US Open Betting

The US Open is always the second of the four annual major golf championships, and is held at a different course in the United States each year. Being a major, it is one of the biggest golfing events on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour and never fails to attract the world's best professional golfers.

As a four-day stroke play tournament, players in the US Open aim to make the best scores in each day's round to avoid being 'cut' at the end of round two. An enormous prize pool of $8 million (2012), as well as the glory of winning such a prestigious event, draws players each year. The US Open always attracts a vast global television audience, as well as droves of US Open betting fans.

US Open Background

Like the other major championships, the United States Open Championship has a long and illustrious history. The inaugural US Open was played in October 1895 at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. It attracted ten professionals and one amateur, and was won by an Englishman called Horace Rawlins.

And since that auspicious but small beginning, the US Open has grown into the highly prestigious event it is today. Interestingly, the tournament has been predominantly won by Americans, and as of now, only players from six other nations (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Northern Island, South Africa and the UK) have won it.

Evolution of US Open Betting

Because golf is beamed just about everywhere these days, viewership figures have grown exponentially, as has the popularity of golf betting, particularly since the evolution of online sportsbooks. This is especially true of the US Open, as millions of American and international golfing fans can bet on the event quickly and easily via the internet.

As in the other majors, US Open fans wager on who they think will come out best after four days. This is much easier said than done as a bogey here and an eagle there can change the leader board in an instant. Fans who backed Rory McIlroy to win the US Open in 2011 came up trumps when the Northern Irish youngster was victorious.

US Open tournament betting levels for the 2012 event are expected to be at their highest yet, especially due to the advent of state-of-the-art mobile betting facilities - where punters can wager using their smartphones and devices - added to the growing number of safe, secure and reputable online sportsbetting sites to wager on.

2012 US Open Field and Odds

The 2012 US Open will be played at the prestigious Olympic Club in San Francisco, California from Thursday, June 14 to Sunday, June 17.

From a betting perspective, the top contenders in terms of posted US Open odds are Tiger Woods (10/1), Lee Westwood (14/1), Luke Donald (16/1), Phil Mickelson (18/1) and Rory McIlroy (20/1). It should be interesting to see if Tiger can win his first major in three years.