First-time US Open winner hard to oppose based on recent renewals

The history books don’t lie – this year’s US Open winner will lift the trophy for the first time.

Renowned as one of the tougher golf majors in the game, the US Open makes golfers work extremely hard to get their hands on the trophy with the par score set at 70 and narrow fairways, undulating greens and thick rough making any eventual victor at the tournament savour the moment even more.

History suggests that not many of those winners get to experience that joy more than once though, and more often than not the winner of the tournament is a first-time US Open victor.

In 2008 Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate to seal his third US Open title via a play-off; he is the only man to reclaim the crown since 2005. Since that Woods win, all four conquerors have been first time US Open champions, a trend that has been prominent when you look back over the history of the tournament.

Including Woods, only six men have managed to secure multiple US Open titles since 1990, making this 2013 tournament a clear favourite for there to be a first time winner at 2/5.

This year’s four-day battle for supremacy at Merion Golf Club will be the 131st rendition of the US Open and the fact that only 21 golfers in the history of the game have managed to secure multiple titles in this event goes a long way to explainimg those odds.

With those stats in mind it makes backing a first-time winner here a no brainer and extends the list of potential winning candidates to the likes of Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Sergio Garcia and Brandt Snedeker, all of whom have odds at 20/1 or better.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.