US Senior Open Championship 2025 Betting Tips: Three picks for major glory

Hot on the heels of Miguel Angel Jimenez's third senior major win at last week's Kaulig Companies Championship, the senior circuit now moves to Colorado for the fourth major of their season: the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor Golf Club's East Course.

Our resident golf tipster Jamie Worsley is, back with another comprehensive preview. Three golfers stand out to him as each-way value this week, so let's check out his US Senior Open Championship Tips here at Betfred Insights...

*You can bet on the tournament and check out the latest US Senior Open Championship Odds over on betfred.com

TOURNAMENT HISTORY 

The U.S. Senior Open was established in 1980 and is the second-oldest of the men's majors behind the Senior PGA Championship.

Roberto De Vicenzo won the inaugural edition, with the legendary Arnold Palmer succeeding him the following year. Miller Barber won the third renewal in 1982 and after further victories in 1984 and 1985, he holds the record for most wins in the event.

A group of six players have each won the title twice, including some of the game's greats: Gary Player (1987, 1988), Jack Nicklaus (1991, 1993), Hale Irwin (1998, 2000), Allen Doyle (2005, 2006), Kenny Perry (2013, 2017) and Bernhard Langer (2010, 2023).

Last five winners:

• 2024 (Newport Country Club)

Winner: Richard Bland (-13, playoff)

Runner-up: Hiroyuki Fujita (-13)

• 2023 (SentryWorld Golf Course)

Winner: Bernhard Langer (-7)

Runner-up: Steve Stricker (-5)

• 2022 (Saucon Valley Country Club – Old Course)

Winner: Padraig Harrington (-10)

Runner-up: Steve Stricker (-9)

• 2021 (Omaha Country Club)

Winner: Jim Furyk (-7)

Runners-up: Retief Goosen, Mike Weir (-4)

• 2019 (Warren Golf Course)

Winner: Steve Stricker (-19)

Runners-up: Jerry Kelly, David Toms (-13)

Richard Bland won last year's edition in a playoff against Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita. He started the final round three shots behind the overnight leader, then fired a four-under 66 on day four – eventually clinching victory with a par on the fourth playoff hole. Due to his obligations to LIV Golf, he doesn't defend the title this week.

THE COURSE

The East Course at The Broadmoor Golf Club is an amalgamation of courses designed by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones Snr.

Ross designed the original 18-hole layout in 1918; however, that course was later divided and merged with one of two nine-hole layouts completed by Trent Jones in 1952, to form the current East Course. In addition, Ron Forse finished a renovation of the venue in 2006 that focused largely on bunkers and tees.

This will be the third time that The Broadmoor's East Course will have hosted the US Senior Open, having previous staged the event in 2018 and 2008. It has also held the US Amateur twice (1959 & 1967), and two editions of the US Women's Open (1995, 2011).

Previous US Senior Opens at The Broadmoor Golf Club's East Course:

• 2018:

Winner: David Toms (-3)

Runners-up: Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly, Tim Petrovic (-2)

• 2008:

Winner: Eduardo Romero (-6)

Runner-up: Fred Funk (-2)

As a par 70 measuring 7,247yds, this is the longest course played on the Champions Tour this season. However, it is situated at altitude of around 6,000ft, meaning the ball will fly roughly 7% further and the course will play closer to 6,750yds. It possesses 4x par 3s (165-223yds), 12x par 4s (339-545yds) and 2x par 5s (535-601yds).

Broadmoor's East Course is a pristine parkland layout set against the spectacular backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. It is tree-lined yet spacious, with strong bunkering, gentle elevation changes, and water in-play on five holes.

The sloping and predominantly doglegged fairways are reasonably narrow, made to feel even tighter by strategically placed bunkers that pinch the landing areas. Lush and penal bluegrass rough offers added protection, and players need to position their ball smartly to avoid having approaches into the greens blocked out by trees.

It's these large, fast and heavily contoured poa annua greens that are the toughest obstacle to overcome at Broadmoor GC. The often elevated putting surfaces slope away from the nearby Cheyenne Mountains and perplex all who tee it up here, with players tricked into thinking uphill putts actually run downhill, and vice versa.

Some steep false fronts will catch out those who don't quite get enough on their approaches. Furthermore, deep greenside bunkers litter the front of the sloping greens, punishing competitors who take it a touch too close to the hazards when attempting to avoid leaving severe downhill putts.

Excluding the two par 5s and a couple of the shorter par 4s, clear birdie chances are few and far between at the East Course. This is reflected by the scoring in those two previous editions of the event here – averaging a winning score of -4.5. Weather-permitting, we should expect another high-scoring edition of the US Senior Open at The Broadmoor Golf Club this week.

THE WEATHER

Colorado Springs has been blighted by stormy weather in the buildup to this event, with as much as 23mm of rain falling on Tuesday, which will result in a receptive course at the beginning of the week. Fortunately, these storms disperse for the tournament days, and the players will at least be able to tackle this challenging course in soft, calm conditions.

KEY STATS

• Greens-in-Regulation
• Total Driving
• Putting Average/three-putt avoidance
• Par 4 Scoring
• Bogey Avoidance

All areas will be of importance on this difficult setup, which certainly seemed to be the case here in 2018.

The long game should be especially key. These greens were very tough to hit seven years ago and each of the top four ranked inside the top 25 in greens-in-regulation, including runner-up Miguel Angel Jimenez ranking 2^nd. In addition, I'm keen to side with players who rank high in total driving, with a combination of accuracy and length a real asset into soft, narrow fairways.

That being said, it was with the putter that David Toms separated himself from the others in 2018. He ranked 4^th in putting average and 5^th in three-putt avoidance as each of his three nearest challengers failed to rank inside the top 10 in either area.

Lastly, it may be that scoring stats, bogey avoidance and par 4 scoring are the most helpful ways into this event. Toms ranked 1^st in bogey avoidance and 3^rd in par 4 scoring when winning in 2018; each of the three runners-up ranked 2^nd in bogey avoidance and sat inside the top six in par 4 scoring.

CORRELATING EVENTS

I'm going to keep it very light with comp courses for this event and we need look no further than the host of last week's Kaulig Companies Championship, Firestone Country Club's South Course.

The venue is a par 70 of a similar length and was notably renovated by Robert Trent Jones in 1960. It also has narrow, tree-lined fairways, large bentgrass/poa greens, and strong bunkering.

To strengthen the correlation is some eye-catching comp form. The 2018 winner at Broadmoor, David Toms finished 2^nd there in 2023 and all of the runners-up have finished inside the top two: Jerry Kelly has won the event twice (in 2020 and 2022), Miguez Angel Jimenez won there last week, and Tim Petrovic finished 2^nd in 2019.

THE FIELD

The field includes 44 of the top 50 players on the Champions Tour's Schwab Cup standings. Miguel Angel Jimenez is the man atop that list after recording his fourth win of the season last week, closely followed by Steven Alker.

Richard Bland won't defend but there are eight former US Senior Open winners in the field: Bernhard Langer (2023, 2010), Padraig Harrington (2022), David Toms (2018), Gene Sauers (2016), Jeff Maggert (2015), Olin Browne (2011), Fred Funk (2009) and Brad Bryant (2007).

Among an interesting group of debutants is the European trio of Soren Kjeldsen, Freddie Jacobson and Stephen Gallacher. Three-time DP World Tour winner Scott Hend will also tee it up in the event for the first time.

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Stewart Cink 15/2, Miguel Angel Jimenez 9/1, Steven Alker 9/1, Padraig Harrington 10/1, Soren Kjeldsen 11/1, Ernie Els 12/1

2.25 pts Jerry Kelly each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 18/1

Surprise winners have been few and far between in recent years, so we shouldn't stray too far from the top of the betting. As one of the most consistent performers around in these events, I'm taking Jerry Kelly to win his third senior major this week.

Kelly has been in fine form this season, recording four top-10 finishes in nine starts. He won the 13^th PGA Champions Tour title of his career in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic at the end of April, before then finishing as a narrow runner-up behind Angel Cabrera in the first major of the season: the Regions Tradition.

He ranks 5^th on tour in ball striking in 2025 and is one of the most accurate players, ranking 2^nd in driving accuracy and 5^th in greens-in-regulation. The putter is also in sound shape, ranking 14^th in putting average and 27^th in three-putt avoidance. In addition to rankings of 7^th in bogey avoidance and 9^th in par 4 scoring, he looks an ideal fit for Broadmoor's East Course.

That certainly appeared to be the case when Kelly finished 2^nd to David Toms in the 2018 edition here. It was his first of two runner-up finishes in the US Senior Open – an event at which he's never finished worse than 16^th in seven starts – and having recorded his only senior major wins at the correlating Firestone Country Club (in 2022 and 2020), expect him to be among the leading contenders this week.

2 pts Retief Goosen each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 20/1

Next up is two-time US Open winner Retief Goosen. His results have been continually impressive in 2025, and possessing top-10 finishes in the first three senior majors of the season, he’s got every chance of becoming the ninth player to win both the US Open and US Senior Open.

Goosen has finished inside the top 11 in eight of his 12 starts this season. He achieved his best result in the Insperity Invitational, finishing 2^nd and has shone in those three previous majors: finishing 9^th in the Regions Tradition, 4^th in the Senior PGA Championship, and 7^th in the Kaulig Companies Championship.

The South African’s rankings of 10^th in greens-in-regulation and 12^th in putting average make him a danger here. Although he’s been a little erratic with the driver, this power player should benefit from the softer fairways. Furthermore, he ranks 3^rd in par 4 scoring, 8^th in three-putting avoidance and 11^th in bogey avoidance – completing a strong statistical profile for this challenge.

Goosen didn’t play here in 2018, but he’s generally performed well in this event, finishing 31^st or better in five starts, recording a best of 2^nd in 2021. His one senior major victory came at Firestone back in 2019, which suggests that this is a great spot for him to pick up a second.

1 pt Mark Hensby each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 60/1

Mark Hensby has finished inside the top 25 in each of his last seven starts. He’s hitting the ball well this year and as a player who is adept at keeping bogeys off his scorecard, don’t be surprised to see his name near the top of the leaderboard this week.

Hensby has made 12 starts this year and only finished outside the top 25 on three occasions. Just one of those have resulted in a top 10, but it did come recently, finishing 8^th in the Principal Charity Classic two starts ago.

The Aussie ranks 10^th on the PGA Champions Tour in ball striking. He combines distance with reasonable accuracy to rank 11^th in total driving and hits plenty of greens, ranking 15^th in greens-in-regulation. Additionally, he ranks 16^th in bogey avoidance – a stat that proved ultra-important here back in 2018.

Hensby only made his Champions Tour debut in 2022, therefore he didn’t tee it up at Broadmoor last time. However, he did make an instant impact in this event, finishing 3^rd in the 2022 edition. With the US Open also proving his favoured major in his pre-Champions Tour days – finishing 3^rd at Pinehurst in 2005 – there’s something about these highly-challenging events that suits his game.

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