5 dark horses who could upset and win the U.S. Open 2018

The favorites to win the U.S. Open 2018 are well-known and obvious, but these five players are dark horses to keep an eye on at Shinnecock Hills.

For the first time since Retief Goosen’s triumph back in 2004 — and simultaneously Phil Mickelson’s shortcoming — the U.S. Open makes its return to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in New York this week. The second major championship of the year on the PGA Tour always provides an immense amount of entertainment. And, over the past three years, we’ve seen some of golf’s current elite group be victorious at the tournament.

Last year was the coming out party for Brooks Koepka at Erin Hills as he was able to break U.S. Open tradition and fire off a 16-under performance across 72 holes. The year prior, it was Dustin Johnson winning his first (and currently only) major at Oakmont. Jordan Spieth’s victory at Chambers Bay in 2015 preceded Johnson’s win.

Those three will most certainly be in the field this week at Shinnecock Hills, and are among the favorites to win. In the midst of his 2018 comeback, Tiger Woods will also be in the field this week, as he looks to add to his 14 major wins throughout his career and continue his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ 18 wins. Also among the favorites are the likes of Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and the rest of the usual suspects.

We aren’t here for those players right now. No, instead we are looking at the players who could take the 2018 U.S. Open by surprise and deliver shockwaves throughout the PGA Tour. That’s right, we’re talking about the dark horses that could emerge at Shinnecock Hills.

For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll define a “dark horse” as any player with 40-1 odds (+4000) or worse. And with that, let’s get started looking at five dark horses with the potential to win the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

Note: All odds are provided by Odds Shark.

5. Patrick Cantlay (+6600)

Admittedly, shining a spotlight on Patrick Cantlay at this point in his career might seem a bit premature. The 26-year old California native and UCLA product has just one career victory on the PGA Tour to this point in his young career, which came in November of this past year at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Having said that, he’s also a player who has been flirting with the top of the leaderboard quite a lot throughout the season.

Missing only two cuts this season, Cantlay has played in 14 PGA Tour events thus far in the season. He has the one win sure, but also has five finishes in the top 10 and nine times has come in the top 25. What’s more, the last time that we saw him on the course was at the Memorial, and he put forth an incredibly strong showing as he finished fourth in the tournament.

Having said that, Cantlay’s play this season seems tailored to success at the U.S. Open. He ranks 18th on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained and is 33rd or better in all of the major metrics for strokes gained except for putting, where he ranks 133rd. His struggles on the greens are somewhat concerning as it pertains to a major championship, but his success in spite of those struggles ultimately works in his favor.

Again, this might be calling the shot a little early when it comes to Cantlay, but he does appear to be someone who could rightfully make a run at Shinnecock Hills this week and to try and make his second overall victory his first major win.