FINAL RESULT: 0-3; -4.50pts

Donald 12th
Immelman 21st
Cink 37th

This tournament was over for these selections by the end of Thursday after they shot 78, 76 and 75 respectively. So it is scant consolation that Donald shot the lowest 54-hole score by two shots thereafter and finished just four shots out of a potential playoff.

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1.5pts)

Luke Donald to win 33/1 e.w. @ William Hill
Already a winner on the PGA Tour this year, Donald is certainly Europe's best hope of winning the U.S. Open and this event is his best hope of winning a Major. He recently complained that the courses on the European Tour were generally set up too easy for his game, so he should be in his element this week. He has only played in this event twice so far, finishing 18th around Bethpage State Park in 2002 and being a contender for three rounds last year until a final round 80, but that is still a solid foundation of U.S. Open experience. And now that he is more established as a senior player on the PGA Tour, he is more capable of winning an event like this. He ranks 4th in Scoring Average on Tour, after all. Not the most generous of odds for this player, but with so many question marks over many of the leading players, including Mickelson's obvious over-preparation, this could certainly be his year.

Trevor Immelman to win 66/1 e.w. @ Stan James, Victor Chandler, UKBetting, Tote and Totalbet
No-one is playing as consistently well on Tour at the moment as Immelman. In the last two months, he has finished 11th, 2nd, 2nd, 6th, 7th and 13th. Even when it looked as though he had run out of steam last week and made the cut right on the mark, he climbed 57 places in the 3rd round to 13th and maintained his position on Sunday when it is very common to rebound after such a low round. On that form, he certainly warrants shorter odds and in terms of his ability to play on a U.S. Open-type course, it is worth noting that in his last attempt (2004), he was in the top-10 heading into the weekend.

Stewart Cink to win 80/1 e.w. @ BetInternet [six places]
Cink has been threatening to put together a really good tournament since finishing in the top-10 in the Masters. In his last four starts, he has been 8th (Wachovia Championship), 1st (The Colonial) and 3rd (Memorial Tournament) after the 1st round and not only has he been starting events well, he has also been finishing them well - he ranks 4th on Tour in final round scoring average this season. He just needs to stay in contention in rounds two and three! But even then, he is still playing well enough to warrant shorter odds than this: he ranks 9th in Scoring Average on Tour this season and completes a trio of players ranked in the top-10 in that all-important category. And in terms of experience in the U.S. Open, although he famously lost his concentration on the last green in 2001 and it cost him a place in the playoff, his record in this event in very impressive. He missed the cut at the extremely long Bethpage State Park in 2002 and the links-style Shinnecock Hills in 2004, but otherwise his worst finish since 1996 has been 32nd, finishing in the top-20 in six of the last ten years. He is clearly well-equipped for the USGA's test of mental strength and he is playing well enough this year to earn another chance at victory in his national Open.