The British Open is the Wimbledon of Golf. For a few days of the year we are all suddenly fascinated by the game and cheer on the Brits with great enthusiasm. If the Brits fall by the wayside, we are happy to switch our allegiance to any European golfer in the true spirit of the Ryder Cup. And even if a non-European wins it doesn’t matter because golf is one of those rare sports where you can conveniently forget about nationality altogether.
I have covered the event and the overall winner market on golfbettingtip.com so I thought I’d take a look at the plethora of alternative markets available this week. I have selected just a few that may be worth a small investment.
Top American (without Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson)
Skybet are offering a generous 8-1 an upwards on this market. Considering that you can only get 25-1 or 33-1 about some of the US golfers to win outright, this has to be a tempting proposition. I’ve been covering the USPGA Tour this season and the players that have impressed me most are Matt Kuchar and Billy Horschel. Of the two, I just favour Kuchar to make the better bid for the championship itself but they are both worthy of support in this market.
Matt Kuchar 10-1
Billy Horschel 25-1
Top Englishman
This could be an interesting market because Rose and Westwood are the obvious favourites at rather cramped prices. Luke Donald is one of my each-way selections for the tournament outright and I can see both he and Ian Poulter getting involved this week. With Rose still basking in his US Open success and Westwood under the media spotlight yet again this week, I’ll take Donald and Poulter in this market.
Luke Donald 4-1 Coral
Ian Poulter 7-1 Coral
Top Senior
Only four years ago Tom Watson had a fantastic opportunity to win the Open at the age of 59. He dropped a shot on the final green and lost the playoff to Stewart Cink. It would be great to think that he can get amongst the leaders at 63 but that may be a touch ambitious. However, backing him to be top senior is far from ridiculous.
Fred Couples if favourite in this particular market but the languid one has admitted that he already has his mind on defending the senior title at Royal Birkdale. Take the 15-2 with Ladbrokes and cheer Old Tom once again.
Tom Watson 15-2 Ladbrokes
Each-way ¼ odds first eight
Finally, the bookmakers are bending over backwards to take more each-way bets this year with VCBet offering ¼ odds first eight! I’ve gone through their prices and a couple remain competitive with those offered elsewhere but paying down to only 5th or 6th. Jim Furyk is getting a bit long in the tooth but has a decent Open record including five top ten finishes. It isn’t beyond him to do it again. Jordan Spieth won last week and 150-1 is a big price about a golfer in form.
Jim Furyk 100-1
Jordan Spieth 150-1
