After reclaiming the world No.1 spot with victory at the FedEx St Jude Classic in Memphis, Dustin Johnson is favourite going into this weekend’s 2018 US Open.
The second golf major of the year starts on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York, and 2016 winner Johnson leads an all-star field that includes fellow Americans Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods and defending champion Brooks Koepka.
European stars Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson will aim to stop the Americans from winning on home soil, as will Australia’s Jason Day and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
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Johnson is looking to make history at Shinnecock Hills by becoming the first player to take the US Open title having won the previous week. He told Sky Sports: “Why not be the first one to do it? I don’t know why it hasn’t happened but the US Open is a tough, tough place to go and win.
“I did win in 2016, so I know what it takes and I’m going to have to play a lot like I did this week [in Memphis] if I want to win [this week].”
In Thursday’s first round Johnson tees off at 6.47pm (UK time) and is grouped with Thomas and Woods. See below for the full list of first-round tee times.
118th US Open
- What: the second golf major of the year
- When: 14-17 June 2018
- Where: Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, New York
- Official website: usopen.com
How to watch on TV
Sky Sports Golf will broadcast live from Shinnecock Hills. Thursday and Friday’s coverage starts at 1.30pm (UK time) with the featured groups. Saturday and Sunday’s coverage will start at 4.30pm.
Predictions: who will win the US Open?
Josh Sens, Golf.com: “Justin Rose. How can you not like Rose on a stout set-up like this is bound to be? Always a dead-eye iron player, he’s been in great form this year with two wins already and a sixth-place finish at the Memorial.”
Jeff Ritter, Golf.com: “Jason Day wins it. He’s healthy, he’s focused and he’s already won twice this year. The ideal combo of tee-box power and steady putting, he’s peaking again. Shinny is the perfect venue for him to claim major title No.2.”
Payton Matthews, Sports Interaction: “Take Mickelson and McIlroy for top tens, but the winner is Henrik Stenson. The Swede has finished in the top 25 in his past six PGA Tour events and was T5 at the Masters. He leads the Tour in greens in regulation percentage, always a key statistic at the US Open.”
2018 US Open betting odds
Latest prices according to Oddschecker, as of 12 June.
To win the 2018 US Open:
- Dustin Johnson: 8/1
- Justin Rose: 16/1
- Rory McIlroy: 16/1
- Justin Thomas: 16/1
- Jason Day: 18/1
- Rickie Fowler: 20/1
- Jordan Spieth: 22/1
- Jon Rahm: 22/1
- Tiger Woods: 22/1
- Brooks Koepka: 25/1
- Henrik Stenson: 35/1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 35/1
- Phil Mickelson: 40/1
US Open first-round tee times
All times UK, players are US unless stated and (am) is for amateurs.
Starting from hole one:
- 11.45am: Harold Varner, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Scott Piercy
- 11.56am: Michael Putnam, Scott Gregory (Eng), Will Zalatoris
- 12.07pm: Brendan Steele, Chesson Hadley, (am) Harry Ellis (Eng)
- 12.18pm: Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), (am) Doug Ghim
- 12.29pm: Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Jimmy Walker, Justin Rose (Eng)
- 12.40pm: Bubba Watson, Jason Day (Aus), Brooks Koepka
- 12.51pm: Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Danny Willett (Eng), Ian Poulter (Eng)
- 1.02pm: Kevin Chappell, Andrew Johnston (Eng), Daniel Berger
- 1.13pm: Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Matt Kuchar
- 1.24pm: Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind), Patrick Rodgers
- 1.35pm: Lanto Griffin, Tom Lewis (Eng), (am) Jacob Bergeron
- 1.46pm: (am) Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), (am) Luis Gagne (Crc), Cole Miller
- 1.57pm: Mickey DeMorat, (am) Tyler Strafaci, Calum Hill (Sco)
- 5.30pm: Sam Burns, Brian Gay, Dean Burmester (Rsa)
- 5.41pm: (am) Chun An Yu (Tpe), Wenchong Liang (Chn), Ryan Evans (Eng)
- 5.52pm: Russell Henley, Aaron Wise, Peter Uihlein
- 6.03pm: Tony Finau, Luke List, Gary Woodland
- 6.14pm: Sergio Garcia (Esp), Jon Rahm (Esp), Rafa Cabrera Bello (Esp)
- 6.25pm: Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Alex Noren (Swe)
- 6.36pm: Cameron Smith (Aus), Kyle Stanley, Pat Perez
- 6.47pm: Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods
- 6.58pm: Haotong Li (Chn), Si Woo Kim (Kor), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)
- 7.09pm: Jason Dufner, (am) Braden Thornberry, Brandt Snedeker
- 7.20pm: (am) Ryan Lumsden (Sco), James Morrison (Eng), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn)
- 7.31pm: Cameron Wilson, (am) Will Grimmer, (am) Philip Barbaree
- 7.42pm: (am) Rhett Rasmussen, Michael Hebert, Michael Block
Starting from hole ten
- 11.45am: Scott Stallings, Sebastian Munoz (Col), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
- 11.56am: Trey Mullinax, (am) Matt Parziale, Jason Scrivener (Aus)
- 12.07pm: David Bransdon (Aus), Eric Axley, Tyler Duncan
- 12.18pm: (am) Garrett Rank (Can), Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Aaron Baddeley (Aus)
- 12.29pm: Alexander Levy (Fra), Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay
- 12.40pm: Paul Casey (Eng), Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Branden Grace (Rsa)
- 12.51pm: Zach Johnson, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Patrick Reed
- 1.02pm: Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson
- 1.13pm: Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Marc Leishman (Aus), Rickie Fowler
- 1.24pm: Charles Howell, Bill Haas, Charley Hoffman
- 1.35pm: Sungjae Im (Kor), Russell Knox (Sco), Matthew Wallace (Eng)
- 1.46pm: (am) Shintaro Ban, Sung Joon Park (Kor), Tim Wilkinson (Nzl)
- 1.57pm: Dylan Meyer, Sulman Raza, Chris Naegel
- 5.30pm: Matthew Jones (Aus), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Shota Akiyoshi (Jpn)
- 5.41pm: Paul Waring (Eng), (a) Theo Humphrey, Ted Potter Jr (USA)
- 5.52pm: Richy Werenski, Roberto Castro, Ollie Schniederjans
- 6.03pm: (am) Noah Goodwin, Richie Ramsay (Sco), Kenny Perry
- 6.14pm: Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffele, Emiliano Grillo (Arg)
- 6.25pm: Lucas Glover, Webb Simpson, Graeme McDowell (NIrl)
- 6.36pm: Ernie Els (Rsa), Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk
- 6.47pm: Henrik Stenson (Swe), Adam Scott (Aus), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
- 6.58pm: Kevin Kisner, Ross Fisher (Eng), Adam Hadwin (Can)
- 7.09pm: Shane Lowry (Ire), Chez Reavie, Byeong Hun An (Kor)
- 7.20pm: Lucas Herbert (Aus), Brian Stuard, Stewart Hagestad
- 7.31pm: (am) Franklin Huang, Sebastian Vazquez (Mex), Michael Miller
- 7.42pm: Christopher Babcock, (am) Timothy Wiseman, David Gazzolo
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