British Open Golf Betting Preview
Many of those who will watch the British Open will do it with the idea of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy putting on a memorable show and winning the Claret Jug. Muirfield has seen many big-name winners in the past, including Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo. But that doesn’t mean an underdog can’t find a way to put himself in contention and then find a way to close out with 18 strong holes on Sunday. Here’s a look at the dark horses who have a chance to win this year’s British Open.
Branden Grace (66/1)
The South African arrives at Muirfield off the back of a play-off defeat in the Scottish Open last weekend. Five top ten finishes this season he’s yet to hit the heights of 2012 where he won an incredible four times on the Race to Dubai considering it was his first full season on tour. One of those wins came in the Dunhill Links Championship and he has plenty of good form on seaside tracks like Muirfield. At odds of 66/1 he’s a decent each-way price with most bookies paying 7 places this week.
Padraig Harrington (70/1)
Former world number one and twice British Open champion, Padraig Harrington hasn’t won since 2008, and has slid down the rankings to sixty-nine. His 2002 British Open performance at Muirfield was at that time his joint best result in the tournament. He came into contention with a second round 67, fell away after a poor 76 in his third round, but fought back on the final day to tie for fifth, missing out on the play-off by just one shot. Harrington is forty-one, but the last two winners of the British Open were older so he shouldn’t be written off on the grounds of age.
Richard Sterne (100/1)
A late addition to the British Open by way of qualifying after his solo second place finish at the Alstom Open de France, four shots behind winner Graeme McDowell, and earning one of five available British Open berths. I’m of the opinion that of all the ‘wildcards’ in the Open, Sterne is the strongest, and see more value in backing him at 100/1 than I do Graeme McDowell at 25/1, who he finished 4 shots behind in Paris just weeks ago. The Open is where every golfer feels the need to really step up, and I think Sterne is one who will play better than the market predicts,so lets hope to get him in the frame on Sunday!
Bubba Watson (100/1)
Bubba Watson heads to the British Open as a major winner following his hugely popular triumph at the US Masters last year. Watson had gone close before at a major as he lost out in a play-off to Martin Kaymer at the 2010 PGA Championship but he finally got over the line at the 2012 Masters, beating Louis Oosthuizen in a play-off. Watson has continued in a similar vain of form during 2013 and as he has secured a number of top-10 finishes without quite getting over the line for a tournament win. The American tied for fourth at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at the start of the year and since then he has recently finished fourth at the Travelers Championship. He’s bigger than his form suggests as he has tended to perform better in the majors in America and he will hope to improve on his previous best effort at the British Open, which was a tie for 23rd in 2012. I’m confident that he will improve on last years effort and therefore recommend backing him this week.
Other Big-Priced Fancies
Alex Noren @ 150/1
George Coetzee @ 175/1
Vijay Singh @ 350/1
