The Open is the final major of the year and it gets going at Royal Portrush on Thursday but before Padraig Harrington hits the first tee shot of the tournament there is just enough time to delve through the side markets for the event.
As ever with a major tournament we have a number of side markets from each nationality to finishing positions, make the cut and miss it and all manner of things and there are a few bets we like within them.
Top American
There is a number of American players in this tournament but seeing as though I haven’t taken one of them in my outright team I will whittle out the rest of the players and back one from their own stock. Scottie Scheffler is the market leader here while the last two winners, Xander Schauffele and Brian Harman are likely to have their followers, as will popular players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. I like someone who has been forgotten though.
That is Russell Henley. Henley has a dream long game and there is nothing wrong with his putter on greens that don’t have much slope to them so he should go very well here. He was fifth in the tournament last year and arrives here off the back of T7 and T10 in the last two US Opens. He has eight top 10s on the PGA Tour this season and importantly leads that tour in proximity to the hole. If the irons work that well here then he is going to see plenty of good birdie chances and could fly under the radar at a big price.
Top South African
The South African contingent in this tournament seems to reduce by the season and this year there are 11 going to post. Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the PGA Tour regular in the field while the likes of Dean Burmester, Thriston Lawence, Shaun Norris and Aldrich Potgieter have all won tournaments at a high level but there is only one man in this select market who has won this competition in the past and it is Louis Oosthuizen I like here.
He has a wonderful links game and while his motivation could probably be questioned now that he has gone over to LIV but he was second in Dallas at the end of last month, his second top five of the season on that tour. We know all about his prowess in links golf. He has a long game ideally suited to it and the greens here shouldn’t be anything he can’t handle either. Oosthuizen was inside the top 20 here seven years ago and I’m not sure there is a great deal in this field to beat, maybe with the exception of Thriston Lawrence whose streaky form might be on the up. If you take the 2010 champion with Spreadex he looks an each way bet to nothing.
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Top Irishman
An even smaller field goes to post from within the Irish nationality. The market includes northern and southern players so that gives us Rory McIlroy, the hot favourite within this quintet, the defending champion here if you like in Shane Lowry, Tom McKibbin, former champions Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington. If we take Clarke out of the equation given that he plays little competitive golf these days we have a foursome to go at.
All the eyes and expectation will be on McIlroy and Lowry but that might suit McKibbin fine. He is a member of Royal Portrush and has played this golf course on goodness knows how many occasions and that has to be an advantage when you consider it is seven years since The Open passed across this coastline. Were the main two in the market to fluff their lines, and Rory did that with his opening tee shot in 2019, then McKibbin could easily fall in place to take advantage.
Top Asian Player
We move back to a bigger field for the penultimate bet in the side markets where we focus on the Asian players. 16 runners go to post in this one with the favourite being Hideki Matsuyama, who a decade or so ago was a regular feature on the leaderboard in this tournament but has gone very quiet in it in recent times, which will be music to the ears of the rest of the field. Sungjae Im will be popular with his long game skills and he was seventh last year but that is his only top 10 in a major outside of Augusta which is a huge turn off.
I happen to like Tom Kim this week. He was second in this tournament last year and he has the imaginative game which should go well on a links course. He probably isn’t in tip top form compared to 12 months ago but that might be no bad thing as he’ll be carrying a lot less expectation on his shoulders. There were signs last week that the return to links has brought something out of his game and with genuine contenders thin on the ground in this market, the 13/2 on Kim is just a bit too big.
To Miss the Cut
The final bet for us in the side markets this week comes in the form of the to miss the cut market. I went with this market in the US Open but got stung by Rory McIlroy birdieing the last hole of the second round to make the cut but I’m nothing if not a glutton for punishment and I am back for more with one at a decent price here in the form of Bryson DeChambeau for whom style and conditions are the complete opposite of what he is looking for.
You have to be monster straight here but even then you could get some silly bounces and while DeChambeau is improving around the greens I’m still not convinced he has got the touch required here. He has the afternoon-morning tee time slot which is where the wind is expected to be at its strongest and there is some rain around too which puts his scientific equations out of sync. He was eighth at St Andrews which is an easy links really in 2022 but hasn’t cracked the top 30 in six other starts. Three of those six were missed cuts and there is a T60 and a T51 in there too. He missed the cut here in 2019 and at 11/4 I’ll pay to see if he does it again here.
Tips
Back R.Henley Top American (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-5)
Back T.McKibbin Top Irish Player for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Boylesports
Back them here:
Back L.Oosthuizen Top South African (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Spreadex (1/4 1-3)
Back T.Kim Top Asian (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with Spreadex (1/4 1-3)
Back B.DeChambeau to miss the cut for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Sky Bet
