to one stroke back and will be in the penultimate group with Belgian Thomas Detry (16/1).The other first round co-leader was Rory McIlroy (4/1), who was bogey-free on Thursday but carded three on Friday to shoot 2-over 72 and is two strokes off the lead.Tony Finau (12/1) has scrambled his way to also just being two off the lead.Like Detry, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (40/1) has been red hot with the putter and is just two strokes behind. Pavon will be paired with Hideki Matusyama (16/1) who went bogey-free and shot Friday’s low round of 66 despite only hitting 10 of 18 greens.PGA Champion Xander Schauffele (11/1) is also still very much a factor at 1-under par and just four strokes back of the lead.As for Scottie Scheffler (50/1), he had to sweat out the cut line (+5) for the first time in almost two years but made the cut on the number and the World No. 1 will play on the weekend. He is currently listed at 7/1 to finish Top 5 and +230 to finish Top 10.
Notables to miss the cut included Viktor Hovland (+6), Max Homa (+6), Justin Rose (+6), Tiger Woods (+7), Webb Simpson (+8), Will Zalatoris (+8), Rickie Fowler (+8), Jason Day (+8), Dustin Johnson (+9), Gary Woodland (+10), Justin Thomas (+11), Lucas Glover (+13), and Phil Mickelson (+15).If you do not have any exposure on the favorites (Åberg and McIlroy in pocket for me), then Schauffele and Finau (who I have pre-tournament at 75/1) would be most worthwhile additions that are slightly off the pace.
