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The US Open is one of the four golf Majors played annually, staged after The Masters tournament and the PGA Championship, but before The Open Championship, also known as the British Open.
The 2026 edition of the US Open promises to be something special as a star-studded and competitive field shoot for the lion's share of the prize money. The champion will bank more than $4 million, ensuring the top names are in attendance.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler arrives at Shinnecock Hills chasing the career Grand Slam on his 30th birthday weekend, while Masters champion Rory McIlroy looks to add a seventh major to his cabinet. But who will come out on top?
You can make predictions and place bets on the US Open. The leading online sportsbooks, including bet365, offer generous odds to those who can predict the champion. There are also several eye-catching specials, including a top ten finish, the best-performing American player, the top European, a hole-in-one, a playoff, and others. There's more than one way to bet on the action and target a healthy profit.
US Open 2026 dates and details
The 2026 United States Open is the latest edition of a globally famous professional golf tournament that first launched back in 1895 at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. Over the years, the competition has evolved almost beyond recognition, growing from a 36-hole event staged in a single day to the version we know and love today.
The US Open is now a 72-hole stroke play tournament decided over four days, taking us from Thursday, 18th June to Sunday, 21st June. A 156-player field will tee it up at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.
This is the sixth time the storied Long Island links has hosted the championship and the first since 2018. The course will play to a par-70 over 7,440 yards, with a halfway cut after Friday reducing the field to the top 60 players and ties for the weekend rounds.
The opening line-up will play two days of golf before the cut reduces the field, allowing the best players to go for the title.
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How to watch
Here's how you can follow all four days of golf from the US Open live on TV and the best live-streaming apps.
Thursday – Round 1 live on Sky Sports Golf 12:30
Friday – Round 2 live on Sky Sports Golf 12:30
Saturday – Round 3 live on Sky Sports Golf 15:00
Sunday – Round 4 live on Sky Sports Golf 16:00
Sky provides armchair fans with more than 40 hours of US Open 2026 content across the week, including live rounds, daily highlights the next morning, pre- and post-event shows and more.
Coverage is also available on Sky Sports Main Event at selected points during the week, with the Sky Sports app and NOW streaming the action for non-Sky customers.
Watching internationally? Sports fans in the US can follow on the USA Network and NBC, with extended streaming on Peacock and Golf Channel's "Live From" studio coverage. TSN caters to fans in Canada, while Fox Sports keeps Australian viewers up to speed.
US Open stats
The US Open honour list reads like a who's who of world golf across the generations. American J.J. Spaun took home the title 12 months ago when holding off runner-up Robert MacIntyre at a rain-soaked Oakmont. A score of 279 left Spaun on -1 for the week, two strokes better than his nearest rival from Scotland after a dramatic 64-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole.
Here's a list of some stats and trends to keep in mind when finalising your US Open 2026 predictions and bets.
An American player has won eight of the last ten US Open titles.
- The other two winners were Spain's Jon Rahm in 2021 and Matt Fitzpatrick of England in 2022.
- Homegrown and European talent have dominated since Argentina's Angel Cabrera scooped the glory in 2007.
- Shinnecock Hills has historically yielded high winning scores. Brooks Koepka won here in 2018 at +1, the last time a US Open champion finished over par at a major.
- Scottie Scheffler has been knocking on the door of a career Grand Slam. Will he go one better than his recent near-misses and win the US Open at the first time of asking, completing the set on his 30th birthday weekend?
- Shinnecock Hills Golf Club has provided the backdrop for five previous US Opens, dating back to 1896. Previous winners at the venue include Raymond Floyd (1986), Corey Pavin (1995), Retief Goosen (2004) and Brooks Koepka (2018), who held off a final-round 63 from Tommy Fleetwood to defend his title by a single stroke.
Using the trends
Defending champions don't have the greatest record at the US Open. With the course changing every year, it's difficult for a player to perform well enough to win the trophy at one course and then repeat the feat at a completely different course 12 months later.
That may put you off betting on the 2025 champion, J.J. Spaun, who arrives at Shinnecock having returned to form on a course set up to punish anything less than precision golf. The stats and trends offer two angles.
The results show it's worth sticking with the American players, and you'll find Scottie Scheffler as the market leader with sportsbooks at 6/1. Will he live up to expectations and get his name on the trophy as this year's champion, becoming just the seventh man to complete the career Grand Slam?
The second approach is Rory McIlroy. Rory finished second in 2023 and 2024 before slipping back into the pack at Oakmont last year. Fans believe the Northern Irishman is edging closer to the kind of form that saw him land the title back in 2011 by eight strokes ahead of Australia's Jason Day at the Congressional Blue Course.
McIlroy, fresh off a second consecutive Masters triumph in April, is certain to be a popular play with bettors, especially those based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Spain's Jon Rahm, a former champion in 2021 and now plying his trade on the LIV Golf League, completes the top three in the market at 12/1.
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