Punters who tire of betting on the same old favourites are looking forward to searching for a winner in the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in the southwest of England. Seven consecutive champions in golf’s major tournaments have been first-time major winners and the two hottest names in the field are players who have no major titles beside their names.
Jon Rahm has barely been a professional for one year, having only left the amateur ranks after the 2016 United States Open. In that time he has risen from #766 in the world to #8. The 22-year old Spaniard has won a title on the PGA Tour and recently romped to a six-stroke win in the Irish Open. Rahm has only played in four majors, including a 59th place finish in last year’s Open, but online bookie bet365 has already installed him as the fourth favourite with odds of 14/1.
Generating almost as much pre-tourney excitement has been 26-year old Tommy Fleetwood. The English linkster has promised great things since his amateur days but has not found his form until 2017. Fleetwood won his second European Tour event in January at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and in the past month finished fourth in the United States Open and won the French Open. Fleetwood has vaulted from 99th in the world rankings into the top 20 in the process. Royal Birkdale is little more than a drive and a long iron from his home and even though Fleetwood has missed the cut in his previous three appearances in the Open, he is rated a top contender at 22/1.
Rickie Fowler remains the player most bettors look to as the next player to win his first major. Now 28 years old, Fowler has won a tournament in 2017 and moved into the top ten in the world rankings. He contended in the U.S. Open at Erin Hills before finishing 5th, the sixth time he has recorded a top-five finish in a major tournament. Two of those have come in the Open Championship. Fowler is offered at 18/1.
Giving even more hope to bettors with a preference for long shot tickets is the game’s top players languishing in a muddle of inconsistency. Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson are the co-favorites at 9/1. Spieth has been plagued for the last 18 months by high expectations and putts stopping to fall. The 23-year old superstar has been a non-factor at golf’s biggest events since the 2016 Masters but has won two tournaments each of the past two years. Save for a couple of low rounds at St. Andrews in 2015, however, Spieth has not shown a proclivity for links courses.
Dustin Johnson is the world number one and clearly the game’s best player in the first quarter of the year. But an injury caused him to skip the 2017 Masters and he missed the cut in last month’s U.S. Open after becoming a father for the second time. There appear to be no roadblocks heading into Royal Birkdale and Johnson may be ready to dominate again.
Backers of Rory McIlroy can hope for the same thing. The one-time world number one has made most of his 2017 headlines off the course with a marriage and a rib injury. On the course he has been plagued by new equipment and a balky putter that he promises to give “one last chance.” It is difficult for punters to keep throwing real money after talent and not seeing production but if McIlroy finds his form at Royal Birkdale it will reward supporters at 12/1.
Two players currently holding major titles are next on the table, Sergio Garcia at 16/1 and Henrik Stenson, the defending Open champion, at 18/1. Only five players have won both the Masters and the Open in the same year as Garcia will be attempting to do but twice it has happened at Royal Birkdale (Mark O’Meara and Arnold Palmer). If bettors are looking for another historical angle, there has been no repeat Open winner since Padraig Harrington in 2008 – the last time the Open was played at Royal Birkdale.
【2017 Open Championship Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 12, 11:00 p.m. (GMT)
Latest Odds: Open Championship (courtesy of bet365)
You can’t talk golf history at the Open without mentioning Phil Mickelson. The 47-year old five-time major winner has not won a tournament anywhere since his 2013 Open championship at Muirfield. Last year he staged a memorable duel with Stenson at Royal Troon and his consistent play in 2017 give hope to those who back the popular left-hander at 40/1.
Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose, at 18/1, will be expected to be in the mix at Royal Birkdale. The Englishman has piled up 12 top-10 finishes in major championships but only one has ever come on his home turf in the Open Championship, a sixth place finish two years ago at St. Andrews.
For handicappers looking to pair home course advantage with long shot first-time major winners, the strongest plays are veteran English stars Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. Casey (40/1) has played the best of the trio but will need to overcome a maddening tendency to stain the scorecard with one unsightly hole every round. Westwood, a former world number 1, would be a sentimental choice as the 44-year old slips from relevance. Still, Westwood (66/1) has made the cut in 11 straight majors. Poulter (90/1), coming back from injuries, created drama by losing his playing privileges in the spring only to regain them on a technicality. Since then a rejuvenated Poulter, whose best finish in the Open was second at Royal Birkdale in 2008, has haunted a few leaderboards.
