Open Championship Golf Betting Tips 2021

The 149th Open Championship is here! Who will win?

Open Championship Golf Betting Tips 2021

Jordan Spieth at 20/1 is my main hope for the 149th Open Championship at Royal St George’s this week but don’t be surprised if there’s an Australian winner, the first since Greg Norman’s triumph on the same course 28 years ago.

The Aussies are on a terrific roll, 160/1 shot Min-Woo Lee winning the Scottish Open with a thrilling extra-time birdie on top of the transatlantic double by Lucas Herbert and Cam Davis the previous weekend.

Throw in Ash Barty’s Wimbledon victory on the tennis court and you have a sports-mad nation ready to rumble on golf’s biggest stage on the Kent coast.

Davis won’t be there because of a Green Card problem but Herbert, who followed up his Irish Open victory by getting within a shot of the Scottish playoff on Sunday and if he hasn’t run out of petrol, he could be in the mix again.

He showed he can handle links golf with that fourth at the Renaissance Club.

This will be the first time he’s seen Royal St George’s but that didn’t stop American rookie Ben Curtis in 2003 in the biggest upset in the storied history of the premier Major.

Australia also has high hopes for Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Cam Smith and Jason Day and the first two are of definite interest.

Leishman lost out in a three-man playoff for the 2015 Open at St Andrews, Scott should have won at Royal Lytham in 2012 but bogeyed the last four holes and allowed Ernie Els to nick it.

That was the start of a 2-3-5-10 Open run for Scott and given a decent putting week he might well win. He was 25th alongside Rory McIlroy at St George’s in 2011.

Leishman, second, fifth and sixth in past Opens, has the more compelling current form.

He pipped Jon Rahm at Torrey Pines last year, won with Smith as partner at New Orleans and had a perfect warm-up when third last time out at the Travelers.

In 2003 you could have backed Curtis at 999/1 on the betting exchanges which were then catching on with punters who like backing outsiders.

But few knew the name and nobody came out and said they had done so, or even taking the 500/1 in betting shops.

He had qualified by finishing 13th at the Western Open ten days earlier, his highest finish in 13 PGA Tour starts that year.

Playing in his first Major, Ben wasn’t even a household name in his own household but, pursued by a faltering Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Thomas Bjorn, he was the only player to beat the then par of 284.

Fast forward to 2011 and the most recent edition of The Open in Sandwich.

The par had been cut to 70 with only two par fives when 125/1 Darren Clarke, a 42-year-old written off as past his best, held firm as his closest opponents Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were found wanting.

That time only four players beat par which was how the R&A liked it, a tough, undulating test with blind drives and unfriendly bounces into the rough.

Changes had to be made after Norman’s 13-under-par victory in 1993 when 26 beat par and although the weather forecast is for sunshine and a breeze that’s pretty gentle by Royal St George’s standards, don’t expect a glut of low scores.

Remember that Woods, then at the height of his powers, lost his ball with his first drive in 2003 (yet still managed to contend on the Sunday) and Bjorn took three to extricate himself from that 16th hole greenside bunker that cost him his lead.

I’ve reported on five Opens at St George’s starting with Bill Rogers on parched fairways in 1981.

The skinny American was the only golfer under par that week and when Sandy Lyle took the next one four years later, two over was the winning score.

It’s no place for bad players as I quickly found out on the two occasions I played there but it’s a frustrating place for great golfers too which I suppose is why the last two champions there have come from left field and not the ranks of the bleedin’ obvious.

The comeback of Spieth after plumbing the depths has been heartening as he is good for golf.

Open winner four years ago, fourth in 2015 and ninth to Frankie Molinari in 2018, he is at home with links golf and has been a regular on leaderboards since his Renaissance kicked off in February.

True, only one win, in his native Texas, but a feast of top-fives and he’s nicely rested since finishing 19th to Rahm at the US Open.

He will have been getting to know the humps and hollows of Royal St George’s and with question marks about most of those priced ahead of him, he rates a solid each-way punt, particularly as most bookmakers are paying eight places and more.

Ridiculously in finishing only seventh at the Scottish Open, Rahm has forfeited his world No. 1 ranking to Dustin Johnson (who didn’t even play last week) so all the more reason for a great show this week.

Blame a few short missed putts for the big Spaniard’s defeat but with ten top-tens from his last 14 outings, he is still the man to beat.

Jon was joint runner-up to Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush in 2019, the last time we had an Open.

DJ’s best chance of winning came at St George’s ten years ago when he shanked his second shot out of bounds at the long 14th.

He has not got anywhere as close since and his recent form is way short of what he’s capable of.

Mickelson had that Open by the scruff of the neck after going out in 30 on the Sunday and making birdie on the tenth but a tiny missed putt led to a four-bogey-in-six spell and he ended up in a share of second with DJ.

Since then he’s finally won an Open, at Muirfield two years later, and gone down to a flurry of Henrik Stenson birdies in a memorable head-to-head at Royal Troon five years ago.

Lefty is a new diet-conscious man this year, winning the PGA just before his 51st birthday so rule him out at your peril.

We had three consecutive 40-somethings winning The Open from 2011-13 and don’t forget how close Tom Watson got at 59 in 2009.

It’s the one Major where age matters least and Mickelson has never been fitter.

Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele did their prospects no harm with good finishes in Scotland and Brooks Koepka is a Majors specialist with a heck of a chance but I don’t think many Brits or Irishmen have been advertising their chances.

Matt Fitzpatrick couldn’t quite close the deal on Sunday and hasn’t impressed in past Opens, Shane Lowry has held the Claret Jug for two years courtesy of Covid but will have to improve to retain it, Rory’s missed cut in Scotland followed a poor week at Mount Juliet and Tyrrell Hatton hasn’t quite got it at the moment.

Veterans Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood will give a good account of themselves.

Both are playing well and nearly man Westwood in particular has strong Open credentials.

Norway’s Viktor Hovland was mighty impressive when winning in Munich a few weeks back.

He and Rahm look the pick of the Europeans and the Spaniard is only left out because of the price.

He doesn’t win often enough to be a cast-iron 8/1 shot.

It’s a pity Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama has pulled out to save himself for the Olympics in Tokyo where he is idolised.

There’s no Bubba Watson or Sungjae Im either but it will be a fabulous week whoever wins. I’ll be shouting for Spieth.

Check out how the GM Tipster is getting on this year on our Golf Betting Tips homepage.

Open Championship Golf Betting Tips 2021

 

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