The Holy Grail of golf, The Open Championships at St Andrews, gets underway today and despite poor form online bookmakers have posted Tiger Woods as a dominant favourite. While not as short as in recent years, his price of 13/2 is the only one under double figures. Equally surprising is Rory McIlroy, who is second favourite at 16/1.
St Andrews is the ‘home’ of golf and every professional dreams of one day taking home the Claret Jug, a perpetual trophy that the winner gets to look after until next year’s event. Stewart Cink won the event last year but is at long odds of 100/1 to repeat the effort this year.
Betting on this year’s event is interesting given the fascination of Woods by punters. One of the problems facing punters is the complete lack of reliable form going into this event. Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are probable the best form players in the top division, both around the 18/1 mark. The normally strong Australian contingent are unwanted in betting with the best being Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy at odds of around 80/1.
An interesting contestant again this year is Tom Watson, who at 50 was one of the oldest ever to lead the tournament after returning good opening rounds last year. While his heart may be in it, punters don’t believe he still has the skill – online bookmakers have him at 200/1 but only drawing sentimental bets.
Today’s threesomes offer some great betting opportunities and we should see some competitive golf. If you have a chance to watch the event on television then look out for the threesomes of:
08:20 Rory McIlroy (11/10) Tim Clark (2/1) Lucas Glover (10/3)
08:42 Ernie Els (7/5) Ian Poulter (2/1) Stewart Cink (11/4)
09:09 Tiger Woods (5/4) Justin Rose (15/8) Camilo Villegas (16/5)
13:42 Lee Westwood (7/5) Adam Scott (21/10) Miguel Angel Jimenez (12/5)
13:53 Graeme McDowell (7/4) Jim Furyk (7/4) Geoff Ogilvy (9/4)
14:20 Phil Mickelson (6/5) Retief Goosen (15/8) Colin Montgomerie (4)
It will be interesting to see if the morning contingent have any advantages over the afternoon groups. This often happens in these tournaments, especially late in the afternoon when the weather can turn sour.
Our tips? It’s early days yet. I do like the way Mickelson has been playing. He looks primed for this with some decent hit outs in recent weeks. Els is another who is very capable. Of the long shots, don’t leave Adam Scott out of calculations. He has been in reasonable form if you excuse his last couple of events.
In today’s threesomes, I do like the look of Justin Rose up against Woods. Adam Scott and Jim Furyk could finish well today and hopefully add to our bank balances. It will be an interesting Open Championship this year – the field is wide open, which means backing quality golfers each way for a top five finish could pay some decent dividends. Mickelson each way at 18/1 (actual odds of 18/4 for each way) sounds like a safe bet.