146th British Open Golf Odds And Predictions

In this writer’s opinion, the British Open is golf’s best major championships because of challenging links tracks under tough UK weather conditions. This is how the game was meant to be played. Not under windless sunny skies on the cookie-cutter courses you will find all over the USA or Canada. The 146th British Open returns to Royal Birkdale in England this week. Here’s a look at the Sports Interaction favourites for the Claret Jug as well as odds on the Canadian in the field.

Royal Birkdale Weather Means Everything

This is the one PGA Tour event where you must be cognizant of the weather. Courses in the UK aren’t overly long or penal; if played in calm conditions, the world’s top golfers can score at will. However, it’s not usually very calm in England or Scotland this time of year. Golfers can expect highs in the 60s with gusty winds and occasional sideways rain – it can change from beautiful weather in the blink of an eye. Thus when a player’s tee time is scheduled also is crucial.

Royal Birkdale is in Southport on England’s northwest coast. The club was founded in 1889 and will host the Open championship for the 10th time – all since 1954. It’s a par 70 measuring 7,156 yards, which would be considered very short in an American Tour event. If the weather is tame, the winner likely will be double digits under par. That has been the case each of the past three years.

However, when Royal Birkdale last hosted in 2008, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington won at 3 over. The weather was ghastly that week, especially Round 1, with pouring rain and winds gusting up to 50 mph. Harrington repeated that year and is the last to do so in the Open Championship.

British Open Favourites

It’s the usual cast of characters atop the Sports Interaction golf odds. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the +1300 favourite. He is yet to win this tournament. DJ does have three Top 10s, including ninth last year. He didn’t play in the 2008 British Open and has missed the cut in his past two events this year.

Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler are each +1400. Spieth comes off a victory at the Travelers Championship where he holed out from a bunker on the first playoff hole. He has played four British Opens with a best of fourth in 2015. Fowler is probably the best active player without a major championship. He was a runner-up in the 2014 British Open at Royal Liverpool to Rory McIlroy, who is +1900.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson is +2600. The Swede hasn’t won since then and is having a moderately disappointing season. Stenson was T3 eight years ago at Royal Birkdale and has two other Top 3 finishes in the tournament. Last year at Royal Troon, Stenson shot a brilliant final-round 63 to win by three shots at 20 under.

If there’s a playoff, it’s four-hole aggregate score. That last happened in 2015 with American Zach Johnson winning at St. Andrews.

Canadian Golfers

No Canadian has won the British Open and the only one in the field this week is Adam Hadwin. He’s +14200 to win and +1800 for a Top 10. It’s Hadwin’s first time playing in the Open Championship. Hadwin hasn’t played since missing the cut a few weeks ago at the Quicken Loans National. He went back to Abbotsford, B.C., to visit with family and see his conditioning coach, Jason Glass, and Harry Sese, a golf injury and performance specialist.

British Open Predictions

I recommend Spieth (+163), Jon Rahm (+205), Justin Rose (+221) and Hideki Matsuyama (+231) each for a Top 10. Your best prop bet this week is on which nationality wins the tournament, with European at +110, American +350 and rest of the world at +162.

I like European as my pick to win is England’s Tommy Fleetwood at +1500. He grew up around the corner from the course and has been playing terrific golf with four straight Top 10s worldwide, including a win in France. Local boy makes good at Royal Birkdale and becomes the eighth consecutive first-time major champion. Fleetwood is also +402 to be top Englishman.