2026 U.S. Open DFS picks, odds: Scottie Scheffler seeks career grand slam

The 2026 U.S. Open heads back to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., for the first time since 2018. Brooks Koepka secured his second straight U.S. Open title that year, holding off a charge from Tommy Fleetwood on Sunday.

The New York area is absolutely buzzing with the World Cup being hosted there and the Knicks capturing their first NBA title in 53 years. Add this to the list.

Scottie Scheffler will try to become the seventh male golfer to complete the career grand slam and is the clear favorite at +500 odds. Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm and defending U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun are some of his notable competitors.

While Scheffler and McIlroy are the biggest stars in golf, Shinnecock Hills will most likely be the star of the week. The property on Long Island is as beautiful as it is daunting. Situated on more than 300 acres of some of the most expensive real estate on the Eastern Seaboard, it has stood the test of time. The fairways are larger than most U.S. Open venues, but the wind is unrelenting, with few trees in sight. It features more than eight acres of bunkers and more than 100 acres of native rough that can swallow a ball. The greens average over 7,400 square feet but play much smaller, with runoffs on every side that can create near-impossible scrambling opportunities.  

The last four U.S. Open winners at Shinnecock combined to shoot four under par (Koepka’s winning score in 2018 was one over). 

My model this week will concentrate on weighted strokes gained on approach, weighted strokes gained off the tee, weighted strokes gained around the green, bogey avoidance and strokes gained in U.S. Opens. Driving distance isn’t a key factor for me this week, with precision needed on approach shots while avoiding disaster around the greens. Shorter hitters who can strike the ball from the fairway with their longer irons, hybrids and seven woods with accuracy have a chance to win this week. Corey Pavin won here while the likes of Fred Funk, Jeff Maggert, Chris DiMarco and Tim Clark have all been in contention. 

Course information

Course: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Location: Southampton, N.Y.

Designer: William Flynn

Par: 70

Length: 7,440 yards

Average green size: 7,400 square feet

Past champions (at various courses)

• 2025: J.J. Spaun
• 2024: Bryson DeChambeau
• 2023: Wyndham Clark
• 2022: Matt Fitzpatrick
• 2021: Jon Rahm
• 2020: Bryson DeChambeau
• 2019: Gary Woodland
• 2018: Brooks Koepka
• 2017: Brooks Koepka
• 2016: Dustin Johnson
• 2015: Jordan Spieth

Betting slip

Matt Fitzpatrick (+2100) is coming into this week in fine form after finishing second at the RBC Canadian Open, where he gained over 4.7 strokes on approach. He has won three times on the PGA Tour this season and won the 2022 U.S. Open. He has gained strokes around the green in every tournament since the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He finished T12 here in 2018 while gaining almost seven strokes on approach for the week. 

Tommy Fleetwood (+2400) has the course record here from Sunday in 2018, when he gained over nine strokes on the field. He bounced back from his missed cut at the PGA Championship with a T4 and T11 in his last two starts, and he gained over seven strokes combined off the tee and on approach at the RBC Canadian Open. 

Russell Henley (+4000) finished T25 here in 2018, gaining almost seven strokes from tee to green for the week. He has four top-14 finishes in his last five U.S. Open starts and is only a few weeks removed from a nice win at the Charles Schwab Challenge. 

Collin Morikawa (+4000) is a bit of a dark horse. In all honesty, I bet Morikawa for the U.S. Open way back when he was on the way to winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, but I’m backing him again this week after seeing him swing the driver off the tee at the RBC Canadian Open. He gained over 1.4 strokes off the tee and gained strokes across the board. He may not be in peak form, but he has the new baby luck going for him on Father’s Day weekend. 

DFS plays

Scottie Scheffler ($14,900) hasn’t won since the American Express in January, but he has been close for the majority of the season. A poor putting performance derailed him at the PGA Championship, and he wasn’t as good with his iron play at the Memorial, but he did make sure to spend time at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club to prepare for the U.S. Open. The price is going to be a tough sell this week, but if you can find a lineup where you pair him with, say, Patrick Reed or Sam Burns and the right mix of low-priced players, you may just have a winner. 

Jon Rahm ($11,500) missed the cut here in 2018, shooting 15 over par, but I give him some slack because he was so young in his career. He has finished no worse than T23 at a U.S. Open since and won the event in 2021. After struggling a bit at the Masters, he had a second-place finish and a win on the LIV circuit, as well as a second-place finish at the PGA Championship. I really like Rahm’s price for the type of team I want to build. 

Cameron Young ($10,500) had his best U.S. Open finish last year at Oakmont with a T4, and he has gained over three strokes tee to green in three straight U.S. Opens. The price is a green light for someone who has won twice in big tournaments this year, but the U.S. Open is a different kind of pressure cooker, and his putting has been hot and cold since his final round at the Masters. I’m going to sprinkle him in this week, but I’m not all-in on Young.  

Xander Schauffele ($10,100) has nine straight top-14 finishes at the U.S. Open and finished T6 here in 2018. He has been a negative combined on approach since the Masters, which is the only thing that concerns me. I’m playing a lot of Xander and Tommy lineups right now, but he needs to break through at the U.S. Open before that elite window shuts. 

Tommy Fleetwood ($9,700) See above.

Matt Fitzpatrick ($8,900) is priced way too low to ignore. The driver was such a weapon for him during his dominant run, and on the back nine at the Zurich, we saw him start to lose control with it just a little bit, and he didn’t really figure it out until this last week at the RBC Canadian Open. See above for the rest of the reasons I am playing him. 

Tyrrell Hatton ($8,700) had his best finish at a U.S. Open last year at Oakmont since his T6 at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. He won last week at the LIV Andalucia and is in fine form overall. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship but had his best Masters finish ever, finishing T3. 

Collin Morikawa ($8,500) See above.

Justin Thomas ($8,300) has missed three straight U.S. Open cuts but finished T25 here in 2018. Since his T77 finish at the RBC Heritage, he has turned a corner. He is back to gaining strokes on approach consistently and finding magic around the greens. I’m not going to ignore him this week, even if I play the lower-priced Henley, Reed and Burns more. 

Russell Henley ($8,000) See above.

Patrick Reed ($7,900) has two top-12 finishes in majors this year as well as two wins on the DP World Tour. He finished fourth here in 2018 and hasn’t missed a cut in a U.S. Open since 2016. I’m playing him a lot. 

Wyndham Clark ($7,800) is extremely hot right now. He has gotten on these runs a few times in his career, most notably when he won the 2023 U.S. Open. He has gained over 10 strokes combined around the greens in his last two tournaments. I don’t completely trust him, but I will use him as a pivot in a few lineups. 

Sam Burns ($7,700) has two straight top-nine finishes at the U.S. Open and looked like he was going to win the tournament for three days at Oakmont. His putter went cold on Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open, which caused him to tumble down the leaderboard, but he is in good form. 

J.J. Spaun ($7,500) missed the cut at the Masters and the PGA Championship, but besides that, he has been lights out from tee to green since winning the Valero Texas Open in early April. He proved he could win battling the wind there, and that should give him a boost as he tries to defend his U.S. Open title. 

Patrick Cantlay ($7,300) is too cheap to ignore this week. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open last year, but that is his only missed cut in 10 U.S. Open tries. He has been solid all season and has really picked it up with his approach play since the Valspar at the end of March. 

Jordan Spieth ($7,100) has not finished better than T19 at a U.S. Open since winning at Chambers Bay in 2015. He has gained over 18 strokes combined tee to green in his last two U.S. Opens and hasn’t finished better than T23. When you picture the player he was when he came on tour, it is hard to fathom. He doesn’t have a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season. I’m not going to fade him this week even after he burned me at the Memorial. 

Shane Lowry ($7,100) has started to bounce back a bit after he fell off a cliff after giving away the Cognizant Classic in March. He has two top-20 finishes in his last three U.S. Opens, and he seems like a safe low-ceiling play at this price. He gained over seven strokes tee to green at the RBC Canadian Open before struggling down the stretch on Sunday. 

Maverick McNealy ($6,800) has had a solid, if unspectacular, season. He has five top-18 finishes since March. He lost over 4.5 strokes off the tee on Thursday and Friday at the Memorial this month but figured something out and battled back for a T10 finish. He has gained over nine strokes combined around the green in his last three tournaments. 

Harris English ($6,700) has three top-eight finishes at the U.S. Open since 2020 and has never missed the cut in 10 tries. He has performed well at majors this year with a T30 at the Masters and a T18 at the PGA Championship. He is coming into this week in good form with three straight top-25 finishes. I don’t love that the putter is doing most of his work, but he is a very solid play at a cheap price. 

Adam Scott ($6,600) shows up in my model big time, which scares me a bit because I don’t have a ton of faith in him this week. He finished T12 at the Memorial after missing the cut at the PGA Championship, which eases my mind a bit. He missed the cut here in 2018 but has missed only one U.S. Open cut since. He finished T12 at Oakmont last year, gaining over eight strokes tee to green. 

David Puig ($6,500) is playing really solid golf, and he showed it at the PGA Championship, where he finished T18. He finished T5 at LIV Andalucia, gaining strokes across the board. He has made the cut in the last two U.S. Opens he has played. 

Keegan Bradley ($6,400) has made the cut in three of his last four U.S. Open appearances. He has played pretty well since missing the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March. His only missed cut since then came at the PGA Championship. 

Dustin Johnson ($6,300) finished third here in 2018 and probably should have won the tournament if he didn’t have so many problems on the greens on the weekend. This is the last year of his 10-year U.S. Open exemption after his 2016 U.S. Open win, but he will tee it up with some confidence after finishing fourth and fifth in his last two LIV Golf starts. He has made both cuts at major championships this season and looks like he’s close to finding a bit of his old groove. 

Ryan Fox ($6,300) competed here in 2018 and made the cut. He has battled back this season after struggling with kidney stones. He hasn’t missed a cut since the Masters, and he finished T8 last week, gaining over 5.3 strokes tee to green at the RBC Canadian Open. 

Jackson Koivun ($6,300) is playing his final golf tournament before turning professional. He is one of the most decorated golfers ever to come out of the collegiate ranks. He is a two-time Haskins, Jack Nicklaus, and Ben Hogan award winner. He had three straight top-six finishes playing as an amateur in 2025 on the PGA Tour. He missed the cut at Oakmont in his first U.S. Open, but he gained over three strokes on approach and was lights out on the super fast greens. I feel like he is going to be near the top of the leaderboard on day one. 

Ben Kohles ($5,700) has made the cut in his last two major championship starts and won two weeks ago on the Korn Ferry Tour before showing up strong at the RBC Canadian Open, where he finished T29. He gained over 4.7 strokes tee to green for the week. 

One and done

With this being the third major championship and one of the last big paydays of the one-and-done season, I need to be solid with my choice. Sam Burns looked like he was going to get a nice finish, and of course he faded on Sunday for me at the RBC Canadian Open, so I’m further in the hole. I’m choosing between Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Russell Henley. Ultimately, I’m going with Russell Henley.