The third Major of the 2016 professional golf season gets underway this Thursday with first round action in the British Open at Royal Troon. The best golfers in the world will battle each other and the potential harsh weather this event has become known for over the years. Betting on the Open Championship offers a wealth of opportunities based on futures and prop odds from BetOnline.
Betting Preview & Top Prop Picks for the 2016 British Open
The British Open is the third Major on professional golf’s schedule and this year’s event at Royal Troon is shaping up to be a good one starting with the first of four rounds this Thursday. BetOnline has released a number of futures and props bet odds for the 2016 Open Championship and the following are my top two picks for this week’s tournament.
Betting on Previous British Open Winners
Weather can be a major factor in the British Open especially on the coast of Scotland so experience winning this Major in the past has to be factored heavily into the equation. The early word out of the Weather Channel calls for rain and high winds all weekend long; making things even more interesting when it comes to betting props.
BetOnline has released betting odds for a prop that consists of all the golfers in this year’s event that have already hoisted the Claret Jug with a past victory. At the top of the list at +120 is Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. He is a +1000 third-favorite to win on the futures list for the entire field so there is some solid value in his odds to end up with the best finish this week in this particular group of golfers.
Current form could be a concern after McIlroy missed the cut at last month’s US Open at Oakmont, but I see a much better performance this week in what is shaping up to be pretty adverse conditions.
The second-favorite in this prop is Phil Mickelson at +400, but I do see all that much value in his odds since they are inflated due to his past glory in this event. One player that could be an interesting pick would be Zach Johnson at +600 as the defending British Open Champion. Last year he battled the elements at St. Andrews in a rain-delayed event to outlast the likes of Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day and Jordan Spieth to lay claim to the Claret Jug.
Betting the Big 4 Verse the Field
Golf’s Big 4 top the futures list to win this week starting with the 2016 US Open winner Dustin Johnson at +750. Jason Day is next at +800 followed by McIlroy (+1000) and Jordan Spieth (+1200).
I went with the Big 4 in the last Major and it paid off when Johnson posted his thrilling win at Oakmont. The betting odds for this Major has this group listed at +190 betting odds verse a money line of -240 for a wager on someone from the rest of the field winning this week.
As mentioned, rain and wind can be the great equalizer in the British Open and there are quite a few really good golfers in the field that play in these kinds of adverse conditions on a regular basis. Some of the names that come to mind would be England’s Justin Rose at +3300 odds to win and Ireland’s Shane Lowry at +4000. England’s Lee Westwood made a serious run at this year’s US Open title before falling apart in the final round and his odds to win this week are set at +4000.
One of the main reasons I would still go with the better value in the Big 4’s betting odds in this prop would be Dustin Johnson. He is at the top of his right now and he brings a ton of momentum to Royal Troon this week. He followed up his win in the US Open with a victory in the World Golf Championships at Firestone over the 4th of July Holiday.