PINEHURST, N.C. – You’re forgiven if you haven’t found them all.

With a tournament like the U.S. Open, bet options abound. Outright markets, winner without, top in the region, make the cut, head-to-head…the menu can offer a dizzying array of options. Think Cheesecake Factory level of depth.

So with the opening round nearly upon us, it’s understandable if there might be a few profit-turning options that have alluded your search. Perhaps you haven’t fully scanned the tee sheet, or there might be a few secondary markets on the “see more” tab that you haven’t scrolled through.

With that in mind, let’s take a look a look at five bets you may have missed heading into the opening round at Pinehurst No. 2:

Top Debutant

Time for the rookies to step up! There are a total of 36 first-timers in the field, headlined by Ludvig Åberg as a +160 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook. No one else is priced below +900 (Nicolai Højgaard), but it’s a deserved distinction for Åberg after a runner-up result in his Masters debut. Go down the range line here at Pinehurst and ask who will be the next first-time major winner, as we’ve seen crowned at this event for five straight years, and Åberg will be a popular answer.

But his health status remains in doubt, given his nagging knee injury, and a slight hiccup could open up some value down the board. Think about Harry Higgs at +1600, coming off a pair of Korn Ferry Tour victories as he inches closer to the form that saw him finish T4 at the 2021 PGA Championship.

Make Cut Parlay

Trimming a field of 156 to only the low 60 plus ties, this is the hardest cut to make all year. Come Friday afternoon, the player parking lot will be littered with faces currently not expected to be slamming their trunk and turning in their courtesy car keys.

But the make cut market is an opportunity to glean some ROI from players that might overachieve but also may not contend – especially when you string three of them together. At BetMGM my eye drifts to the trio of Shane Lowry, Russell Henley and Sepp Straka. You’ll get a +210 return if all three make the weekend, and Straka has been high on my list of sleepers after a run of six top-16 finishes in his last seven starts. Henley has been battle-tested and contended in this event three years ago at Torrey Pines, while Lowry is a major winner who nearly snagged this trophy at Oakmont back in 2016.

Admittedly, the Irishman lamented earlier this week just how hard Pinehurst is shaping up to be – so he might be the weak link of the group. But I think the ball-striking that helped him and Rory McIlroy win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be enough to at least earn him a Saturday tee time.

Tiger Props

No, there won’t be a fourth U.S. Open title in store for the 15-time major champion. But there may still be ways to invest in a player who has all the shots but so often gets betrayed by a deteriorating body.

Woods has three factors working in his favor this week. First, the temperatures: it’s scorching hot this week in the Sand Hills and the forecast shows no signs of slowing down. For a 48-year-old with a balky, well, everything, that helps the recovery process. The warm-up will take a little less out of him than it might if it were 60 degrees and raining. Secondly, Pinehurst is a relatively flat walk, which will help ease the stress on his surgically repaired leg. Finally, he has an early-late tee time split, allowing for maximum recovery time between Rounds 1 and 2.

But I’d look to focus solely on Thursday, when he’s out among the dewsweepers. Woods’ O/U for opening-round birdies is set at 2.5, with a -120 price on him making three or more birdies. The mistakes will be there, and I doubt that he has the stamina to contend for four days. But can he put three circles on the board in a morning round before things get overly crispy? I think so.

Top by Region

There are dozens of flags flying this week to represent the various nationalities in the field at Pinehurst, and most of them offer a regional market where you can pick the top player from a handful of countrymen. My focus this week is on our friends north of the border, with the Olympic cutoff looming just a few days away.

The points race to finalize the 60 participants in the men’s competition in Paris ends on Sunday, and the race for Canada’s two spots is a tight one. Last week Adam Hadwin overtook Corey Conners for the second spot with his strong finish at Muirfield Village, and they’re both looking up at WM Phoenix Open winner Nick Taylor.

But Taylor’s form has slowed of late, and at +700 he has the sixth-best odds out of seven Canadians – ahead of only longshot Ashton McCulloch. Oddsmakers think this setup plays into the strengths of Corey Conners (+225), with Hadwin (+350) and Mackenzie Hughes (+500) close behind.

This is one market where I think the chalk takes the day. Conners is 22nd on TOUR in driving accuracy this week, a stat that will carry paramount importance at Pinehurst, and he’s among the best ball-strikers in the field. His struggles on the greens may keep him from contending for the win, but I think the rest of his game is strong enough to beat out the other six Canadians in the field – and potentially jump past Hadwin at the buzzer for an Olympic berth.

Winning Margin

Fire up the Ben Crenshaw “I’ve got a feeling” clip from the 1999 Ryder Cup. This one is based far more on gut than on any scoring or data metric.

Plain and simple, we are overdue for a playoff at the U.S. Open. It’s been years since the USGA introduced its two-hole aggregate format, and it hasn’t seen the light of day in the marquee men’s championship. This tournament still hasn’t gone into overtime since Tiger Woods beat Rocco Mediate in 2008 – a stretch that only the Arnold Palmer Invitational (no playoffs since 1999) can match among tournaments on the TOUR calendar.

We came close here in 1999. Less so in 2014. But I’ll take a little piece of Playoff at +350 and see if we can’t get another dose of Pinehurst magic come Sunday.

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