As sportsbooks become legal and operational in more and more states, golf betting continues to rise in popularity. Countless adults who enjoy watching the majors now realize they can apply their knowledge of the sport into a legitimate investment opportunity, but not all golf bettors want to wager on an all-or-nothing outright winner or a juiced-up top-5 or top-10 prop. Many prefer to bet on a few hand-selected over/unders and stack their chips that way.
One of our favorite betting sites, SuperDraft offers extensive betting props for golf tournaments and has a whopping 76 over/unders and counting listed for the 2023 U.S. Open teeing off Thursday. Today, we will highlight our five favorite golf props entering Round 1 of the national championship and try to get you rolling into the summer in style.
The big names will mostly all be in attendance for the 123rd edition of the U.S. Open, golf's third major. An incredible 23 of the 25 top-ranked golfers in the world will compete in the field of 156, all with their eyes on eternal glory as well as a piece of the projected purse of $17.5 million. Not too shabby. But we'll be happy with a $2,000 payout on a $100 SuperDraft stake — or maybe just a $400 on a $20 entry.
MORE U.S. OPEN BETTING:
PGA expert betting guide | Top sleepers and props | DFS lineup
Not quite sure how SuperDraft works? Here's the scoop: users can hand-select two or more player prop over/unders to bet, and the payout increases with every additional prop wager added. A bet on just two over/unders yields a potential payout of 3X the stake. Three correct picks would pay out at 6X. Four picks: 10X. Five: 20X. Six: 35X. Seven: 65X. Eight: 100X. The maximum you can bet on an eight-leg parlay prop is $5.
Get it? Got it? Good! Let's make some winning SuperDraft picks for the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. It's showtime!
Best SuperDraft Golfer Prop Picks for U.S. Open Round 1
*Discount prop* — Scottie Scheffler OVER 3 Round 1 birdies
Scheffler may not have a major since his 2022 Masters victory, but he remains easily the world's best golfer. His ball-striking skills continue to be head-and-shoulders above the rest of the PGA, making him a superb bet for the 7,500-yard North Course of the Los Angeles Country Club. The man gets up for majors — hell, he gets up for just about everything. He finished T2 in the 2022 U.S. Open, T3 in the 2023 PGA Championship, and he's racked up four top-five finishes in a row coming into this weekend.
Having missed the RBC Canadian Open to better prepare for the U.S. Open, we like a well-rested Scheffler to start this major with purpose. The world No. 1 has carded at least -3 in six of his past seven Round 1s, including a four-under 68 at the Masters and a three-under 67 at the PGA. LACC's vast course meshes perfectly with Scheffler's diverse skill set, and we couldn't be more confident in the OVER on this sweet discounted prop. If his putter cooperates this weekend, he might just mess around and win the whole thing. Either way, four Round 1 birdies is easy-peasy, lemon squeezy. Thanks, SuperDraft!
Jon Rahm UNDER 69.5 Round 1 strokes
Another golfer who has been on top of the world this year is Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion and '21 U.S. Open champ. Ranked second in the OWGR, Rahm's across-the-board skill set has made him a similarly popular bet to win the 123rd U.S. Open. We just can't see a golfer of Rahm's skill, strength, and acumen carding anything more than one-under opening round on a par-70 course.
Expect to see Rahm showcasing his strong driver and iron play and putting on a clinic on approaches and around the green. He ranks as the 12th-best total driver on TOUR and third-best in approach and greens in regulation percentage. Perhaps most important, nobody has a better birdie percentage than Rahm, who seems to thrive on longer courses with myriad challenges while other golfers crumble under pressure. We'll go with the smooth-shooting Spaniard to finish Round 1 at least one under on Thursday.
Viktor Hovland UNDER 70.5 Round 1 strokes
Hovland may have a weird fashion sense, but his golf IQ and abilities are extraordinary. He has shown up in a major way in each of his past two major starts. His opening-round score at the Masters was 65, and he ended up finishing T7. His Round 1 score at the PGA was 68, and he wound up finishing T2. Go back to last year at the Open, and you'll see he carded a first-round 68. Are you seeing a pattern here? And no, we're not talking about the loud shirt pictured above.
Hovland has a fantastic approach game coupled with a strong driver. If he can maintain consistency around the green this weekend, he has a good shot at making some noise early and often at the LACC. We love him to card a 70 or better on Thursday afternoon, a feat he has accomplished in 12 of 16 tournaments this season.
Brooks Koepka UNDER 3.5 total Round 1 bogeys
Koepka has distinguished himself as the best major champion of the 21st century not named Tiger or Phil. His ice-in-the-veins clutch gene is unparalleled, and his consistently strong approach to every shot, regardless of difficulty, put him in a class all by himself right now. The LIV Golf defector recently won his third PGA Championship — his fifth-career major victory — after finishing T2 at the Masters. Say what you will about his loyalty to the PGA, but his golf game is poetry in motion.
Koepka carded just one Round 1 bogey at the Masters and three in the opening round of the PGA. It's important to note that the first round of the PGA was delayed by frost and winds that reached 15 miles per hour at Oak Hill. Mid-May in Rochester, NY is a lot different than mid-June in Los Angeles. With conditions expected to be perfect at Koepka's tee time (1:54 p.m. ET), look for the 33-year-old Floridian to get off to a sizzling start.
Xander Schauffele OVER 3.5 Round 1 birdies
Schauffele makes my short list of dark-horse candidates to run away with the national championship this weekend, mostly because he's such a consistently strong golfer in big tournaments and on larger courses. He has three finishes of T4 or better over his past five starts, and he finished T10 at the Masters thanks in large part to an opening-round score of 68. He had six total birdies in that opening-round highlight reel at Augusta, and we're betting he'll net at least four on Thursday. Of course, that's not to say that he won't also card a few bogeys — he has been known to get himself into trouble at times — but he always seems to bounce right back from hiccups. You don't rank fourth in shots gained, sixth in approach, 12th in putting, and 15th in scrambling by accident. Schauffele should be a sight to behold throughout the weekend, and he should finish off our prop parlay with a green checkmark when he circles his fourth opening-round birdie.
