By Eric Cohen

I wanted to rant on this before we took a one week hiatus for the

Palmetto Championship (let’s be honest, no one was picking

Garrick Higgo as is…):

What the PGA Tour did by disqualifying Jon Rahm from The

Memorial two weeks ago with a six stroke lead after the third

round…was wrong. I know rules are rules…but the dude had a

fairly insurmountable lead and to completely DQ him from all

purse money simply wasn’t fair. And don’t even get me started on

the way they did it…with cameras nearby.

I get that protocols are there to be followed by every now and

then, circumstances call for extraordinary measures. The sport

didn’t look better because they ejected Rahm from the

tournament. In this scenario, Rahm should’ve been allowed to

play the final round solo, with no playing partner and I don’t think

too many other players would’ve griped. He thoroughly dominated

the first 54 holes and deserved to be crowned a champion.

Several of us had Patrick Cantlay for this betting challenge, so we

get the win. If anyone had taken Jon Rahm, I would’ve done the

same truthfully.

Regardless of how that situation played out, my top pick this week

was always going to be the Spaniard, who has a sterling course

history at Torrey Pines.

Outside of Rahm, the other two win bets I’m making are a couple

of players who have trouble finishing but tend to perform well in

both U.S. Opens and at Torrey Pines: Viktor Hovland and Tony

Finau. Just in case one of them finds their game this week, I want

to have a couple bucks on ‘em.

I had been looking forward to attending this U.S. Open for three

years…but unfortunately limited ticket sales put a damper on that.

So I’ll enjoy my favorite tournament of the year with the extended

coverage on NBC (which is phenomenal by the way – 10 hours of

golf on national TV each weekend day…heck yeah!) like

everyone else.

Enjoy what should be a compelling weekend of golf!

Once again the rules: each picker will get a simulated $200 to bet;

$100 of which will be on win bets and another $100 on top-5, top-

10, and top-20 bets only. The kicker this time is that the money

can only be spent on a maximum of three golfers in each

category. Picking winners has never been so difficult.

Here are this week’s plays for the U.S. Open:

(Odds courtesy of Draft Kings Sportsbook)

The Parlay Kid

Last Week’s Results: +$1200 (Cantlay Win + Top-5)

Total ROI: +$5960

Winners Picked in 2021: 6 (Reed, Berger, Morikawa, Thomas,

McIlroy, Cantlay)

$40 to WIN: Paul Casey (+4500)

$40 to WIN: Webb Simpson (+5500)

$20 to WIN: Xander Schauffele (+1500)

$50 on Top-10: Daniel Berger (+400)

$50 on Top-10: Cameron Smith (+400)

Harry

Last Week’s Results: +$700 (Cantlay Win)

Total ROI: +$611.25

Winners Picked in 2021: 3 (Spieth, McIlroy, Cantlay)

$50 to WIN: Jon Rahm (+1050)

$25 to WIN: Xander Schauffele (+1500)

$25 to WIN: Patrick Reed (+2500)

$50 on Top-10: Xander Schauffele (+163)

$25 on Top-10: Patrick Reed (+200)

$25 on Top-5: Xander Schauffele (+335)

Eric:

Last Week’s Results: +$340

Total ROI: +$547.50

Winners Picked in 2021:4 (Berger, Thomas, McIlroy, Cantlay)

$60 to WIN: Jon Rahm (+1050)

$20 to WIN: Tony Finau (+2200)

$20 to WIN: Viktor Hovland (+2800)

$100 on Top-10: Viktor Hovland (+250)

Producer Michael

Last Week’s Results: +$50

Total ROI: -$431.25

Winners Picked in 2021: 2 (DeChambeau, Spieth)

$50 to WIN: Justin Thomas (+2250)

$25 to WIN: Jordan Spieth (+1900)

$25 to WIN: Will Zalatoris (+4650)

$50 on Top-10: Justin Thomas (+200)

$25 on Top-5: Jordan Spieth (+350)

$25 on Top-5: Will Zalatoris (+800)

Brother Bri

Last Week’s Results: -$200

Total ROI: -$1005

Winners Picked in 2021: 0

$50 to WIN: Brooks Koepka (+1900)

$25 to WIN: Tony Finau (+2200)

$25 to WIN: Viktor Hovland (+2800)

$100 on Top-10: Shane Lowry (+300)

Find more of Eric’s sports opinions and predictions on Twitter at

@CohensCornerAZ.