U.S. Open Round 1 3-Ball Bets: Bet Tiger Woods vs. Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris

Iain MacMillan | Jun 12, 2024

Tiger Woods drops balls out onto the first green during a practice round for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. / Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst is set to tee off Thursday.

There's a plethora of different ways to bet on a major golf tournament, but if you're too impatient to wait for all four rounds to wrap up to find out if you've won your bet, you have a couple of other options that focus solely on the first round. Either you can bet on who will be the first-round leader, or you can bet on some opening round 3-ball bets.

A 3-ball bet is a wager on a golfer to finish with the lowest score in the threesome that he's playing in that day. For example, Tiger Woods is playing alongside Will Zalatoris and Matt Fitzpatrick on Thursday and you can bet on him to finish the day with the lowest score in the group. We're going to do exactly that.

U.S. Open Round 1 3-Ball Bets

Odds via BetMGM Sportsbook

• Tom McKibbin +130 vs. Manassero/Hoey
• Tiger Woods +375 vs. Fitzpatrick/Zalatoris
• Xander Schauffele +200 vs. Scheffler/McIlroy

Tom McKibbin +130 vs. Manassero/Hoey

If you're going to wake up early in time for the first tee shot of the day, this bet is for you. The first group teeing off the 10th hole is Tom McKibbin, Rico Hoey, and Matteo Manassero.

You may not have heard any of those names before, but allow me to make the case for betting on McKibbin the finish with the lowest score of the group Thursday. He has been one of the most consistent golfers in the DP World Tour this season, finishing T25 or better in nine of the 10 events he's played in this year including a solo fourth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and a T8 at the European Open two weeks ago.

Manassero may need a round to find his swing again, as he's taken three weeks off since finishing T13 at the Soudal Open. We shouldn't have to worry about Hoey in this group. He's missed the cut in four straight events ahead of this week.

Tiger Woods +375 vs. Fitzpatrick/Zalatoris

BetMGM is offering us a nice price on Woods to finish with the lowest score in his group on Thursday. If you want to bet on him, the time to do it is in the opening round before his body starts to fail him as the tournament goes on.

Will Zalatoris hasn't finished inside the top 40 in five straight PGA Tour events and comes off a performance at the Memorial Tournament where he lost over a stroke per round with his approach play. Matt Fitzpatrick is the much bigger threat to Woods in this group after a T5 finish at the Memorial, but at +375 odds, Woods is worth a shot in what should be his best round of the week.

Xander Schauffele +200 vs. Scheffler/McIlroy

The three big guns are teeing it up with each other for the first two rounds of the U.S. Open. There's no denying that Scottie Scheffler deserves to be the favorite to finish with the lowest score on Thursday, but is he deserving of +125 odds for a one-round sample size?

Xander Schauffele is the clear second best golfer on the PGA Tour and with his odds set at +200, he's worth a bet to finish with the lowest score Thursday, especially when you consider his history at the U.S. Open where he's never finished worse than T14.

Schauffele is tied for second in Round 1 scoring average this season at 68.08, only 0.23 worse than Scheffler. There's value on him at his current price tag.

---

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

You can check out all of Iain's bets here!