Morning Coffee: Scheffler the favourite to win 123rd U.S. Open

The best golfers in the world have converged at the Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles for the third major tournament of 2023.

While it seems like a lot of people still just want to talk about what’s next in regard to the PGA-LIV situation, yours truly is looking forward to what is consistently one of the most difficult tournaments of the year.

The $20 million prize pool is the largest in PGA major history.

The Los Angeles Country Club has never hosted a major, and there are plenty of course unknowns that make predicting the winner of this year’s U.S. Open that much more difficult for casual fans.

That’s why I’m thankful that we have the guys from Golf Talk Canada to lean on when it comes to handicapping major events.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday, June 15, 2023.

Scheffler the favourite to win 123^rd U.S. Open

Predicting the winner of a PGA Tournament is difficult, regardless of the circumstances.

The secrecy surrounding the Los Angeles Country Club has added to the intrigue of this year’s U.S. Open, but it means a lot less information to work with when it comes to handicapping the field.

Fortunately, I work with some of the best in Adam Scully, Mark Zecchino, and Bob Weeks, who do a fantastic job handicapping every PGA Tour event for TSN.

The week of The Masters, Adam Scully advised me to take a flyer on Brooks Koepka to win the PGA Championship at 75-to-1 odds at FanDuel.

He nailed the pick and it led to the most profitable tournament that I’ve ever had.

On Wednesday, Scully reached out to make sure I tailed the other pick he gave me that day – Koepka to win the U.S. Open at 46-to-1 odds.

While it would be an unlikely double, Koepka is down to 11-to-1 as the third choice to win the U.S. Open at FanDuel this morning.

Scottie Scheffler remains the favourite at 6-to-1 odds. Jon Rahm is sandwiched in between them at 10-to-1.

In case you missed their segment on Wednesday, you can check out the top picks from the Golf Talk Canada guys using the link below.

Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland round out the top five choices to win the U.S. Open at 16-to-1 at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, Corey Conners is considered the top Canadian contender at 100-to-1 odds to win this morning.

Canadian Open winner Nick Taylor is 210-to-1. Fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin is 280-to-1 to win at FanDuel this morning.

Athletics win streak ends at seven in a row

The Oakland Athletics won a total of six games over a 30-game stretch between May 5 and June 5.

Then they put together one of the most unexpected win streaks in MLB history, stringing together seven consecutive victories.

The Athletics matched the 1895 Louisville Colonels for the longest win streak by any AL/NL team that had a sub-.200 win percentage at the start of the streak.

Last night, the Tampa Bay Rays put an end to that run with a 6-3 win as a -280 ML favourite at FanDuel.

Next up, Oakland is currently a +168 money line underdog for this afternoon’s series finale versus Tampa Bay.

Thanks to Luis Arraez, I’m still kicking myself for not making the Rays -1.5 my FanDuel Best Bet in Wednesday’s column.

Now it’s time to get back to work looking to get back in the win column with another winner this morning.

A FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday night

MLB favourites went 11-4 on Wednesday, but I pivoted off the Rays -1.5 as my FanDuel Best Bet and went with a hit parlay that featured Luis Arraez and Mookie Betts.

Betts delivered with a couple of RBI for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a loss to the Chicago White Sox.

However, Luis Arraez went 0-for-3 with a walk in a 4-1 win over the Seattle Mariners, marking just the second time this season that he’s gone three straight games without a hit.

He hasn’t gone four in a row without a hit this season.

Turning the page, I’m going with the No Run First Inning wager in tonight’s game between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins as my FanDuel Best Bet.

Sonny Gray, who is currently the ninth choice to win the American League Cy Young award at FanDuel at 20-to-1, has gone nine straight starts without allowing a run in the first inning and he’s 12-1 to the NRFI this season.

The Twins and Tigers have both hit the NRFI at a 75 per cent rate this season, so I’m confident that this bet will cash if Detroit’s starter Matthew Boyd can get me the three outs that I need.

Boyd has gone five consecutive starts without giving up a run in the first inning.

While he’s been pretty inconsistent overall this season, Boyd has been a much better pitcher on the road than at home.

I’m banking on Gray and Boyd to get me the six outs I need for the NRFI to cash tonight.

I’ll lock in the NRFI in tonight’s game between Detroit and Minnesota at -115 odds as my FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday night’s MLB slate.