The 146th edition of The Open will be contested later this week as once again Royal Birkdale hosts the Major. This is the 10th time that the course has played host to the British Open, making it the joint-most used venue for the tournament. The last time it was held at Royal Birkdale was back in 2008 when Padraig Harrington managed to successfully defend the title that he had won in 2007 at Carnoustie. But not since Nick Faldo’s triumph back in 1990 has an Englishman managed to win their home Major and no Englishman has ever won it at Royal Birkdale.
But with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood both trading well in The Open 2017 betting market at 18/1 and 22/1 at Sky Bet respectively, will we see a home winner? Up at the head of the market, the bookmakers are having a hard time spitting American trio Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler who are all at 14/1 with Sky Bet. This is the third major Major of the season with Sergio Garcia having collected The Masters and Brooks Koepka having swept his way to the US Open title. So it’s all eyes now on Royal Birkdale. Who will come out on top at the Southport course, which is flatter than most?
The Open Championship Betting 2017 Odds
Dustin Johnson 14/1, Jordan Spieth 14/1, Rickie Fowler 14/1, Jon Rahm 16/1, Sergio Garcia 16/1, Rory McIlroy 18/1, Justin Rose 18/1, Hideki Matsuyama 20/1, Tommy Fleetwood 22/1, Henrik Stenson 25/1, Adam Scott 28/1, Jason Day 30/1, Brooks Koepka 30/1, Paul Casey 35/1, bar 50/1.
The Open Championship Betting 2017 Promotion
Sky Bet are paying out to a massive ten places on pre-tournament each way bets placed on the tonight winner market for The Open Championships 2017. Each week you can claim a free £5 bet with bookmaker SkyBet. This is because they run their great Sky Bet Club which is open to all punters. After opening an account with the bookmaker (where you can claim a free £20 bet bonus) you can go and opt into the Sky Bet Club. There, just make £25 worth of qualifying bets each week before 11.59:59 pm on Sunday evening and you will be credited with a free £5 bet to use! Just stay in the club by making the qualifying bets each week and you can keep collecting the free bets!
The Open Championship Preview
So this should be a really competitive open and what makes it more interesting is that some of the big guns in the field are not running in hot form at the moment. Neither Dustin Johnson or Rory McIlroy are exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment ahead of this links challenge. So that should afford punters the chance to look a little deeper into the field at Royal Birkdale and here we preview some of the main contenders and dark horse challengers for the tournament.
Dustin Johnson 14/1
DJ has gone and missed the last two cuts this season so he has just tripped out of form. But of course, because of the strong season that he has had overall, it won’t stop punters having a wager on him. Johnston does have eight top-ten finishes in the last four years of Majors and he ran home for a ninth place finish twelve months ago at The Open. That is one of three top ten finishes in his last six attempts but only one in his last four. His best finish at The Open was T2 back in 2011. This will be Johnson’s first outing since June as well, so while that’s been a good rest period, will he have been missing out on posting current form?
Jordan Spieth 14/1
What will attract more interesting back on Spieth is his recent win at River Highlands for the Travelers Championship. That was his second win of the season after claiming the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am back in early February. So that sees a bit of a return to form for him and will boost his confidence ahead of this one. Spieth’s best finish at The Open was a T4 back in 2014 but other than that, he hasn’t been in the top 25 in any of his three other visits and was T30 last year. His current form suggests he is getting back though after two missed cuts he has two top-two finishes, a top 20 and T35 in his last four outings.
Rickie Fowler 14/1
Flower, unlike Johnson and McIlroy, is holding from pretty well at the moment. The links challenge won’t phase him as he is one of the better players over them. His current form is there with a top six in three of his last four starts and one of those was a T5 at the US Open. he seems to be getting closer and closer to landing that elusive Major and shouldn’t be ignored in The Open 2017 golf betting at Sky Bet. Fowler has two top five finishes at The Open in his career, his best being a T2 in 2014. Can he find an extra edge to build on that T5 at Erin Hills? He was T11 at The Masters this year and should be in the frame.
Sergio Garcia 16/1
Why wouldn’t the Spaniard be full of confidence heading into this one? He will turn up on Merseyside looking to win his second Major of the year after having won The Masters. With the two most successful Majors for Europeans being this one at The Masters then he could line up well here. Garcia has recorded ten top-ten finishes at The Open in his career and so nearly won it back in 2007 at Carnoustie, but he missed a put on the final green and then went on to lose against Padraig Harrington in a play off. That is one of two runners up places he has claimed at The Open. He has come home in the top six in each of his last three appearances at The Open and he has five top ten finishes in the last four years of Majors. He has to play his way into contention here.
Jon Rahm 16/1
Another tempting proposition for The Open 2017. His form at the Irish Open to win by six strokes was fantastic and he showed all the mettle and nerve for the big occasion on Sunday there. So he will have plenty of backing in the action at Royal Birkdale. He has continued to look impressive and as long as he can hold his nerve for the big occasion, he can make quite a splash. There’s no reason he can’t come through such a competitive field.
Rory McIlroy 18/1
After a missed cut at the Scottish Open, McIlroy’s struggles continued a bit. He is without a win on the PGA Tour this season and with a missed cut at the US Open to boot, then punters will be a bit cautious about backing him at these odds. Obviously, he has it in him to pull it all together but in a strong field, it may be worth skipping over him. He has more top ten finishes in the last four years of Majors than any other player and is going to be short value at 15/8 for a top ten finish at The Open, which is actually more appealing than backing him outright. There is of course, with there is, of course, the coverage from Sky Bet on ten places for each way betting. McIlroy is a winner of The Open, taking the title in 2014 and carded a T5 last year.
Justin Rose 18/1
Like Fowler, Rose should go well on the links at Royal Birkdale. After competing with Garcia for The Masters and he carries a little form from a top five finish in Ireland recently. That was his only outing since the US Open where he missed the cut. His record at The Open isn’t fantastic but a T6 in 2015 will raise some interest for this challenge. He is in decent form and out of the leading pack he has as good of a chance as any of them. Rose has the fourth lowest average position in the last four years of Majors. A decent each way punt.
Tommy Fleetwood 22/1
What a time Tommy Fleetwood is having at the moment. This is his home tournament in his hometown of Southport so will be looking forward to this. He has gone with four straight top ten finishes for his current form and that’s on both sides of the pond and a recent win in France has raised his stock further. He is just going so well at the moment it’s hard not to have a flutter on him to come good in this open field. He has missed the cut in his three previous British Open challenges. Should go way better than that though.
Henrik Stenson 25/1
Stenson is the reigning champion at The Open and that is part of a decent track record at The Open. He has four top three finishes in his last eight appearances at The Open, so there is no reason why he can’t get back in the mix again for this one. That having been said, he announced in an interview this week that he pretty much dismissed his own chances of retaining his title. At the Scottish Open, he put up six birdies in his nine holes on the final round, but then bogeyed two of the last four. If he can cut out that inconsistency, his scoring is strong enough to contend.
Dark Horses
Ian Poulter, who has survived a lot this year, having almost lost his playing right in the USA and having had to go through qualification to get his chance to play at Royal Birkdale frankly just has nothing to lose and he likes playing on the edge. He has kept his PGA Tour card and he was leading after three rounds of the Scottish Open. Poulter is 13/2 at Sky Bet for a top ten finish. Note that none of the previous winners of The Open at Royal Birkdale have been over 100/1 and Poulter comes in under at 75/1. A decent links player is Thorbjorn Olesen who is out at a massive 200/1 to win if you do want to look as some big opening odds, and at least that offers each way value. He’s inconsistent but can deliver on the links.
