Steve Palmer's US Open first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch the US Open

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 12.30pm Thursday

Best bets

Jason Scrivener to win 5.30pm threeball
2pts 17-10 bet365

Tom McKibbin to win 11.45am threeball
2pts 27-20 Hills

Greyson Sigg to win 5.30pm threeball
2pts 10-11 bet365

Isaiah Salinda to win 1.46pm threeball
2pts 20-23 bet365

Richard Mansell to win 1.57pm threeball
2pts 10-13 bet365

US Open first-round preview

Golf fans will be mesmerised at 6.14pm UK and Ireland time on Thursday as the three best players in the world assemble on the first tee at the famous Pinehurst No. 2 course for the opening round of the US Open.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, US PGA victor Xander Schauffele and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy comprise the marquee late threeball in the North Carolina sunshine. Scheffler is a tempting 5-4 chance, but preference is for five other threeball options in much lower-profile groups.

Pinehurst has an Australian feel to it with fast-running fairways lined by sand and scrubland rather than rough, and anyone with experience of the Melbourne Sandbelt should feel at home around this week's demanding green complexes. Australian Jason Scrivener therefore looks underrated for his 5.30pm threeball.

Scrivener, a 35-year-old playing in his fifth Major this week, can draw upon much more experience than his playing partners. He finished 23rd in his last Stateside Major, the 2021 US PGA, and his typically tidy game matches up well with the demands of Pinehurst.

A pair of 68s at Walton Heath in last month's US Open qualifier earned Scrivener the Pinehurst gig and he will be aware that his fellow Antipodean Michael Campbell took the same route to Pinehurst on his way to winning the 2005 US Open.

Scrivener, who is competitive on the DP World Tour, can be fancied to boss Challenge Tour player Brandon Robinson-Thompson and inexperienced 21-year-old amateur Brendan Valdes.

Tom McKibbin, another DP World Tour regular, is on offer at generous odds to win his 11.45am threeball against Matteo Manassero and Rico Hoey. Sweet-swinging Northern Irishman McKibbin has quickly matured into one of the most consistent ball-strikers on the DP World Tour, so can approach his Major debut with confidence.

The 21-year-old has finished in the top 25 in nine of his ten tournaments this season and the only failure came when he was suffering with tonsillitis in Singapore.

Manassero has enjoyed a renaissance over the last year, but the Pinehurst set-up will put a lot of his weaknesses under great strain, and he has never had a top-30 finish in a Stateside Major. Hoey has missed eight of his 13 cuts on the PGA Tour this season.

Greyson Sigg, Isaiah Salinda and Richard Mansell appeal at a shade of odds-on to win their threeballs and provide plenty of scope for multiples. Sigg, who opened with a solid 71 at Torrey Pines in his last US Open appearance, lies tenth on the PGA Tour greens-in-regulation statistics. His typically tidy approach-play should be enough to leave Grant Forrest and Wells Williams behind.

Salinda, a promising youngster who finished ninth in last year's Shriners Open on the PGA Tour before winning on the Korn Ferry Tour in February, can outclass Bryan Kim and fading veteran Jim Herman in their 1.46pm group. Herman has never had a top-40 finish in a Major in a long career while Salinda appears to be going places.

Mansell, another of the Walton Heath qualifiers, possesses the tee-to-green solidity to handle Pinehurst. Nine of his last 11 DP World Tour appearances have yielded top-25 finishes. Expect the Midlander to keep a cleaner Pinehurst scorecard than Willie Mack and Ashton McCulloch.

Click for more free bets and betting offers from the Racing Post

Commercial notice: This article contains affiliate links. Offers are handpicked and come from operators our experts have first-hand experience of. Opening an account via one of these links will earn revenue for the Racing Post, which will be used to continue producing our award-winning coverage of horseracing and sports betting.