U.S. Open

Outright plays (1 unit):

Vijay Singh to win 14/1 e.w. @ Sportingbet, Sporting Odds, BetInternet, UKBetting and Five Dimes
Twice a winner this season and has failed to finish outside the top-four in the past month (3 events). There can be no doubting his form and he is a worthy second favourite to Woods, particularly as he has three top-10s in the last four U.S. Opens. With this consistency, it is hard to see him not featuring this week and if the curse of the defending champion continues this year, he is a very strong candidate to edge closer to the career Grand Slam.

Padraig Harrington to finish in the top-four 8/1 @ Olympic
The Irishman is not a strong candidate to win, though he has certainly improved over the past two years in converting winning positions - it could hardly have moved the other way! But he is certainly consistent and a big tournament player. In last year's majors, he finished 5th, 8th, 5th and 17th. He also has a runners-up spot in the Players Championship and showed excellent form in the past month on both sides of the Atlantic. He didn't convert his chance to win on Monday, but at least he gets the opportunity more than most and this week should be the same.

Nick Price to finish in the top-five 16/1 @ Five Dimes
This is not his best Major, but he still has two top-10 finishes in the past five years and his form over the past year has been even more impressive. He hasn't won this year, but he has been a front-runner on several occasions and has finished in the top-five in two of his last three events. The dog-legs at Olympia Fields mean that his lack of length off the tee will not be a disadvantage this week and he is far better shot to finish in the top-five - as he did in the last Major in Illinois (1999 PGA Championship) - than Five Dimes give him credit.

Matchup plays (1 unit):

Bob Estes to beat Adam Scott -125 @ BetInternet
There have been few glimpses of the form that netted Scott a 3rd place finish in the WGC Match Play Championship in February. He has made his last two cuts, but does not have the game to prosper in this event and could easily follow his only previous result in this event: a missed cut. Estes has been much more consistent and should at least make the weekend.

Fred Funk to beat Rich Beem -125 @ Victor Chandler
Funk is in far better form - 11th, 9th and 2nd in three of his last four starts - and should make the weekend on a course that does not penalise his lack of length off the tee. Beem is far too aggressive and impatient for this event and, like Scott, should make it 0-for-2 in U.S. Open cuts this week.

Fred Funk to beat Rory Sabbatini -110 @ Bet365
Sabbatini is another who should go 0-for-2 in U.S. Open cuts this week. Like Scott and Beem above, he is too aggressive and too wayward off the tee for this event. On top of winning in the previous week, it was done in a Monday finish and a letdown is fully expected this week as this event requires full concentration and extreme patience. Funk finished 2nd on Monday, but should easily reverse the tables on this course.

Nick Faldo to beat Rory Sabbatini -111 @ BetandWin
Faldo is still a big event player and a record of finishing 7th in 2000 and 5th last year show that he is still competitive in the Majors even if it is very unlikely that he will be able to convert his chances. In fourteen common PGA Tour events over the past three years, Sabbatini has finished ahead of Faldo just once and I can't see number two occurring on this type of course.

Niclas Fasth to beat Rory Sabbatini -111 @ Paddy Power and SIA
Fasth failed to win last week, but he will win on this Tour. The U.S. Open is not ideally suited to his game, but he is in very good form and should improve on his 37th place finish of last year. It should be more than enough to beat the erratic Sabbatini.

Adding (1 unit):

Justin Leonard to finish Top American w/o Woods 22/1 e.w. @ Paddy Power
Large price for someone in form and could very easily have won this event last year. A closing 76 took him out of contention when leading the event, but it was his third top-20 finish in this event in the past four years and this event offer the best opportunity to add to his 1997 British Open title. With a win already this season and three strong performances in his last three events (including 2nd in the Colonial), he should feature again this week.

Nick Faldo to finish Top European 18/1 e.w. @ Paddy Power
Hard to ignore a player who has finished in the top-10 twice in the past three years and will be far more suited to this course than Bethpage last year. Has played well in the last two events in Europe and should give Harrington some competition in this group.

Retief Goosen to finish Top Rest of the World 10/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Certainly didn't expect to see double-figure odds on the 2001 U.S. Open champion. Defending champions have struggled in this event since the 1990s and his missed cut last year can be ignored. His current form is good with top-4 finishes in half of his 12 starts this year and he should make the top-4 in this group at the very worst.

Props (1 unit unless stated):

David Duval to miss the cut -130 @ Sirbet
Jose Maria Olazabal to miss the cut +110 @ Sirbet and Stan James [2 units]
Adam Scott to miss the cut +140 @ Centrebet

1st round plays (1 unit unless stated):

Niclas Fasth to beat Paul Casey -110 @ Five Dimes [2 units]
Tiger Woods to beat Ernie Els -170 @ Sirbet
Sergio Garcia to beat Colin Montgomerie -119 @ Five Dimes [2 units]

Adding matchup (1 unit):

Loren Roberts to beat David Duval -180 @ WSEX
There is no way that a player ranks 2nd last in driving accuracy on the Tour should make the cut. He has made the last two cuts, having missed the previous seven, but Muirfield Village and Avenel are far more open that Olympia Fields and he will struggle again. Roberts has finished ahead of Duval in all their seven common events this year and will do so again this week. He has finished in the top-20 in five of his last eight U.S. Opens and will not be too far from that mark again.

1st round update: 1-1-1; +0.30 units

Fasth/Casey WON by 1
Woods/Els LOST by 1
Garcia/Montgomerie TIED (Push)

2nd round plays (2 units unless stated):

Jerry Kelly +.5 to beat Mark Calcavecchia +100 @ WSEX [3 units]
Trevor Immelman to beat Fred Funk -115 @ Five Dimes [2 units]
Jesper Parnevik +.5 to beat Billy Mayfair +105 @ WSEX [3 units]

2nd round update: 2-1-0; +3.85 units

Kelly/Calcavecchia WON by 0.5
Immelman/Funk LOST by 1
Parnevik/Mayfair WON by 0.5

3rd round plays (1 unit):

Peter Lonard to beat Bernhard Langer -118 @ Five Dimes
Loren Roberts to beat Angel Cabrera -127 @ Five Dimes
Fred Couples to beat Justin Rose -115 @ Five Dimes

3rd round update: 0-3-0; -3.60 units

Lonard/Langer LOST by 1
Roberts/Cabrera LOST by 1
Couples/Rose LOST by 3

4th round play (1 unit):

Nick Price to beat Chad Campbell -140 @ Five Dimes

4th round update: 1-0-0; +1.00 units

Price/Campbell WON by 1

Final update:

Matchups/props: 7-2-0; +6.24 units

Estes/Scott LOST by 3
Funk/Beem WON by 7
Funk/Sabbatini WON by 5
Faldo/Sabbatini LOST by 2
Fasth/Sabbatini WON by 5
Roberts/Duval WON by 9
Duval WON (133rd)
Olazabal WON (69th
Scott WON (69th)

18-holes: 4-5-1; +1.55 units

Outrights: 1-5; -2.60 units

Singh 20th
Harrington 10th
Price 5th
Leonard 11th
Faldo mc
Goosen 11th

So nearly a huge event! Good return on the matchups, cut props and 18-hole plays and almost a huge return on the outrights. Singh had been the co-leader midway through the 3rd round, but was simply awful thereafter. Leonard always looked like he would sneak a place win in the Top U.S. category and Price always looked like securing a 16/1 top-5 win until he bogeyed the last two holes and had to settle for a five-way share of 5th place. That cost almost 14 units for a virtual repeat of Hanson earlier today. What a frustrating game!