U.S. Open Fantasy Pool 2027: Snake Draft + Auction at Pebble Beach

The 2027 U.S. Open is at Pebble Beach Golf Links, June 17-20. It's the 127th U.S. Open and the seventh at Pebble, the first since Gary Woodland won there in 2019. If your friends want to run a pool around it (a real draft, a cash auction Friday night, money paid out by the leaderboard Sunday), this guide covers how it works on Foursome and how to set it up in about five minutes.

"Pool" means a private group running its own contest with its own money. Salary-cap DFS against thousands of strangers is a different game; for that, go to DraftKings. Season-long contests against the public live at ESPN and PGA Tour Fantasy. Our platform comparison breaks down all of them.

What a Foursome U.S. Open pool looks like

• 3-round snake draft. Each golfer can be on only one roster, so no two friends end up with the same team.
• Friday night cash auction. After the cut, every undrafted player who made the weekend goes up for live bidding. Winning bids go into the pot.
• Daily prizes (Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun) plus overall payouts, all set per league.
• Live ESPN scoring. Scores sync every 5 minutes during rounds. Nobody updates a spreadsheet.
• Cascading tiebreakers. Ties break on your best golfer, then your 2nd best, then your 3rd. No "let's just split it" arguments.
• Auto-fill at the auction cutoff. Anyone short a weekend golfer gets the next-best uncut player at the minimum bid.
• Push notifications for your pick, auction activity, and standings changes.

What it looks like in a real league

These screenshots come from a 10-person friend league that ran a PGA Championship pool on Foursome. The U.S. Open runs on the exact same setup.

How to set up a U.S. Open league in 5 minutes

1. Register at foursomegolf.golf. Email and password, 30 seconds.
2. Create a league for your group. Name it after your group chat.
3. Send the invite link to the chat. Friends click it, register, and they're in.
4. Configure the U.S. Open in the admin panel: entry fee, which days pay daily prizes, dollar amounts per place, and draft format (standard snake or re-randomized Round 3). The defaults work if you don't want to think about it.
5. Set a draft time, usually Wednesday night, June 16. Advance to the draft phase and push notifications take it from there.

The field syncs from ESPN as it firms up before the tournament, so the player list is ready by draft night. No roster building by hand.

Auction timing for a West Coast U.S. Open

Pebble is on Pacific time, and Round 2 runs until around 8pm Pacific (11pm Eastern). Foursome's U.S. Open defaults are built around that:

• Auction opens Friday, June 18 at 9pm Pacific (midnight Eastern), or about an hour after ESPN shows Round 2 complete if that comes first. The cut applies at the same time.
• Auction closes Saturday, June 19 at 5am Pacific (8am Eastern), before Round 3 tees off.

For East Coast groups that's a nice setup: go to bed Friday, then bid Saturday morning over coffee. Commissioners can override either time in the admin panel.

The format in detail

The 3-round snake draft

Round 1 runs forward (1 to 10), Round 2 in reverse (10 to 1), Round 3 forward again. Everyone ends with 3 golfers. The commissioner can choose a re-randomized Round 3 that stays hidden until it starts, which turns the last round into a reveal. A live 10-person draft over FaceTime takes about 30 minutes.

The Friday night auction

After the cut, every undrafted player still in the tournament goes up for bidding. You commit a drop player with each bid, so there's no confusion about who leaves your roster if you win. Bids start at the league minimum (default $10). At the cutoff, Foursome finalizes winning bids and auto-fills any short roster at the minimum bid, so nobody sleeps through the auction and loses their weekend.

Scoring and tiebreakers

Daily prizes go to the team with the best combined score that day (best 3 of 3 by default; the commissioner can switch to best 2). Overall prizes pay by each team's best single golfer's finish. Ties cascade through the roster: best golfer, then 2nd best, then 3rd. The tiebreaker shows inline on the standings page.

For pick-by-pick tactics, read our U.S. Open draft strategy guide. For what Pebble rewards, see the Pebble Beach course preview.

FAQ

When and where is the 2027 U.S. Open?

June 17-20, 2027, at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. The 2026 edition was at Shinnecock Hills, where Wyndham Clark won at 4 under (276) for his second U.S. Open title.

How many people can play?

Foursome works for groups from 4 to 20+. Most friend pools land between 8 and 12.

What if a golfer withdraws?

A drafted golfer who withdraws before the cut is treated like a missed cut. The Friday auction (or the auto-fill at cutoff) covers the weekend slot.

How does the money work?

Foursome is free. Your group settles entry fees and auction money through Venmo or however you already pay each other, and Foursome tracks who has paid. Auction bids add to the overall prize pool.

What about friends who can't draft live?

Push notifications and the pick clock let people draft from their phones on their own time. Live is more fun, though.

How is this different from Majors Challenge or PGA Tour Fantasy?

Majors Challenge uses tier picks, so two friends can end up with identical rosters. PGA Tour Fantasy is a season-long salary-cap game against the public. Foursome is built for one friend group with a real draft and a Friday auction. See our head-to-heads with PGA Tour Fantasy and Majors Challenge.

Commissioners should keep the Admin Guide handy. Running all four majors with the same crew? The PGA Championship pool comes a month earlier at Fields Ranch East, and the Open Championship pool follows in July at St Andrews.