We are now just one day away from the opening round of the US Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, and the bookies once again have Dustin Johnson in as the early golf betting favorite. Anyone who follows golf will know that this is not really a surprise, especially since he is the #1 ranked player in the world, and is usually always hovering around the top of the leader board on Sunday afternoon in every tournament he takes part in.The question that needs to be asked now is whether Johnson will actually win the U.S Open, especially since there will be 155 other players, including the very best in the world, all gunning to take down the defending champion. Let’s look at how he can win, and then predict whether he will or not.
Is Dustin Johnson A Sure Golf Pick To Win the Tournament?
Johnson’s Form This Season
The fact that Johnson is #1 in the FedEx Cup rankings with 2,270 points should tell you all that you need to know about how well he is playing this year. He has 3 wins on the tour this season, which already matches his career best for a season, and has racked up over $6.3 million in earnings.He has a total of 6 top 10 finishes this season, and is perhaps playing the best golf of his career at this point. You can bet that he will be looking to make amends for missing out on the Masters after having a freak injury that happened shortly before he was about to hit the first tee in the opening round.How Will Johnson Handle Erin Hills?
There are a lot of players who have already expressed their displeasure at the difficulty of the Erin Hills course. If you tune in this weekend, you would be excused for thinking that you were watching the British Open. The wind will be blowing, and the fescue rough will be totally unforgiving.This is a course that will reward accuracy and length off the tee, both of which are staples of Johnson’s game. There are several other players who will relish these conditions, with Rory McIlroy perhaps likely to be best suited to this course. If this course does play like a British one, then expect that to swing things in Johnson’s favor, as he has 4 top 10 finishes in his last 7 Open appearances across the water.Can Johnson Win the Mental Battle?
The easy answer to this question is yes. Johnson is regarded as one of the smartest guys on the tour, and he does not spend a lot of time overthinking every shot. He understands better than most what needs to be done to navigate the toughest of courses with the least amount of obstacles, and the number of wins that he has put together shows that he is mentally tough when it matters.PGA Tour wins (15)
Major championships (1) World Golf Championships (5) FedEx Cup playoff event (3) Other PGA Tour (6)- Oct 5, 2008 Turning Stone Resort Championship (−9)
- Feb 15, 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (−15)
- Feb 14, 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (−16)
- Sep 12, 2010 BMW Championship (−9)
- Aug 27, 2011 The Barclays (−19)
- Jun 10, 2012 FedEx St. Jude Classic (−9)
- Jan 8, 2013 Hyundai Tournament of Champions (−16)
- Nov 3, 2013 WGC-HSBC Champions (−24)
- Mar 8, 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship (−9)
- Jun 19, 2016 U.S. Open (−4)
- Jul 3, 2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (−6)
- Sep 11, 2016 BMW Championship (−23)
- Feb 19, 2017 Genesis Open (−17)
- Mar 5, 2017 WGC-Mexico Championship (−14)
- Mar 26, 2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (1 up)
