This article is part of our Golf One and Done Pool Expert Picks series.
U.S. Open
The U.S. Open is a favorite for many fans because it has been historically known as the hardest golf setups around. Many players also say Oakmont is the hardest U.S. Open venue as well. Safe to say there will be a lot of carnage and some of the games best hitting shots that look familiar to many of us. Scottie Scheffler likely will not be one of those players. At +275 he has the lowest odds entering the U.S. Open of any player since Tiger Woods was +175 in 2009, which is just even more absurd. With three wins in his last four starts, including the PGA Championship last month, Scheffler is the clear top player in the world and it would be shocking to see him not have a chance on Sunday. That said, most people have already used him at some point in one and done leagues. Since it is a major as well, many OAD players will likely shift to LIV players like Bryson DeChambeau or Jon Rahm, provided they hadn't used them in either of the first two majors. The official purse hasn't been announced yet, but it likely will only go up from the $21.5 million it was last year. If you're trying to make up ground and hoping for an off the wall winner, that $4.3 million the champion will receive could go a long way in your pool.
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Course Tidbits
- Course: Oakmont Country Club (7,372 yards, par 70)
- Location: Oakmont, Pennsylvania
- Purse: $21.5 million ($4.3 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Bryson DeChambeau (-6)
- 2024 Scoring Average at Pinehurst: 72.89
- 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Scoring Average: 73.57
- Average Winning Score Last 5 Years: -8.50
Oakmont tests every part of a player's game. It is the ultimate can't fake it around course, but it's also extremely fair for how difficult it is. If you hit a bad shot, you will be severely penalized. If you hit a good shot, you more likely than not will be rewarded. Length has been extremely important of late at the U.S. Open, and while it should again play a big role, you can't just wail on the ball and expect to shoot a good score. There's a good chance that the straightest of the long drivers is the one hoisting the trophy. This rough is nasty whether you are one yard or 20 yards off the fairway. The good news is that all the rain over the last week has softened the fairways enough to make them play a little wider, even if they are still narrow by PGA Tour standards. That rain has also softened up some of the greens and limited a bit of the runout on approach shots, which players should be happy about.
Putting on these undulating greens will be a huge challenge. These are some of the largest greens players see all year and there will be quite a few three-putts. It's going to be less about making a bunch of 15-25 footers and more about being solid from 4-8 feet. The greens crew at Oakmont also wants these putting surfaces to hit near 15 on the Stimpmeter, only causing more issues for the players. There's a lot of similarities to Muirfield Village a couple weeks ago with extremely penal rough off the tee, lightning fast greens and thick rough around the putting surfaces. If you played well at the Memorial, there's probably a decent chance you do well at Oakmont. Oh hey look Scheffler.
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RotoWire One and Done Tools
U.S Open: One and Done Picks
Tough call this week because I wanted to use a LIV guy if the shoe fit, but my best option was Rahm and I think he's going to be quite popular this week, so I'll pass on him. Schauffele will probably be popular as well, but I think he'll be a bit overlooked because he hasn't done much this season. He certainly carries more risk than most players in this range, but I love the fact that he gets around U.S. Open tracks with such ease. --Greg Vara
Niemann is coming off a win at LIV Virginia in which he closed with a Sunday 63 to win by one for his fourth victory of the year. The knock on him has always been that he's underperformed in the majors, however, he appeared to be turning a corner in that regard with his first top-10 in a major at Quail Hollow last month. We know that there are only four opportunities to use LIV players in One-and-Done contests, so if you have Niemann available, this is a great spot to use him as he's never finished better than T53 in five appearances at Open Championship setups. --Ryan Pohle
If anyone is going to take down Scheffler this week, DeChambeau is likely to be the guy. He's finished top-six in five of his last six starts in majors, including winning the U.S. Open last year at Pinehurst. DeChambeau also won the U.S. Open in 2020 by six strokes at Winged Foot, which should be a very similar setup to what we see this week at Oakmont, where he was in the mix before slipping back to T15 in 2016. The narrow fairways and thick rough combination should suit DeChambeau's skillsets perfectly. If anyone is going to be able to control it out of this rough, DeChambeau would be the guy because he is able to generate more clubhead speed with his short irons, as they are the same length as some of his longer irons. The short game and putting have also been great over the last few months. He is as motivated as anyone after watching his main rivals take the first two majors of the year. --Ryan Andrade
Scheffler, McIlroy and DeChambeau are all gone -- without nearly enough to show for it. There aren't many guys who can win this tournament. There aren't many places left to use Rahm. Sometimes, decisions are that simple. --Len Hochberg
You're obviously deploying a 7-1 DeChambeau if you didn't use him at either of the first two majors, but for those looking for a OAD selection further down in the ownership projections, Lowry is a formidable consideration. At this point in the week, you've probably already been reminded a thousand times that he tied for runner-up honors here at Oakmont in 2016, but his recent form is more important. Over his last 36 rounds, Lowry ranks second in SG: Approach, sixth in bogey avoidance and top-10 in both par-3 and par-4 efficiency. He just gained a career-best nine strokes with his irons at the RBC Canadian Open, and as an accurate driver of the ball, Lowry is top-30 in both FIR percentage (28th) and distance from edge of fairway (23rd) this season. --Bryce Danielson
U.S. Open: One and Done Fades
Everyone thought that the Masters win would open up this whole new world for McIlroy, where he never had any pressure to win and he could play freely, but it seems to have done the opposite. Maybe his current funk has nothing to do with his win and it's just Rory letting the illegal driver situation snowball into something more than it should, but he's simply not in the right frame of mind right now to win a major. Perhaps he gets his driver going early this week and he's able to put all that garbage behind him, but I don't think that's how it will play out. --Greg Vara
Sticking with the theme of LIV players here, I'd much rather use Rahm at Royal Portrush next month as he finished T11 there in 2019 and is coming off back-to-back top-10s at The Open. Rahm has been as consistent as they come this year with a top-10 in all eight LIV events but has yet to win and we aren't going to be satisfied with anything less than that this week (pending a longshot winner). --Ryan Pohle
Something has been off about Morikawa of late. He has now gone five straight starts without a top-15 finish, something that had not happened since the middle of 2023. Morikawa recently split with his long-time caddie and it seems like he's still trying to get comfortable with the change. He has lost strokes around the greens in five of his last six starts, an area of his game that he worked really hard to improve last season and early in 2025. If you still have Morikawa available, there's going to be a better spot to use him than this down the line once he gets his complete game a little more dialed in. Oakmont is not the place you want to come to when you're trying to figure things out. --Ryan Andrade
Not liking Thomas at all this week. Will he make the cut? Maybe. But it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he didn't. For as well as he's turned around his putter this season, his driver has been terrible. And if there's one thing you don't want to carry with you to Oakmont, it's trouble hitting the ball straight off the tee. --Len Hochberg
Schauffele has been awesome at U.S. Opens with seven top-10s and no finish worse than a T14 across eight career appearances, but this will be his first time at Oakmont, and he's been struggling directionally off the tee dating all the way back to the TOUR Championship at the end of last season. This year, he's just 127th in SG: OTT and 164th in FIR percentage, and Schauffele owns only one top-10 result through nine starts to begin his 2025 campaign. Especially if he's going to be one of the higher-owned OAD clicks this week, it's fine to save him for somewhere else this summer in hopes he finds some control with more tournament reps. --Bryce Danielson
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