This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
U.S. Open
Course: Oakmont Country Club (7,372 yards, par 70)
Purse: $21,500,000
Winner: $4,300,000 and 750 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Many consider Oakmont Country Club to be the hardest course in golf. Combine that with a U.S. Open setup and we should be primed for quite the spectacle this week. Dustin Johnson overcame a penalty early in his round to ultimately win the U.S. Open the last time it was hosted at Oakmont in 2016. He finished at 4-under-par that day. With this year being the 125th edition of the U.S. Open, Oakmont will host for a record 10th time. The best 72 hole score-to-par ever posted in this national open here has been 5-under-par on three different occasions. All the early week talk is how brutal the rough is, so there's a chance we might see something closer to what we saw in 2007 when Angel Cabrera won at 5-over-par.
If there was ever going to be one man to make Oakmont look somewhat tame, it would be Scottie Scheffler. The runaway World No. 1 comes in having won three of his last four starts, including the PGA Championship last month. There's a bit of a feeling of inevitability with Scheffler this week that we've really only ever seen with one player in history, that of course being Tiger Woods. Scheffler's +275 odds are the shortest ever for a U.S. Open since Woods was +175 in 2009. We'll get into a little later, but as you'd expect Scheffler carries a rightfully hefty price tag in FanDuel contests.
The man many expect to give Scheffler the biggest challenge this week is Bryson DeChambeau. He won at a very similar setup to this at Winged Foot by six shots back in 2020, and then won it again last year with a heroic up-and-down on the final hole. The narrow fairways and extremely penal rough play right in DeChambeau's hands who has finished inside the top-6 in five of the last six major championships. A third U.S. Open title would tie DeChambeau with Tiger Woods and Hale Irwin for fifth most wins in this event behind Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus with four victories.
Then there is the curious case of Rory McIlroy. After the Northern Irishman completed the career grand slam at The Masters in April and ended an 11-year major championship drought, many thought it would open the floodgates for an incredible second-half of his career. Instead McIlroy has admittedly struggled with motivation after basically accomplishing everything in the game of golf. McIlroy has been testing drivers since his was deemed non-conforming prior to the PGA Championship. He finished T47 at Quail Hollow, a place he had won four times prior, and then missed the cut badly last week at the RBC Canadian Open, an event he had won twice before. It's a little unclear what to expect from McIlroy at Oakmont, but he's finished top-10 in his last six attempts in the U.S. Open.
There's a fun trio behind them of players who are all seeking a third major championship. Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa have all played really strong golf at times in 2025, but all are yet to notch a victory on their respective tours. That said, all of them have an impressive track record at the U.S. Open and they shouldn't be ruled out to play spoiler to Scheffler.
Oakmont has been pounded by rain over the last few days, but it's not really going to affect the golf course much. Oakmont drains beautifully and recent U.S. Open's here were hit by a decent amount of rain as well and the scoring was still incredibly difficult. While the fairways might play a bit wider, the rough is exponentially more penal when wet. The first two days of the tournament should be lovely weather in the mid-80s with mild winds. Things could take a shift on the weekend, however, with a threat of some scattered storms. Hopefully we're able to dodge most of that and we can see the greens start to firm up.
Recent Champions
2024 - Bryson DeChambeau (-6) at Pinehurst
2023 - Wyndham Clark (-10) at Los Angeles Country Club
2022 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-6) at The Country Club
2021 - Jon Rahm (-6) at Torrey Pines
2020 - Bryson DeChambeau (-6) at Winged Foot
2019 - Gary Woodland (-13) at Pebble Beach
2018 - Brooks Koepka (+1) at Shinnecock Hills
2017 - Brooks Koepka (-16) at Erin Hills
2016 - Dustin Johnson (-4) at Oakmont
2015 - Jordan Spieth (-5) at Chambers Bay
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- Three-Putt Avoidance/Bogey Avoidance
Champion's Profile
Oakmont tests every club in the bag. There's really not an easy shot around the entire property. Hitting one good shot requires another good shot after that or the penalty can be severe. It's definitely a course where if you get it out of position, the only goal on the next shot should be to get it back into position. We had a very similar test to this at the Memorial Tournament a couple weeks ago with very thick rough and lightning fast greens. If you played well there, chances are you are going to have a pretty solid week at Oakmont.
The longest and straightest drivers are going to show up on the leaderboard in a big way this week. The fairways are narrow, so they will be hard to hit for everyone, but if you're able to get it up as far as possible, you might have a chance to keep it on the green. Shorter hitters will need to be deadly accurate stay in contention because not only will they have a longer shot in if they miss the fairway, but they also won't have the speed to get it out of the rough as well as the bombers.
Assuming you do hit the fairway, the job is certainly far from done. The greens are some of the largest players will see all year, but the contours make it very difficult to get it close to the hole. That said, anywhere on the green is far better than having to deal with some nasty rough just off the edge of some of these putting surfaces. It's going to be a week where the focus is hitting fairways, hitting greens and dialing in your speed. We will see a ton of three-putts, so the best lag putters and those particularly strong from 4-8 feet have a real chance to shine.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($13,800)
Scheffler is worth every penny this week. He's been arguably the longest and straightest driver over the last several years, miles better than the next best iron player over that span, an elite scrambler and a very strong putter since switching to the mallet. Maybe more than all of that is his mental game. Scheffler never gets too high or too low. He might not make every putt, but he seems to always roll in the ones he needs to keep the round going. Just the perfect formula for a U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Bryson DeChambeau ($12,500)
Expect DeChambeau to employ the same formula he used at Winged Foot back in 2020 when he won by six strokes. He's going to hit it as far as possible everywhere and his longer length short irons will help him generate more speed when he does miss the fairway than anyone else in the field. DeChambeau has finished top-5 in his last six starts which included two majors and a win at LIV Korea. The short game and putting is plenty good enough to notch U.S. Open victory No. 3 this week.
Xander Schauffele ($11,800)
Schauffele has embraced the challenge of the U.S. Open more than anyone since he came out on Tour finishing T14 or better in all eight starts in his national open. It's not a surprise that he's played so well in this event over the years given how extremely well rounded his game is. While there's been some struggles in 2025 after winning two majors last year, there's been enough good things recently to think that Schauffele is not far away. Throughout most of the early week media availability, Schauffele has seemed the most excited to take on a course this difficult.
The Middle Tier
Ben Griffin ($10,400)
There's a lot of similarities here to what Wyndham Clark did two years ago. Some strong early-season results, wins on a tough golf course in May, then maybe wins the U.S. Open in June. Griffin is really proving that he is a player with the game to excel on the most difficult courses. He finished T8 at the PGA Championship, won Colonial and then threw everything at Scheffler at Muirfield Village before settling for second. It might be Griffin's first U.S. Open start, but he has been the best study of just about anyone going into this test.
Harris English ($9,700)
English is another player who has excelled on very difficult golf courses. He won at Torrey Pines in January, finished T2 at Quail Hollow in May and then was T12 in his last start at Muirfield Village. English has also finished inside the top-8 in three of the last five years at the U.S. Open, including at Winged Foot, which as previously mentioned is a very close comparison to Oakmont's setup. The driver and putter are the two things you can always count on with English.
Keegan Bradley ($9,300)
Bradley doesn't have the greatest career record at the U.S. Open, but his game right now is perfectly suited for Oakmont. He ranks third this season in SG: Tee-to-Green excelling by hitting it long and straight, having one of the highest apex's on Tour and being very nifty around the greens. Bradley is coming off a T8 at the PGA Championship and a T7 at the Memorial, both of which featured similar challenges as what will be asked of the players this week at Oakmont.
The Long Shots
Ryan Fox ($8,700)
Fox notched his second victory in his last four starts at TPC Toronto after defeating Sam Burns in a playoff. Fox's long driving and marvelous approach play of late will certainly play at Oakmont. He is also second on Tour to Scheffler in the bounce back stat, something that will be quite important on a difficult course like this where there are a ton of bogeys. Fox was added in to the field late because of his win in Canada so his price is adjusted, but it still does feel a bit low given his recent play.
Ryan Gerard ($8,100)
Gerard has turned into a very reliable DFS option with just two missed cuts this season to go along with three top-10s and eight top-25s. He doesn't have any weaknesses in his game and ranks inside the top-75 in every strokes gained category. That's how you sit 22nd in SG: Total and 14th in adjusted scoring average on the season. The 25-year-old is starting to get more experienced in these big events as this is now his third U.S. Open start and he was T8 at the PGA last month.
Chris Gotterup ($7,000)
Gotterup at the min. price this week just doesn't seem right for a player that is inside the top-100 of the DataGolf rankings. He comes in with five top-20 finishes in his last eight starts as well. Gotterup is one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, which will be a big advantage around Oakmont. He also has shined around the greens as well over this recent hot stretch. Gotterup made the cut in his only other U.S. Open start despite a terrible putting week.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The U.S. Open is typically the hardest cut to make in golf. You have a full field of 156 players and only the top-60-and-ties will make the weekend. There will be plenty of very quality players who will be sent packing by Friday evening. The cut here in 2016 was 6-over-par and a similar number should be expected this time around. Oakmont takes great pride in trying to have the hardest course in golf, so all the stops will be pulled out to ensure these players suffer.
The clear two best players in the field are Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau. DFS players likely are picking one of the two to start their lineups with, however, taking both and adding a min. price player like Gotterup gives you an average of $8,900 to use with your last three selections, which is actually quite doable if you want to go that route. That said, it's going to be very tough to get all six players to the weekend, so a more balanced build skipping down to the $11K range may give you a better floor.
For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, tournament participation and overall golfer performance, head to RotoWire's latest golf news or follow @RotoWireGolf on X.
