US Open Market Movers: Mickelson all the rage for soggy Merion test

It's wet at Merion but the punters are sill splashing their cash

With approximately 48 hours to go - weather permitting - before the 113th US Open gets underway, Mike Norman tells us who is hot, and who is not, in Betfair's Winner market...

Torrential rain in Pennsylvania is threatening to turn this year's US Open into a mud bath, with Tropical storm Andrea dumping over three inches of rain on Merion's East Course on Monday.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week isn't great either, with rain expected every day until the tournament commencement. But wet weather brings a new conundrum for punters. Will the course play much longer? Will accurate drivers have a significant advantage? Who will benefit most on the much slower putting greens?

Whatever the answers, Betfair punters certainly aren't being put off by poor weather conditions and there's been some significant movers at the head of the Winner market in the weeks leading up to the tournament.

Tiger Woods - 5.04/1 out to 7.06/1
(matched at a low of 3.55/2)
Phil Mickelson - 40.039/1 in to 23.022/1
(matched at a high of 70.069/1)
Rory McIlroy - 18.017/1 out to 24.023/1
(matched at a low of 6.05/1)
Graeme McDowell - 32.031/1 in to 25.024/1
(matched at a high of 60.059/1)
Brandt Snedeker - 26.025/1 out to 36.035/1
(matched at a low of 15.014/1)
Matteo Manassero - 150.0149/1 in to 70.069/1
(matched at a high of 330.0329/1)

Without doubt, the biggest mover has been four-time runner-up Phil Mickelson. 'Lefty' was freely available to back at 40.039/1 just three days ago, but a third round 65 at the St Jude Classic saw his odds start to plummet, before a closing 67 saw him finish in a tie for second.

Significantly, Mickelson openly admitted that his US Masters challenge this year was damaged by not playing the week before the season's first Major. The fact that he did play last week, and performed very well in it with his game looking in great shape, has to be a huge plus.

Graeme McDowell and Matteo Manassero have also been big movers in recent days and weeks. G-Mac has won on both the European and PGA Tours in the last two months and has a terrific US Open record, while young Italian Manassero won the prestigious BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth just three weeks ago.

Both are accurate drivers, and finding fairways this week should be a huge asset with the thick wet rough now being avoidable at all costs.

World number one Tiger Woods is relatively steady at around the 7.06/1 mark, but he did drift from 5.04/1 immediately after his very poor effort in the Byron Nelson a fortnight ago, while Rory McIlroy and Brandt Snedeker have some serious questions to answer in their current form and not surprisingly are on the drift.