2021 U.S. Open golf odds: Jon Rahm opens as clear-cut betting favorite to win first major championship; Phil Mickelson long shot

Players from 10 different countries have won golf's U.S. Open but never one from Spain. William Hill Sportsbook oddsmakers think that will change this week at Torrey Pines in San Diego as Spaniard Jon Rahm is the clear +1000 favorite on the golf odds to win his first major championship even though the last time we saw Rahm, he was forced to withdraw from the Memorial after a positive COVID test.

On June 5 at the Memorial outside Columbus, Ohio, Rahm finished his third round with a six-shot lead in the tournament but then learned as he walked off the 18th green that he had tested positive and been withdrawn. Rahm, the winner of five PGA Tour events, was asymptomatic. He was officially cleared for the U.S. Open over the weekend because of two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart.

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The world's No. 3-ranked player has an average finish of 49.8 in his five previous U.S. Opens, with a best finish of tied for third in 2019 at Pebble Beach up the California coast. While Rahm hasn't won a U.S. Open or any other major yet, he did win the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and finished second in that event in 2020.

Both the South Course and the North Course are used for that tournament but just the South for the U.S. Open. The South is a par 71 at around 7,650 yards. It also hosted in 2008 when Tiger Woods memorably won in a 19-hole Monday playoff over Rocco Mediate. U.S. Open playoff rules were changed a couple of years ago to where it's now two-hole aggregate. Woods, of course, is still recovering from that serious car accident this past winter in the Los Angeles area.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who shockingly missed the cut this year in both the Masters and PGA Championship, is the +1600 second favorite. DJ won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Bryson DeChambeau, the winner of the rescheduled U.S. Open last fall, is +1800 this week, as is two-time U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka.

The U.S. Open is the lone major that Phil Mickelson has never won. Lefty, who will turn 51 on Wednesday and of course won the PGA Championship last month, is +5000. San Diego is Mickelson's hometown and he has won the regular PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines three times. He has been second in the U.S. Open a record six times.

Garrick Higgo is also +5000. He's a European Tour player who won the Palmetto Championship at Congaree on Sunday in South Carolina for his first PGA Tour win but his third victory in his last five starts worldwide. 

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