The Open specials: Best bets from the alternative markets
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The Open specials for 2022
We have had a look at the leading contenders and the lively outsiders in our Open Championship betting tips.
Now it is time to see what is on offer in the Open specials ahead of the 150th Open at St Andrews.
Nationality of winner
The Americans do love The Open.
Thirty raiders from across the pond have won 45 of the 149 contested since 1860 and it’s 6/5 there will be Stars and Stripes flying high on Sunday night.
Collin Morikawa is the defending champion and his win at St George’s 12 months ago was the 11th time a player from the United States has claimed the Claret Jug this century.
That’s 11 from 21 and while it is a decent return, American dominance was heavier years ago.
Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Miller and Bill Rogers, between them, won 11 of the 13 played from 1970 to 1982 and further back, 12 of the 13 tournaments from 1921 were won by Americans.
Since Tiger Woods won his first Open at St Andrews in 2000, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Louis Oosthuizen, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Francesco Molinari and Shane Lowry have all been crowned Champion Golfer.
McIlroy heads the outright betting while Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Lowry are not too far away. Any non-American winner is 8/13 and there are five of them – McIlroy, Rahm, Cameron Smith, Viktor Hovland and Fitzpatrick – in the world’s top 10.
You can get 6/1 for any English winner in The Open specials.
Winning margin
Louis Oosthuizen strolled around the Old Course to a seven-shot victory in 2010 with Lee Westwood a distant second.
Since then, Shane Lowry’s six-shot win at Portrush aside, we’ve had one, two or three shots separating the top two and a Monday finish with a three-way play-off in 2015.
The forecasts suggest there will be little advantage for starting late or early with fine weather expected for most of the week.
That should mean low scores and plenty of them. A one-shot winning margin is 12/5, two is 7/2 but we like the look of three at 6/1.
The Open hasn’t been decided by a play-off since Zach Johnson outlasted Marc Leishman and Oosthuizen on that Monday seven years ago. It is 7/2 there is one this year.
Top Scottish player
Home fans would love to see one of their own lift the big prize but just three players are flying the flag with Robert MacIntyre, Paul Lawrie and David Law (pictured below) teeing it up.
MacIntyre is 4/7 to beat his compatriots but is not in the form he was in when sharing eighth place last year and has missed the cut in three of his last four events.
Lawrie, the 1999 champion at Carnoustie, is 11/2 but we like the look of Law at 9/4 after he booked his ticket with a strong finish at the Irish Open. Law is a graduate of Lawrie’s foundation and relishing his major debut.
He said: “I’ve never played a major before so to do it at St Andrews for the first time will be unbelievable.”
The Open specials also include McIlroy to be the top Irish player at 5/6 while Joohyung Kim is 6/1 to top the Asian list.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
