2025 U.S. Open Predictions: Top Head-to-Head Bets for Round 2
Oakmont bared its teeth against most of the field during Round 1 of the 2025 U.S. Open. As expected, bogeys were commonplace, although there were plenty of birdies to go around.
J.J. Spaun carded a bogey-free 66 to finish as the solo First Round Leader at 4-under-par. Former U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka finished 2-under-par, joining Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im at T3. Other notables near the top of the leaderboard include Ben Griffin (T6), Jon Rahm (T6), and Jordan Spieth (T11).
My 2025 U.S. Open Picks: Best Head-to-Head Bets (Round 1) went 3-0, sweeping Thursday’s head-to-head prop bets. Harris English beat Matt Fitzpatrick as a -130 favorite, Nick Taylor won by a stroke over J.T. Poston as a -115 favorite, and Jordan Spieth dominated Justin Thomas by six strokes as a +100 underdog.
I’ve got three new head-to-head bets to tail ahead of Round 2 on Friday. Follow me on X at Matt_MacKay_ for more free bets and weekly PGA Tour analysis.
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2025 U.S. Open: Best Bets
These plays are 1 unit, or 1% of your betting bankroll. Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook .
Xander Schauffele vs. Ben Griffin – Round 2 (18 Hole Matchups)
Ben Griffin is one of the best golfers on the PGA Tour right now. He’s stacked two outright wins, a T8 and a runner-up in the previous five events played. In 2025, Griffin is 18th total strokes gained, 30th at finding greens in regulation and 23rd scoring average.
Thursday saw Griffin finish 1-under-par, a feat only nine other golfers achieved. T6 in total strokes gained in Round 1, including 23rd SG: Approach, 10th SG: Short Game and T18 number of putts.
Xander Schauffele’s Round 1 was solid, finishing T33 at +2 thanks to back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th par 4s. His best metric came around the greens, ranked 17th SG: Short Game. Schauffele struggled putting (T80), on approach (T72) and off-the-tee (65th) on Thursday.
Griffin’s game has been trending up for awhile but Schauffele’s two major wins in 2024 are still being factored into this line. Let’s take advantage of the value and bet on Griffin to beat Schauffele as a rare underdog at +125 odds.
Pick: Ben Griffin ( +125 )
Jon Rahm vs. Scottie Scheffler – Round 2 (18 Hole Matchups)
I’m going to be even more bold and double down on fading the World’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, against Jon Rahm in Round 2. Scheffler struggled to get going in Round 1 during his Oakmont debut, especially with his putter on the undulated Poa annua greens.
Scheffler finished T78 in number of putts (30), T82 SG: Putting, 69th SG: Short Game, and only hit seven of 14 fairways. Conversely, Rahm led the field in total strokes gained (+3.36) in Round 1.
The 2021 U.S. Open champion and LIV golfer went 19th SG: Approach, seventh driving distance, T9 fairways hit and T5 greens in regulation. Putting was a sore point, finishing worse than Scheffler at 107th SG: Putting.
Rahm looked more comfortable than Scheffler. Obviously, we’re taking a bit of a risk fading the hottest golfer in the world right now, but the Spaniard’s tee-to-green accuracy is encouraging to keep up with Scheffler on Friday. Plus, Rahm managed to climb into T6 at 2-under-par, sitting only two strokes off the lead.
If Rahm can even marginally improve his putter, expect him to potentially jump atop the leaderboard by the end of Round 2. Let’s jump on +140 and back him to beat Scheffler for a second consecutive round.
Pick: Jon Rahm ( +140 )
Thomas Detry vs. Thriston Lawrence – Round 2 (18 Hole Matchups)
Let’s wrap with a less star-studded matchup and look at Thomas Detry against Thriston Lawrence. The latter is a 28-year-old South African golfer who plays on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. Detry broke through with his first PGA Tour win earlier in 2025 at the WM Phoenix Open.
Both of these golfers played extremely well in Round 1. Lawrence was second behind Spaun in total strokes gained (7.63), T2 for fairways hit (11/14) and T9 greens in regulation (13/18) on Thursday. Most importantly, Lawrence sits eighth in SG: Putting.
Detry is a quality putter but finished 38th SG: Putting with the flat stick in Round 1. He’s also top ten at fairways hit and greens in regulation, matching Lawrence with his tee-to-green accuracy. It’s why both of them currently sit near the top of the leaderboard under par.
Detry’s a bit too volatile for my liking. Lawrence showed up to challenge Schauffele during his Open Championship win last year. In 2025, Detry is 119th SG: Approach, 127th driving accuracy and 86th putting average.
Let’s bet a third straight underdog and take Thriston Lawrence to beat Thomas Detry in Round 2 at +125 odds.
Pick: Thriston Lawrence ( +125 )
Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for The News Pulseand FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_ .
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