Welcome to the first edition of ‘Round the Sports World in Five Minutes’ where we look ahead to the biggest sports events that will take place this week, with all the essential info such as: when and where it will take place, the format, some related news stories to be aware of, key stats and maybe even a couple of betting tips to keep you interested.
The 2025 Golf US Open
- Start: Thursday, June 13, start time approximately 11:00 UK Time
- Venue: Oakmont Country Club, Pennsylvania
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports Main Event, Golf Channel, NBC.
- Fun Fact: In order to make the course as similar as possible to its original layout from 1903, a team of course designers and other experts used old photos and plans to redesign it and set it up as close to the original design as possible, exclusively for the 2025 edition of the US Open.
Betting
If playing the course is hard, predicting the winner from a golf betting perspective isn’t much easier. The aforementioned DeChambeau is second-favourite at 8/1 to defend his title, but the favourite is, unsurprisingly, Scottie Scheffler (3/1), the World Number 1 who has already won three tournaments this year, including the second Major of the year, the USPGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy (10/1), Jon Rahm (12/1) and Xander Schauffele (20/1) complete the Top 5 in the betting. Prices with Betfred.
Summary
The US Open is one of the four golf Majors and the third one to be played chronologically, after the US Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May. It’s widely considered the hardest of the four Majors in terms of the golf course that it’s played on.
That’s because the tournament’s organisers, the USPGA, deliberately prepare a course that’s long, has narrow fairways, punishing (thick) rough and treacherous greens that are as quick as they are difficult. On occasion, it’s anyone’s guess as to where the ball will stop.
With so many different skills required, it’s no wonder the great Arnold Palmer once pointed out that even hitting fairway after fairway is only the tip of the iceberg when trying to win here at Oakmont:
You can hit 72 greens in the Open at Oakmont and not come close to winning.
Another player compared putting on Oakmont greens to putting on the bonnet of a Volkswagen Beetle.
So one thing is for sure: the cream rises to the top in the US Open at the best of times, and that’s likely to be even more the case than usual here at Oakmont. Bryson DeChambeau is the defending champ after his nail-biting win by one stroke over Rory McIlroy at Pinehurst Resort last year, having also won it back in 2020.
ICC Test Championship Final (Cricket) South Africa vs Australia
- Start: Wednesday, June 11, 10:30 am
- Venue: Lord’s Cricket Ground, London
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports Cricket, Prime Video, Willow.
- Fun Fact: Despite hosting the final in all three editions to date, England has never been a participant in it, with New Zealand vs. India (2021), Australia vs. India (2023), and now South Africa vs. Australia (2025) being the sides in action.
Betting
There are plenty of reasons why Australia is such a short 2/5 favourite with South Africa at 5/2 and the draw at 10/1 with Coral.
The first is that they won it last time, the second is that they’re so ruthless in finals, and the third is that, as things stand, they boast a better squad of players to pick from.
The latter is a big handicap to SA, who have recently lost Heinrich Klassen and Anrich Nortje to international retirement as they both decided to pursue lucrative T20 franchise contracts.
South Africa does have plenty of fight in them, though, and the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram and Marco Jansen are as good as anything the Aussies have, but you can see why the Australians start as strong favourites.
Summary
Over a two-year cycle, the 12 teams that play Test cricket, contest home and away series among them, with each win bringing priceless points and draws worth valuable points, too. The standings table is made up of the 12 teams. The Top 2 at the end of the cycle meet in the final.
Not everyone necessarily plays everyone else over this period, so all in all, it’s a bit similar to the new version of the Champions League.
The final, for the third consecutive time, will be contested at the home of cricket, at Lord’s, in London. That means it will be contested at a neutral venue because it will be played between Australia and South Africa.
Australia boast a superb record in finals, winning this very competition two years ago after beating India in the final, while also winning the T20I and ODI World Cups over the past three years.
As for South Africa, they’ve never managed to win a major ICC event in any format, so glory here would see them break their duck. They’ll take confidence from the fact that they were up against it a few months ago, needing six wins from their last seven games to make it to London, which they ended up doing.
2025 PDC World Cup of Darts
- Start: Wednesday, June 12, start time approximately 11:00 UK Time
- Venue: Eissporthalle in Frankfurt
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts.
- Fun Fact: The great Phil Taylor and protege Adrien Lewis are the most successful partnership in this event with four wins while playing for England.
Betting
The ‘Two Lukes’ are the ones to beat according to William Hill, who make England just 1/2 favourites to defend their title with Wales (6/1), Scotland (12/1) and the Netherlands (14/1) the next in the betting.
Summary
If you thought darts and darts betting was an individual sport, you’d mostly be right. But once a year, weekly rivals join forces to represent their country in the doubles format at the PDC World Cup of Darts.
40 countries will start the event played between Wednesday and Sunday, which is made up of two Group Stages and a second round. That’s followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final, which are all played on Sunday.
England is the defending champions after beating Austria in last year’s final, but this year they’ve swapped Michael Smith for teenage prodigy and world champion Luke Littler, who will be partnering the other Luke: Humphries.
Michael van Gerwen, currently going through some personal problems, will be a big miss for the Netherlands.
Betting Tip of the Week
Our betting tip of the week is Marco Jansen to be South Africa's Top First Innings Bowler @ 11/4 with Unibet.
South Africa will have their hands full here, but things may look a lot brighter if Marco Jansen has a good game.
The giant (2.03m) left arm quick has an excellent record of 73 wickets from 17 Tests and is an extremely awkward bowler to face, due to being left-handed and generating extra bounce due to his height, something he can explore by bowling down the slope at Lord’s.
He’s been in fine form in the IPL, and the Australians won’t have seen much of him yet in Tests, so he rates a great bet to be the SA first innings top bowler.
