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The third major of the year gets under way on Thursday with the first round of the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.

Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

124th U.S. OPEN
Location: Village of Pinehurst, N.C., June 13-16
Course: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Course No. 2 (Par 70, 7,548 Yards)
Purse: TBD
Defending Champion: Wyndham Clark
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday: 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. ET (USA), 5-8 p.m. (Peacock); Friday: 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (Peacock), 1-7 p.m. (NBC), 7-8 p.m. (Peacock); Saturday: 10 a.m.-noon (USA), noon- 8 p.m. (NBC); Sunday: 9 a.m.-Noon (USA), Noon-7 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming: Various times with featured holes and groups at USOpen.com.
X: @USOpenGolf

PROP PICKS
–Tiger Woods to Make Cut (+220 at DraftKings): It’s no fun to root against Tiger, and the -330 odds that he misses the weekend is a terrible payout anyway. So we dive into the potential that the 15-time major champion makes the cut in his first U.S. Open since 2020. It’s a tall order, with Woods’ only made cut in three starts this year coming against a much smaller field at the Masters. He has competed in two previous U.S. Opens at Pinehurst, finishing second in 2005 and tied for third in 1999. Woods reaching the weekend has been the second most popular play at the book in terms of money behind only Jordan Spieth, while he has also drawn the third-most money to miss the cut behind Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson.

–DeChambeau Top 20 (+100 at BetRivers): The LIV Golf star has shown up well at the majors this year, tying for sixth at the Masters before a solo second at the PGA Championship. DeChambeau also won the 2020 U.S. Open, and his game is suited to bombing it on long tracks and using the height on his short irons to rack up birdie looks.

–Collin Morikawa to Beat Rory McIlroy (+105 at DraftKings): Morikawa is playing as well as anyone not named Scottie Scheffler. He has finished T4 or better in three consecutive starts and has four top-10s in his past five events. McIlroy has been playing solidly in his own right, including a win at the Wells Fargo followed by a T12, T4 and T15 in his past three starts. He also finished second to Clark last year, but that quest to claim his first major since 2014 always seems to weigh on McIlroy at some point during a major.

2024 Prop Picks Record: 32-34-1

BEST BETS
–Scheffler (+300 at BetRivers) is the first player to win five times on tour before the U.S. Open since Tom Watson in 1980. His five wins include a major, The Players and three signature events. Despite his extremely short odds as the heavy favorite, Scheffler has been backed by more than twice as much money (34.2 percent) and total bets (23.4 percent) to win this week than any other player in the field.
–Xander Schauffele (+900) followed up his first major title with a T8 at the Memorial, and has finished in the top 15 in each of his previous seven U.S. Open starts. He is fourth at the book with 6.9 percent of the money backing Schauffele to claim a second consecutive major.
–McIlroy (+1200) is seeking his first major title since 2014. The 2011 U.S. Open champion finished second last year and has five consecutive top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open.
–Morikawa (+1600) has three consecutive top-5 finishes, including a second at the Memorial. He’s second to Scheffler with 14.3 percent of the money and 7.2 percent of the bets backing him at BetRivers. Morikawa is the book’s biggest liability this week.
–DeChambeau (+2000) tied for sixth at the Masters and finished solo second at the PGA Championship. He’s third at the book with 6.0 percent of the total bets supporting DeChambeau to win his second U.S. Open.
–Brooks Koepka (+2200) is a two-time U.S. Open champion, but has seen modest support from the public with only 2.9 percent of the money backing him to win.

NOTES
–The field includes each of the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings and 49 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking after Jon Rahm withdrew due to a foot injury.
–Schauffele leads the PGA Tour with 48 consecutive cuts made, followed by Scheffler with 38. Hideki Matsuyama holds the longest active streak of cuts made in major championships at 16.
–Pinehurst No. 2 is playing host to its fourth U.S. Open, with the three previous champions being Payne Stewart (1999), Michael Campbell (2005) and Martin Kaymer (2014). It is also scheduled to host the U.S. Open in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047.
–Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson will each compete in their fourth U.S. Open events at Pinehurst.
–Adam Scott will compete in his 93rd career major championship and 92nd consecutive.
–Four players ranked in the top 10 are seeking their first major titles: Viktor Hovland (No. 5), Ludvig Aberg (No. 6), Patrick Cantlay (No. 9) and Max Homa (No. 10).
–The U.S. Open marks the final qualification week for the Olympic Golf competition in Paris. The top four Americans who would currently qualify are Scheffler, Schauffele, Clark and Morikawa.

–Field Level Media