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Which States Have Produced The Most U.S. Open Champions?

Dan Kilbridge for Bookies.com

Dan Kilbridge  | 4 mins

Which States Have Produced The Most U.S. Open Champions?

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Golf’s national championship is heading back to California for the third time in the last five years, with the 2023 U.S. Open going down June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club. 

While the Golden State is home to some of the most well-known major championship courses in the world – Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, Olympic Club, and LACC among them – it also boasts the most impressive group of U.S. Open champions over the years. 

Bookies.com looked back at every U.S. Open winner - going back to the national championship's inception in 1895 - by home state and the results are clear: California can lay claim as the top dog in terms of number of wins and number of champions produced. 

Of the 24 states that can claim at least one U.S. Open winner, California leads the way with 12 overall U.S. Open title, including nine individual champions. Take a look at the rest of our list below as you get ready for U.S. Open golf betting.

Which States Have Produced The Most U.S. Open Champions? 1

Californians Own U.S. Open Courses

Tiger Woods is the most prominent of the group, with three U.S. Open titles in 2000, 2002, and 2008 - the latter of which is widely regarded as one of the best major championship wins of all time, with Woods forcing a playoff on the 72nd hole and outlasting Rocco Mediate the following day in a 19-hole playoff while competing with a broken leg and torn ACL. 

Monterey, California native Olin Dutra was the first-ever player from the West Coast to pull it off, winning the 1934 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club. Bryson DeChambeau became the most recent California winner when he blitzed the field at Winged Foot in 2020. 

Keep that in mind at LACC, where California natives Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are among the betting apps favorites.

DeChambeau’s victory marked the sixth consecutive year with an American capturing the U.S. Open title, but international players have had more than their share of success as well. 

The Rest Of The World

There have been 31 players from outside the states to win a U.S. Open, and they've accomplished said feat a combined 37 times - the two most recent being Spain’s Jon Rahm in 2021 and England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick in 2022. 

Rahm currently has the second-best odds at +900, behind favorite Scottie Scheffler (+750). Scheffler is the No. 1 player in the world and looking to continue to make his mark on a state that’s produced some of the best major champions of all time – Texas. 

Texas Catching Up

Seven U.S. Open champions from Texas have won the event a combined 11 times, second-most of any state behind California. 

The Lone Star State has seen a mini drought lately with Jordan Spieth having last gotten it done in 2015, but Scheffler could bring the state’s overall haul even with California with a win in the coming years. He’s hoping to be next in a long line of golf’s biggest names from Texas, including Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Tom Kite. 

For a state that hasn’t hosted a U.S. Open since 1969, Texas continues to bring it strong all over the country. 

And All The Rest...

New York is third on the list with nine overall U.S. Open titles, but it hasn’t produced a winner since Ed Furgol got it done in 1954. Cameron Young is hoping to break that streak soon, with the heavy-hitter from the Big Apple among the top group of contenders. 

From there, we see some surprises in terms of states that have punched about their weight. Missouri isn’t necessarily thought of as a golfing hotbed, but it has six overall U.S. Open titles – all of them achieved between 1974 and 1999, with Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, and Payne Stewart combining to dust the competition for a quarter century. 

Other states have seen relatively little success – indicating certain regions like California, Texas, and Missouri are better training grounds given the wide range of climate and conditions. 

Florida could consider itself the golfing capital of the U.S., but its reputation takes a hit with just one U.S. Open champion – Brooks Koepka, who did it in back-to-back years in 2017-18. 

Other golf-rich states like Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon have never produced a U.S. Open champion, while others like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Tennessee have seen multiple home state winners. 

About the Author

Dan Kilbridge for Bookies.com
Dan Kilbridge
Handicapper Dan Kilbridge writes about college football, MLB and other sports for Bookies.com after spending three years covering Tiger Woods’ comeback and the PGA for Golfweek.