With The Open getting underway on Thursday there is just enough time to have a look through the many side markets which have been put together for the event as we count down to the final major of the year.
As always for a major tournament there are markets priced up for the nationalities involved, finishing positions, statistic things for the week and a whole lot more and having looked through them all there are four bets that I like.
Top Scandinavian Player
After the withdrawal of Sebastian Soderberg on the eve of the tournament we are left with 12 players from Scandinavia teeing it up with the new sensation on the block Ludvig Aberg the favourite to be the leading Scandinavian. Others in the field to note as Viktor Hovland, the Hojgaard brothers and of course the man who won here in 2016 in Henrik Stenson.
A case can be made for all of them but it is Alex Noren who catches my eye. He has five top 20 finishes in this tournament and was T23 in this tournament last year so he has a good book of Open form at his disposal to fall back on. He has also played the event here which can’t be a bad thing. Noren is a solid driver who comes alive into the greens and on them and arrives here off the back of a top 10 finish last week where he started and finished with a 65. Noren has plenty of good finishes in the Dunhill Links and at 13/2 might be the forgotten man in this market.
Top Canadian Player
Four Canadian players are in the field this week, each of whom will think they have a chance of delivering the goods, with Corey Conners the favourite to come out in front in the quartet but at no bigger than 6/5 I’m keen to take him on here. Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes and the former winner of the Canadian Open in Nick Taylor. It is the middle of those three that I like here.
Hughes has only played this tournament twice but he was T6 on the first of those occasions at Royal St Georges in 2021. That track isn’t too dissimilar to this one so that bodes well. Hughes is one of the best putters in the game and has three top 10s on the PGA Tour this season so he is hitting the ball well enough. Conners is the favourite for this market but has never finished better than T15 at The Open while Hadwin has a best of T35. Taylor missed the cut on debut here last year so Hughes might not need to go that well to come out on top in this market.
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Top Australasian Player
The top Australasian player market contains 10 names this week but I’m not sure it is quite as competitive as it looks. In fact, when you add the New Zealand players into this market it bolsters the price of the Australians a little even though I’m not convinced that Ryan Fox, the only real Kiwi danger, is going to go well here.
Cameron Smith is the favourite in this market and the 2022 champion clearly has form in the tournament but he hasn’t looked great in the last two majors and I want to take him on as his driver might not cooperate here. The same can’t be said of Adam Scott who hit the ball lovely in Scotland last week and on another weekend could easily have come away with the title. Scott probably has a love-hate relationship with this tournament after losing out to Thomas Bjorn in 2012 but he has four top 10s in it and another two top 20 finishes. A bloke who drives the ball as sweetly as Scott does is more than capable of seeing off his Australasian compatriots here.
Top 30 Finish
As ever in a major championship there are finishing position markets where you can either take some favourites and pile them up for an accumulator or take someone down the field where the each way terms don’t quite suit backing someone outright but where extended finishing positions fit the bill much more. Given the nature of this tournament and positions being determined by lucky or unlucky rolls of the ball it is the latter that I’m going with.
Austin Eckroat is the player that I like here. He sits at 12 on the PGA Tour for total driving this season, 14 for driving accuracy and he is 18 for strokes gained on approach so he ticks every long game box in the book so it is probably no surprise that he won The Honda Classic earlier in the season where long game accuracy is a requirement. He has finished in the top 20 in the USPGA Championship this season and although he missed the cut last week he missed it on the number so he was unlucky but the two rounds he got in these conditions should be vital. He is 7/2 to finish in the top 30 and that feels like an acceptable price to me.
Tips
Back A.Noren Top Scandinavian Player (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with Bet365 (1/5 1-3)
Back M.Hughes Top Canadian Player for a 2/10 stake at 4.75 with Spreadex
Back A.Scott Top Australasian Player for a 2/10 stake at 4.33 with Bet365
Back A.Eckroat Top 30 Finish for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Bet365
