US Open Golf 2022: Odds, Favorites and Tournament Preview

For the first time in 34 years, the U.S. Open is heading to The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Many of the top golfers in the world will be participating in the 2022 edition of the tournament, which gets underway Thursday morning.

This is the fourth time that the venue has hosted the U.S. Open. It was previously the site of the event in 1913, 1963 and 1988.

The U.S. Open is also the third major tournament on the 2022 schedule. The first was the Masters Tournament in April, when Scottie Scheffler captured the title for the first major victory of the 25-year-old's career. And Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship in May.

Scheffler remains at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but if he's going to win the U.S. Open for the first time, he'll have to beat more strong competition. And he's not the early betting favorite heading into the tournament, either.

Here are the current odds for the 2022 U.S. Open, followed by a closer look at some of the top favorites for this year's event.

Rory McIlroy: +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000)

Jon Rahm: +1200

Justin Thomas: +1200

Xander Schauffele: +1400

Scottie Scheffler: +1400

Viktor Hovland: +2200

Patrick Cantlay: +2200

Dustin Johnson: +2200

Cameron Smith: +2200

Matthew Fitzpatrick: +2800

Collin Morikawa: +2800

Jordan Spieth: +2800

Sam Burns: +3000

Will Zalatoris: +3000

Via DraftKings Sportsbook

Rory McIlroy has been playing extremely well in recent months. He placed second at the Masters in April, finished eighth at the PGA Championship in May and is coming off a win at the RBC Canadian Open this past weekend.

However, the 33-year-old's drought at major tournaments drags on. Although he's won four major titles in his successful career, he hasn't been victorious at any of the four most prestigious events since the 2014 PGA Championship.

Could McIlroy's recent strong play carry over and result in his first major title in eight years? It would be his first win at the U.S. Open since 2013. In recent years, he's had mixed results at the tournament, missing the cut every year from 2016-18 before finishing in the top nine each of the past three years.

"The U.S. Open has been a weird one," the world No. 3 said, per RTE. "I went through a few years of not playing well at it but honestly, it's been the major the last few years that I've felt the most comfortable at."

If McIlroy stays in a groove in Brookline this weekend, he could finally be celebrating that elusive fifth major.

At last year's U.S. Open, Jon Rahm picked up the biggest win of his golf career to this point. He finished six under par at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, edging Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke to earn his first major title.

The 27-year-old hasn't won a major since. But that could change this weekend, when he'll be looking to become the first golfer to win consecutive U.S. Opens since Brooks Koepka in 2017 and 2018.

Rahm, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, didn't have his best showings at the first two majors of the year, tying for 27th at the Masters and for 48th at the PGA Championship. But he won the Mexico Open last month and is coming off a 10th-place finish at the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago.

Recently, the Spaniard has been excelling at various aspects of his game. At the Memorial, he was both driving and putting well. If he builds off that performance and puts together a complete weekend in Brookline, he may end up successfully defending his U.S. Open title.

There was a five-year gap between Justin Thomas' first win at a major tournament and his second. After claiming the 2017 PGA Championship, he wasn't victorious at one of those events again until winning the same tournament in 2022.

But the 29-year-old may not have as long to wait for his third major title.

In fact, it could come this weekend in a tournament in which Thomas has never finished better than eighth. Despite that, he has been playing quite well this year and enters the week with some momentum.

The American has placed in the top 10 in eight of his first 12 tournaments in 2022, and he's coming off a third-place showing at the RBC Canadian Open this past weekend. He shot a 69 or better in each of the four rounds at that event.

With Thomas' consistent results this year, it would be a surprise if he's not near the top of the leaderboard by Sunday evening. It seems he's poised for a career-best showing at the U.S. Open, which could lead to his first win at the tournament.

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