2024 U.S. Open odds, picks: Why you should root for these nine golfers to win at Pinehurst No. 2

The stakes have never been higher as the U.S. Open returns to Pinehurst for the first time in a decade

By Patrick McDonald Jun 10, 2024 at 11:19 am ET• 6 min read

The last time the U.S. Open visited to Pinehurst No. 2, the game was quite different. Scottie Scheffler was still in high school. Rory McIlroy had only two major championships to his name (though he doubled that total later in the summer in 2014). Brooks Koepka had yet to contend in a major championship, and as we now know, that didn't last long.

The 2014 U.S. Open did mark Koepka's first run at a major, and he has been sprinting through them ever since. Now with a handful of them to his name, the five-time major champion hopes a return to North Carolina can bring him his third U.S. Open victory and his sixth overall.

McIlroy aims to catch Koepka by winning his fifth major, and in doing so, would break a near decade-long drought on the major stage. Coming close in recent years -- including last year's U.S. Open -- the four-time major champion will once again put his neck on the line all for just a chance to grab his fifth big one.

Koepka and McIlroy are the two players with the most major titles in this era, but there are some who could sneak up right behind them with a win of their own. Scheffler eyes his third since the start of 2022, his second of the season. Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa is seeking to grab his third as well, and unlike Scheffler, it would represent his third different major vaulting him into the grand slam conversation.