15 LIV Golfers will tee it up this week at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and below we will look into whether any of them will make an impact at this event.
With the announcement last week regarding a PGA Tour/DP World Tour/PIF merger, there is still uncertainty on the future of LIV Golfers, and whether they will find themselves reinstated to their respective tours. For now, though, we are still treating them as members of the breakaway Tour, and with only one LIV event taking place since the 2023 PGA Championship, there has been a break in these players' schedules.
Former U.S. Open champions, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Martin Kaymer will all represent LIV Golf at the season's third major, but who of that group might be able to hoist another U.S. Open trophy?
Koepka would be going for his third U.S. Open, having won his first in 2017, before defending in 2018, and given he has just recently added the 2023 PGA Championship to his collection, who would put it past him?
So far at the major championships, Brooks Koepka has finished T2 at the Masters and Won the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson (T2) and Patrick Reed (T4) both finished inside the top 5 at the Masters, and Bryson DeChambeau (T4) and Cameron Smith (T9) both joined Koepka in the top 10 at the PGA Championship.
It is fair to say then that players from the LIV Tour are still making waves at this year's majors, and there's a chance that is the case again at Los Angeles Country Club.
Let's look at how each LIV Golfer will perform at this week's U.S. Open.
Ranking LIV Golfers by Their U.S. Open Odds
The easiest way to break down the list of LIV Golfers in the U.S. Open field this week is to rank them in order of their best pre-tournament odds.
We will outline players that we consider to be among the favorites (+5000 or less) and those that fit into the longshot category.
LIV Golf Odds: Which LIV Golfers are Among the Favorites at the 2023 U.S. Open?
Brooks Koepka (+1200) - Get the best odds on Brooks Koepka at FanDuel
Best U.S. Open Finish: 1st (2017, 2018)
How he Qualified: U.S. Open Championship wins in 2017, 2018), PGA Championship wins in 2018, 2019, and 2023, Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
As you can tell by Koepka's qualifying criteria, he clearly lives for these major events. Now a five-time major champion it is impossible to deny Koepka's major record and his desire to still win the biggest trophies.
Koepka was criticized and questioned for leaving the PGA Tour, but he returned in 2023 with a chip on his shoulder, which led to a T2 finish at Augusta. After, in his own words 'choking' at Augusta, Koepka was desperate to prove he is still the man to beat on Sundays at a major, and he proved that once more at Oak Hill, as he held off both Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler, to win his fifth major.
Brooks is impossible to rule out, given his U.S. Open record, which shows two wins and three more top-4s in his nine starts.
Cameron Smith (+3000) - Get the best odds on Cameron Smith at FanDuel
Best U.S. Open Finish: T4 (2015)
How he Qualified: Open Championship win 2022, Players Championship win 2022, Qualified and eligible for the 2022 Tour Championship, Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Cameron Smith made his U.S. Open debut in 2015 at Chambers Bay and finished in a tie for 4th and genuinely had a shot at winning. He has never cracked the top 30 in this event since, suggesting a lack of compatibility with USGA setups.
There is talk that this test at Los Angeles Country Club has shades of Augusta and St. Andrews in it, and given his Masters record and the win at the latter, this might be his best chance to replicate his 2015 effort in this event.
Since finishing T34 at Augusta, Smith has finished 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 11th on LIV, and most importantly finished T9 at the PGA Championship, at Oak Hil.
His chances look stronger than they did before his top 10 at the PGA Championship, but can he overcome a poor U.S. Open record?
Dustin Johnson (+4000) - Get the best odds on Dustin Johnson at BetMGM
Best U.S. Open Finish: 1st (2016)
How he Qualified: U.S. Open win in 2016, Masters win in 2020
Dustin Johnson finally won his first major at the 2016 U.S. Open and has since added a Green Jacket to his collection, in 2020.
Of the high-profile LIV Golfers, it seems to be Johnson that is struggling with his game the most, especially in these big events.
Johnson has made the cut at Augusta and Oak Hill this year, and he was actually in a tie for 2nd and just one shot after round one of the PGA Championship. Final results of T48 and T55 in those two events fail to inspire confidence though, and it is hard to know where the former world No.1 is with his game right now.
DJ did win on LIV earlier this season in Tulsa, and he gained in approach and off the tee at Augusta, with a poor short game letting him down, whilst it was only his irons that held him back at Oak Hill. Maybe by the third major of the season, he can get all four facets of the game firing.
Bryson DeChambeau (+4500) - Get the best odds on Bryson DeChambeau at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: 1st (2020)
How he Qualified: U.S. Open win in 2020
Bryson DeChambeau is the most recent U.S. Open winner on LIV Golf's roster and he joins Koepka and Johnson as the leading players on the Tour to have won his home open.
DeChambeau played glorious golf at Winged Foot to win this title three years ago, and he will certainly like the fact that Gil Hanse, who re-designed Winged Foot and two other courses he's won at on the PGA Tour, also re-designed Los Angeles Country Club.
After finishing T4 at the PGA Championship, where he ranked 2nd in Total Driving (1st Distance, 9th Accuracy) and 2nd in Greens in Regulation, Bryson looks like a live runner in the majors again.
It would be no surprise to see this elite talent contend for another U.S. Open this week.
LIV Golf Odds: Can a Longshot from LIV Win the U.S. Open?
Patrick Reed (+8000) - Get the best odds on Patrick Reed at BetMGM
Best U.S. Open Finish: 4th (2018)
How he Qualified: Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Patrick Reed's exemptions are drying up, so he is a player that will be desperate to put in a big major performance here and at the Open Championship, in order to keep himself in these huge events.
Reed's best effort at a U.S. Open came in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills where he finished 4th. He's had three more top-14 finishes in this event, but that effort in 2018 was his only top 10 and it isn't the ideal major for Reed.
The USGA typically set their courses up to favor the best drivers of the golf ball, and that doesn't lean into Reed's skillset. If the creativity of somewhere like Augusta or St. Andrews creeps into this course as it has been suggested, then that will however play into Reed's hands.
T4 and T18 in the majors so far, a finish in between those results might be the best case scenario for Reed.
Joaquin Niemann (+10000) - Get the best odds on Joaquin Niemann at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: T23 in 2020
How he Qualified: Qualified and eligible for the 2022 Tour Championship, Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Before his move to LIV, Niemann was touted as a future major winner, especially after a hugely impressive wire-to-wire win at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
He will be hoping to channel those good California vibes here, and the original designer here George Thomas was also responsible for Riviera, so if there is any crossover, then that is a boost.
Niemann finished T16 at Augusta but missed the cut at the PGA Championship and has been generally poor on LIV, so there is very little to hang your hat on this week other than the fact he is an extremely talented player.
Mito Pereira (+12000) - Get the best odds on Mito Pereira at FanDuel
Best U.S. Open Finish: MC (2019, 2022)
How he Qualified: Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Mito Pereira has never made the cut in the U.S. Open, but he has only played twice and he is a much-improved player since his debut here in 2019.
Pereira has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour and almost won the 2022 PGA Championship since then, and it is the latter that probably affected him at Brookline a year ago.
The Chilean should have won the PGA Championship, but he made a mess of the 72nd hole, and it was probably that gut-wrenching loss that led to him struggling at the U.S. Open a month later.
He has the game to contend in this championship, with his ball striking amongst the best in the two majors so far this season.
T43 at the Masters and T18 at the PGA Championship despite some poor short game play is encouraging and he has a chance to post his best major finish of the season here.
Phil Mickelson (+25000) - Get the best odds on Phil Mickelson at PointsBet
Best U.S. Open Finish: 2nd (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013)
How he Qualified: 2021 PGA Championship win
When Mickelson won his sixth major at the 2021 PGA Championship, making him the oldest men's major winner, at 51, he was adored. Fast forward a couple of years and Mickelson is dividing opinion more than ever.
One thing we cannot deny is that Mickelson has long deserved a U.S. Open win, and it is the only title holding him back from a historic Grand Slam.
There will be people out there that still bet Mickelson based on reputation and the strength of that 2021 PGA Championship win, and his runner-up finish at Augusta this year. I won't be one of them.
Sergio Garcia (+30000) - Get the best odds on Sergio Garcia at PointsBet
Best U.S. Open Finish: T3 (2005)
How he Qualified: Open Qualifying
Sergio Garcia rubbishes reports that he no longer cares about the game, by going to a 36-hole qualifier for this event and making it through. The 2017 Masters champion will not have loved finding himself in such a position that he needed to go to that one-day event to make it here, but he did it anyway.
Garcia missed the cut at the Masters and didn't play at the 2023 PGA Championship, so we have little to go on outside of his LIV Golf form. He was recently 2nd at LIV Golf Singapore, but I am not sure that is enough to make him a likely contender here, hence his odds.
Thomas Pieters (+35000) - Get the best odds on Thomas Pieters at PointsBet
Best U.S. Open Finish: T23 (2020)
How he Qualified: Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Thomas Pieters has historically played U.S. Opens pretty solidly, finishing T23 and T27 in his last two, but that's about where the positives stop.
Recently posted his best finish on LIV and that was a 17th-place finish in a 48-man event, and he's so far finished T48 at the Masters and T40 at the PGA Championship this season.
Last seen withdrawing from LIV Golf DC, there's little to go on when it comes to Pieters.
Abraham Ancer (+40000) - Get the best odds on Abraham Ancer at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: T49 (2019)
How he Qualified: Inside the World's Top 60 as of May 22nd, 2023
Originally seen as a significant loss to the PGA Tour, Abraham Ancer has offered the LIV Tour very little, and he's not followed up on his win in Saudi on the Asian Tour earlier this year.
He's been very quickly forgotten about when it comes to the landscape of golf, and his T39 at the Masters and MC at the PGA Championship have done little to help his cause.
Ancer has not finished better than 17th on LIV this season, so a top finish is unlikely here.
Sebastian Munoz (+40000) - Get the best odds on Sebastian Munoz at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: T14 (2022)
How he Qualified: Open Qualifying
Sebastian Munoz has made very little impact on major championships in his career, but his T14 finish in this event 12 months ago was his best effort in the big events, and he's finding form at the right time.
Like Garcia, he had to go through 36 holes of open qualifying to get here, and on his last LIV start, he finished 4th. Add that to his 8th in Mayakoba and 2nd in Orlando, and Munoz is at least proving to be competitive on his Tour.
This is his first major start of the season.
Carlos Ortiz (+50000) - Get the best odds on Carlos Ortiz at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: T52 (2019)
How he Qualified: Open Qualifying
Carlos Ortiz's best finish in a major is T52 and that is probably enough to suggest he won't be a factor this week.
That T52 finish did come in this event and he has won in Mexico and finished runner-up on LIV this season, but is that really enough?
Like Munoz, Ortiz is making his first major start of the season, so we have little to go on.
David Puig (+200000) - Get the best odds on David Puig at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: N/A
How he Qualified: Open Qualifying
David Puig was a college hotshot, who turned professional right before joining LIV in September 2022.
Puig cut short a promising college career to join LIV but has done very little since.
His T12 last time out at LIV Golf DC was his best finish since turning pro.
Next.
Martin Kaymer (+250000) - Get the best odds on Martin Kaymer at Caesars Sportsbook
Best U.S. Open Finish: 1st (2014)
How he Qualified: 2014 U.S. Open win
Martin Kaymer has been recovering from wrist surgery.
Martin Kaymer is only here due to his 10-year U.S. Open exemption.
Martin Kaymer is the LIV Golfer with the longest odds.
That's all you need to know.
