2024 US Open Preview - Stick With In Form Conners for Pinehurst Test

 

It will take a particular skill set for the Pinehurst No.2 track this week

The US Open market looks strong and fairly enough priced. The man with the plan being Donald Ross will give us some clues as to what's needed at the Pinehurst No.2 test where the examination gets tougher the closer you get to the targets. Expect to see some surprises up on the leaderboard at the US Open. The course plays over 7,500 yards to a par of just 70 and only 3 players have finished under par in three editions of the US Open at Pinehurst No.2. Will Rory be spending the weekend at Pinehurst or  elsewhere? This player is 5/1 to miss the cut.

I have an in depth US Open preview over on Pinnacle so I'm not going to ramble on too much here.

We are looking for two types of players this week (or preferably players that cover both bases). The general concensus is that plenty of imagination and short game skills will be needed from shots into, around, and on the greens at Pinehurst No.2 as Martin Kaymer showed us in 2014. But, it may pay to focus on the top ball strikers who will avoid those tricky spots. Ball striking is an amalgamation of the Total Driving stat (a ratio of driving distance and accuracy combined) and greens in regulation numbers.

I was very strong and keen on Cameron Smith 40/1 at St Andrews as the Aussie grew up playing certain types of golf courses in Australia. This honed his short game skills, imagination and creativity and these skills came to the fore in Scotland. I think this week will bear plenty of similarities to the test the St. Andrews course posed and despite Cam's form being hard to weigh over on LIV I think this is compensated for in the price and he's worth a play.

Another man who falls on the other side of the coin is tee to green specialist Corey Conners 70/1 who is coming into form. Always up there in the ball striking stats he now lies and 2nd in strokes gained approach and is 3rd in ball striking. I was on Conners last week at Memorial and he started well in a similar tee to green test at Memorial before conditions got tough. However, he was one of only a few to break par on Sunday and hitting fairways and greens at Pinehurst will be vital this time around. The 32 year old ranks 19th in Total Driving. Progressive form and strengthening confidence is what we look for in betting on golf and the Canadian fits the trend nicely.....

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