For a second straight day, Gary Woodland held the lead after play wrapped up in the U.S. Open. This time, though, rather than being the third choice behind a couple better-known names, he’s sitting as the co-favorite at The SuperBook at Westgate, with 18 holes remaining at Pebble Beach.
Woodland shot 2-under 69 Saturday, in a third round that included a couple miraculous par saves on the back nine. He posted an 11-under 202 total, one stroke ahead of Justin Rose, who shot 68.
“Woodland pulled that Houdini out a couple times on the back nine. He could’ve easily been 3 or 4 over in that stretch,” SuperBook manager Eric Osterman told Covers on Saturday night. “I play golf, and I like to think of myself as a decent player. I was thinking of how difficult that was. It was insane.”
Those heroics have Woodland at 7/4, or +175, along with Rose to hoist the trophy. But posting co-favorites wasn’t necessarily the plan, Osterman said.
“We would have had Rose as the favorite, but we were going through some stuff on the yearlong prop of golfers to win one of the four majors,” Osterman said, noting the book was worse to Woodland on that prop. “So we went to co-favorites to put us in optimal position for Sunday. If we take a little money on some other guys, bump Woodland down a little bit, that should put us in a good spot, in case Woodland does win.”
Brooks Koepka is certainly not out of it, but he’s got work to do if he’s to earn his fifth title in the last nine majors. The two-time defending U.S. Open champ shot a solid 68 to stand tied for third, but at 7-under 206, he’s four shots behind Woodland.
“If Koepka won, first of all, it wouldn’t shock me at all, and second, it would be good for the book,” Osterman said. “He’d also be the first American ever to win three U.S. Opens in a row. That’d be really cool to see.”
Koepka was the 5/1 third choice, the same odds he had prior to the third round. Rory McIlroy (207) followed at 10/1, and Louis Oosthuizen (206) was at 12/1.
“I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if McIlroy was there. He has that kind of firepower, and we saw last Sunday at the Canadian Open that he can take it low,” Osterman said, alluding to McIlroy’s final-round 61 to win that tournament. That kind of round is extremely unlikely, but a 65 – the low round of the week so far – could put McIlroy in the mix.
Perhaps not to be overlooked is Chez Reavie, who joined Koepka at 7-under 206 after a 68 Saturday.
“The surprise of the tournament is Reavie. He’s at 25/1 now,” Osterman said. “He’s OK for us. Pre-tournament, we had a guy bet him $400 at 250/1, to win $100,000, but that was like the only bet on him. So we still win on him, but nothing major. He’s a fantastic putter, but if the course gets even firmer, a short hitter like Reavie is at such a disadvantage.”
Whether Koepka or Reavie make up ground, or McIlroy makes a big run, or Rose wins his second major, or Woodland hangs on for his first, The SuperBook will be satisfied with the result. The only golfers who really presented liability were, not surprisingly, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Woods is 11 shots back, tied for 27th at even-par 213, and Mickelson’s tires blew out on the back nine Saturday as he shot 75 in tumbling to 48th at 3-over 216.
“Rose is still our best option, but we don’t lose on anybody,” Osterman said. “I consider that pretty good when it comes to golf. Usually in the final round, there are three or four players we’ll still lose to. But with so much Tiger and Phil money, once they were out of the running, it made the rest of it pretty easy.”
Patrick Everson is a Las Vegas-based senior writer for Covers. Follow him on Twitter: @Covers_Vegas.
