Australian golfer Jason Day has finished inside the top 10 of the US Open in five of the last six tournaments and he will be bidding to continue that excellent form when he lines up in the this year’s second Major Championship at Erin Hills Golf Course in Wisconsin.
Day won his maiden Major title at the 2015 PGA Championship when he finished three shots clear of the nearest challenger Jordan Spieth at Whistling Straits. The Queensland-born golfer became the first player to finish a Major Championship at -20 as he carded rounds of 68, 67, 66 and 67 in one of the best performances ever produced in one of the four biggest tournaments in the sport.
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The former world number one is still bidding for his first success in 2017. He will go into the Players’ Championship shortly as the defending champion. Once Sawgrass is out of the way though, all focus will be on the US Open.
Erin Hills Golf Course has never held a Major before, however, on paper it should suit Day’s game. Four of the holes are 600+ yards, with the longest being the 18th which is measured at 663 yards. Day can be backed at 15.0 to lift the trophy in June, and he is likely to be a popular choice in the latest betting tips for the 2017 US Open.
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Another Australian who will appreciate the long course in Wisconsin is Adam Scott. The 2013 US Masters winner has been in the top 10 of seven Major Championships since he secured the Green Jacket at Augusta following a play-off victory over Angel Cabrera.
The closest Scott has gotten to winning a US Open was in 2015, when he ended the weekend in a tie for fourth. In the final round of that tournament at Chambers Bay he shot a 64 which was the lowest round of the week by any participant and helped him to move up the leaderboard on the Sunday.
Scott is available in the US Open betting at 34.0. He had two victories in 2016 with success coming in the Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Championship. The Australian has yet to taste victory in the new season but did play well at Augusta where he ended the week ninth in Georgia.
One Australian who has already recorded a victory on the PGA Tour in 2017 is Mark Leishman. The Victoria-born player landed the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month in Florida where he finished ahead of the American duo of Charley Hoffman and Kevin Kisner by a single shot.
The 33-year-old has yet to win a Major Championship though, so he's going into Erin Hills looking to break that maiden. He did reach a play-off in the 2015 Open Championship but lost out to Zach Johnson. The bookmakers have priced the big-hitting Leishman up at 126.0 to cause an upset in the US Open.
The opening tee at Erin Hills will take place on June 15. Dustin Johnson is the defending champion in the tournament after his success at Oakmont Country Club in 2016.