Each of the last five U.S. Open champions were first-time major winners, including the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Wyndham Clark. Thus, your 2024 U.S. Open fantasy golf strategy shouldn't just revolve around proven major winners like Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy and consider players looking to break through at a major. Should you roster someone like Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay or Viktor Hovland in your U.S. Open fantasy golf lineups ahead of play beginning on Thursday from Pinehurst No. 2?
Cantlay has recorded three straight top 15s at the U.S. Open and has top 15 finishes in five of his last eight major starts. With him coming off a 53rd-place finish at the PGA Championship, his stock may have fallen a bit, but that means he could come as a value PGA Tour fantasy golf pick for the U.S. Open 2024. Before making any 2024 U.S. Open fantasy golf picks, you have to see the U.S. Open fantasy golf rankings from SportsLine handicapper Eric Cohen.
Cohen is an avid golf bettor who correctly predicted the pre-tournament outright winner of the 2024 Masters (Scottie Scheffler, +350), Players Championship (Scheffler +550), 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (Rickie Fowler +1400), 2023 PGA Championship (Brooks Koepka +2000), 2023 Honda Classic (Chris Kirk +3500), 2022 Open Championship (Cameron Smith +2200), 2022 U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick +2500), and 2022 Phoenix Open (Scheffler's first career victory at +2800).
Cohen is a contributor to SportsLine's YouTube shows including "Early Edge" and is the host of "The Early Wedge" golf show. Anyone who has followed Cohen's predictions has made positive gains on their golf picks.
Now, Cohen has ranked his top golfers for the 2024 U.S. Open. Cohen's picks are only available at SportsLine.
2024 U.S. Open expert picks
For the U.S. Open 2024, Cohen is backing a 60-1 shot in Keegan Bradley among his top 10 in the 2024 U.S. Open fantasy golf rankings. Bradley has quietly risen to No. 15 in Official World Golf Ranking and has spent most of the last year inside the top 20. He has a pair of runner-up finishes this year, as well as top 25s in each of the first two majors. He's also among the two dozen or so golfers in the field who have experience playing Pinehurst before, courtesy of his appearance at the 2014 U.S. Open. Bradley was consistent throughout the event, finishing the first round ranked sixth on the leaderboard and finishing the tournament in fourth place.
The greens at Pinehurst have been described as resembling turtle shells, so great approach shots isn't a luxury this week, it's a mandate. That happens to be Bradley's strength as he leads the entire PGA Tour in fairway proximity (19 feet, 1 inch), so no one is getting closer to the hole from the fairway than him. Then, he's among the best at not squandering those approaches as he ranks in the top 20 in 3-putt avoidance. Bradley isn't someone worth rostering every week in fantasy golf lineups, but things are lining up for him at the U.S. Open 2024 as Cohen ranks him higher than Justin Thomas, despite the latter having much shorter odds.
On the other hand, Cohen is fading one of the second tier of favorites, Hovland at 16-1. The Norwegian was tied for second place heading into the weekend at the Memorial. Then he shot 77 and 75 on Saturday and Sunday respectively, falling to a share of 15th place.
In five U.S. Open appearances, Hovland has never finished in the top 10, with a T12 as an amateur in 2019 as his best finish. He has struggled on the greens, never gaining more than a stroke on the greens in those five tournaments. With putting on slick, sloped greens important this week, Hovland's chances of success seem not worth the low price the oddsmakers have given him. See all of Cohen's U.S. Open picks at SportsLine.
How to set 2024 U.S. Open fantasy golf lineups
For this week, Cohen is backing several underdogs in his 2024 U.S. Open fantasy golf picks, including a staggering 130-1 longshot whose recent U.S. Open record is labeled as "phenomenal." See who it is, and get all of Cohen's fantasy golf picks, at SportsLine.
Who wins the 2024 U.S. Open, and who are the top players to target for your PGA fantasy golf picks? Visit SportsLine now to get Eric Cohen's fantasy golf rankings, all from the fantasy expert who has called eight outright winners since 2022, and find out.
