Both the PGA Tour and since 2011, the European Tour have policies that prohibit players from gambling on tournaments. But at the Open, that didn't necessarily stop them from doing so in the past.Lee Trevino famously bet on himself before winning the 1971 Open Championship, placing 100 pounds at 14-1 odds.
This year players have apparently been asked to sign a waiver saying they wouldn't bet on themselves or anyone else...apparently caddies have not been asked to sign the waiver, although they are deemed to be an extension of the player..
Whatever the case, in the absence of a dominant Tiger, this year the bookies are hedging their bets. http://www.oddschecker.com/golf/open-championship/winner.
The world's top 3 are all at 16-1 Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. Rory McIlroy is at 20-1 while Tiger, Phil, Kaymer and Garcia are in at 25-1. Graeme McDowell is at 30-1
Here are the official world golf rankings
http://www.owgr.com/
tee times click here http://scores.theopen.com/en/TeeTimes.aspx
I set out to make a list of guys I thought could win placed on current form and am currently at 25 !! and I can make a case for all of them. Most of this is because of the absence of Tiger being the Tiger of the past, and also the fact that nobody else is dominating like he did. Another factor is the venue. These players only play links golf a couple of times a year, so form on a typical parkland style course can go right out the window here.
So here are a few names for your Open Championship pools, and who I will expect to play well. perhaps even win..
First a word about the course. Royal Liverpool was burnt to a crisp in 2006, browned out, Jim Furyk said they were playing on dust by Sunday after a very dry spring. This year it was a wet spring, the fairways are green, the rough is up and lush, the course is firm and fast but no where near as fast as 2006 or last year are Muirfield where the fairways were running faster than the greens...
The weather as I said yesterday has no threatening wind and it is scheduled to blow from different directions over the four days anywhere from calm to 15kph. Pretty dry Thursday and Friday with rain moving in over the weekend. Warm, temps 22-26*c expected.
1. Justin Rose, in form wins at Congressional then last week in Aberdeen and playing beautifully right now, full of confidence and playing with house money. He has missed 3 of last 4 Open cuts, his putting stats show him taking 3-5 more putts per round on the slower Open Championship greens than those on the PGA Tour.
2. Adam Scott, at his peak, has been at Hoylake since last Thursday so should be ready, and of course has Steve Williams on his bag who won it here with Tiger in '06
3. Henrik Stenson lost the BMW 2 weeks ago in a playoff and after his career year in 2013 is back in form with nothing but top 10's in recent form.
4. Martin Kaymer you just can't leave him out after wins at the Player's then the US Open, he along with Rosey are the hottest anywhere right now.
Now for a few you might not be considering.
5. Mikko Ilonen, a veteran Finn won the Irish Open impressively 3 weeks ago and he also won the British amateur championship on Royal Liverpool in 2000..
6. Thomas Bjorn is enjoying what the Brit's call a purple patch and at 43 is leading the Euro tour's Order of Merit and remember he was 3 shots ahead in 2003 with 4 holes to play at Royal St George's before dropping 4 shots. He was T3 at the BMW PGA then T8 at BMW International, had a top 25 last week in Aberdeen..May continue the trend of 40 something's winning the Open !
7. Graeme McDowell big come from behind win at the French Open last week has given him a boost. He says this course suits him as a short hitter, and remember he led here for a while in 2006 before shooting 79 in his final round.
8. Miguel Jimenez just keeps getting better, now 50 and re married he has a new lease on life. 4th at the Masters, won the Spanish Open then the following week won on the Champions tour. Worth a flutter just to watch the warm up routine...
9. Angel Cabrera finally won a regular event on the PGA Tour, the Greenbrier 2 weeks ago then had a top 25 at Congressional. He drives the ball better than anyone when he is on and he proved that over and over in Virginia, but he doesn't need that length here, still he is one I'd pay to watch..
10. Sergio Garcia..6 top 10's in 10 starts this year on PGA Tour, T2 at Travelers last month and oh yes remember he was in the last group with Tiger here in 2006, shot 73 to Tiger's 67 while wearing an all canary yellow outfit which led Tiger to remark privately " I think I just bludgeoned Tweety!" Hey Sergio is happy these days with life, a new love Katharina Boehm, and Tiger is not in his way this time around, as he has been in all 60 majors El Nino has played so far..
And so many others...Rory, Tiger, Phil, Lee Westwood so often the bridesmaid, Shane Lowry, Zack and Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey, Kevin Stadler who blew the French Open, Bubba has all the shots, Scotsmen Gallagher and Warren both in form...
The list goes on and on, and that's why the bookies are hedging their bets !!
Bryan Angus
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