My favorite part of any major championship week is that the course becomes the star. And while PGA Championship venues are capable of meeting the moment, U.S. Open venues rarely miss. You could argue that this three-year run of Pinehurst No. 2, Oakmont and Shinnecock Hills is as good as it gets in the professional game. Truly elite and historic venues, capable of testing the best of the best with history on the line.
Shinnecock isn’t brilliant because it’s hard or because it was one of the country’s original championship tests. The course is brilliant because of the routing and style of golf that the terrain and conditions force on the field. Even with what will likely be some of the widest fairway corridors that have ever been featured at a U.S. Open venue, club selection off the tee will be in question for every player at every tee box. The wind, the desired second-shot angle and pin placement on the green will all need to be factored into that decision every single time. Every shot has consequences.
Regardless of what style of U.S. Open pool you’re looking to enter, there are a few golfers in this week’s field who deserve your attention. There is some game theory at play here. In most pools, your peers can roster the same golfers as you, so there’s an advantage to finding ways to be unique without sacrificing upside and win equity.
RELATED: U.S. Open 2026: 5 longshot bets we love for Shinnecock Hills
The first question that needs to be asked: how do you think your poolmates (is poolmates a word?) will handle Scottie Scheffler? If it’s a big pool, you likely have a lot of what we’d consider “casuals” entering the pool. They’re more likely to click Scottie or Rory simply because they know them the best. And the Scottie narratives are out of control, with Father’s Day, his 30th birthday, and the potential career grand slam all culminating on Sunday’s final round. Now, onto the picks!
Here are 7 players to help you win your 2026 U.S. Open pool.
Cameron Young 
Andrew Redington
I’m not going to pretend that Young has a plethora of Shinnecock Hills experience because he grew up an hour north in Westchester County, but he is very much a product of the area and familiar with the Northeast agronomy that the players will experience this week.
Young ranks third in this week’s field in SG/total in 2026, with a remarkably balanced game. He’s gaining 1.24 strokes per round more than he did in 2025, with no weaknesses in his game right now. He’s had a few rocky putting performances this spring, but his ability to get hot with the putter is undeniable. He’s 12th in SG:/putting in this field over the past 12 months, and he’s gained two-plus strokes putting in 23.5 percent of his rounds, which is the highest rate in the field (min. 50 rounds). That’s going to show up this week because Shinnecock is going to leave you with a lot of 8-12 footers for par, and Young ranks ninth in this field bogey avoidance rate over the past 12 months.
Sign up for the industry’s leading data tool to make golf stats easy to decipher—head to BetspertsGolf.com now and get access to The Rabbit Hole for only $10 for your first month. Use promo code GD10 at sign up for this amazing deal! Russell Henley 
Christian Petersen
I think we see decent usage for both Matt Fitzpatrick and Russell Henley this week, but you can make the case that both players are good ‘chalk.’
Henley routinely shows up at the toughest venues against the best fields and has to be accounted for. He has back-to-back T-10 finishes at The Open and has finished among the top-five in two of his past four starts at Augusta National. Henley was also in the mix at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, mixed in on a leaderboard that appeared to be featuring nothing but names who sit in the 175+ MPH ball speed range, but showing like that, along with a win at the long and demanding Bay Hill, prove that Henley should never be discounted just because a course plays long on the scorecard.
Read The Line’s Joe Idone and John Haslbauer break down why they love these 3 longshots at Shinnecock Hills:
Watch Read The Line’s full betting breakdown of the U.S. Open here.
Collin Morikawa 
Cliff Hawkins
I’m targeting golfers who are elite at controlling their golf ball, because precision is the most important skill this week. You get extra credit if you’ve had success at Augusta National or any of the recent Open Championship venues, because I believe those are the best comp courses to Shinnecock Hills. Morikawa’s worst Masters finish in the past six years is a T-18 back in 2021, the year he won the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s GC.
While his golf game didn’t show many signs of lingering back issues during his rounds at Augusta or Harbour Town, it was clear that when you watched him move or listened to him speak, he was still not right. I believe he’s back to full strength after a solid showing at TPC Toronto, and if that’s the case, he’s massively underrated this week.
Patrick Reed 
Carl Recine
Patrick Reed finished fourth the last time we teed it up at Shinnecock Hills, gaining strokes throughout the bag. He’s been a challenging handicap in 2026, simply because he hasn’t played many events, but he’s playing about as well as he ever has. He’s only played in eight events in 2026, but he’s gained an average of 1.82 strokes per round, which is slightly behind the career-best mark he set in 2020 (+1.85).
Reed can roll out of bed and gain on and around the greens, and this year has been no different. We know that’s on the menu this week, so that baseline skill, which shows up every time he’s in Augusta as well, will be vital to his success. The 2025 season showed noticeable improvements on approach for Reed, and those strides have stuck and have gotten even better in 2026. Only Aaron Rai gained more strokes on approach at the PGA Championship than Patrick Reed (+1.5 per round on average), who finished in a tie for 10th.
He’s routinely low-owned in pools because he’s not the most popular player. Use that to your advantage.
RELATED: U.S. Open 2026: Our 13 best bets for Shinnecock
Maverick McNealy 
Carl Recine
Maverick McNealy is still looking for his first career top-10 finish in a major championship, but he’s trending well, with back-to-back T-18s at Augusta and Aronimink. McNealy is also coming off of a T-10 at Muirfield Village in his last start, so his game is trending nicely.
McNealy typically gains off the tee through distance, but he’ll be able to club down a bit and keep the ball in play. His recent approach play has been strong, and he’s absolutely electric on and around the greens. When I combine his around-the-green numbers, including proximity on short grass, with his putting stats, including bogey avoidance, McNealy possesses one of the best short games in this week’s field.
Hideki Matsuyama 
Kate McShane
Matsuyama’s approach play remains exceptionally strong, and his game is perfectly suited for a course that gets harder the closer you get to the hole. That’s exactly how I would describe Matsuyama’s game to someone who had never seen him play. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of “Team Hands/Team Around The Green” over the past decade, and he’s made year-over-year strides with the putter.
He’s far less consistent week in and week out than the other elite golfers, but Matsuyama still possesses a top-tier ceiling that few in the field can match. Like McNealy, he’ll also benefit from the wider fairway corridors this week.
Cameron Smith 
Darren Carroll/PGA of America
There is no Mount Rushmore for short game if Cameron Smith isn’t on it. The 2022 Open champion also boasts five T-10 or better finishes at Augusta National, even showing up and playing well there in 2024 despite showing very little competitive form in his lead-in starts on LIV. Perhaps the shifting atmosphere around LIV’s future has put a snake in Cameron Smith‘s proverbial boot, but he made a swing coach change earlier this spring, and he’s finished T-16 or better in his past three starts, including a T-7 at Aronimink.
This is a bit of a swing-for-the-fences play, because a missed cut is squarely on the table, but the upside he possesses in the later groups of your pool is unmatched.
Others to consider:
Xander Schauffele, Chris Gotterup, Tyrrell Hatton and Harris English
RELATED: U.S. Open 2026 Power Rankings: The entire field ranked at Shinnecock Hills
Sign up for the industry’s leading data tool to make golf stats easy to decipher—head to BetspertsGolf.com now and get access to The Rabbit Hole for only $10 for your first month. Use promo code GD10 at sign up for this amazing deal!
Ryan Noonan is the Betting Content Manager for 4for4 and Betsperts Golf, writing articles and hosting multiple shows under the Betsperts Group umbrella, including Move The Line and our Betsperts Golf Betting Show. Find him on Twitter: @RyNoonan.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
