It's an open field for bets at The Open

By John Hill on July 15, 2008 1:00 AM |

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Nigel Seeley

Nigel Seeley looks over the best bets of the week

Place Your Bets followers had a good result last week with the Test match between England and South Africa ending in a draw at 6/5, making us a nice profit on the week to keep the overall balance nicely topped up.

This week there’s only one thing dominating the sporting calendar and that’s the Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Tiger Woods is missing from the field through injury, making this Open the most open of all time. Sergio Garcia is the tournament favourite at 12/1 and he has talent in abundance and could easily shoot four sub-70 rounds to be crowned Open king. But on the flip-side he could easily miss the cut as he showed when he shot an 82 in his last appearance at Royal Birkdale.

In the eight Open championships held on the course only Australians and Americans have won and I expect that trend to continue.

He may not be a major household name but American Stewart Cink has risen to number six in the world rankings and at 33/1 is a major each-way contender this week.

Last year at Carnoustie, Stewart finished sixth and showed a real liking for the Open course conditions which many Americans have found so difficult.

This season he has been the most consistent player on tour, missing the cut in just one of 24 tour events, with top 10 finishes in nine of them and victory in his last outing in the Travellers Championship.
One American who looks over-priced is Phil Mickelson at 20/1. Mickelson has been holding on to Woods’ coat-tails and with him out of the equation the three-times major winner is the class act of the field and bookies odds of 5/1 for him being in the top seven rates fantastic value. The world number two has won twice this season and in the two majors this year he has finished fifth in the Masters and 18th in the US Open.

I can’t see any of the British players holing the winning putt and ending our sport stars summer from hell but if you want a patriotic fix then back Padraig Harrington at 7/1 to be the top UK & Ireland player.
The papers are full of stories of Padraig’s injured wrist but beware the injured golfer, as Tiger Woods proved when winning the US Open.

Pod has the game to win this tournament and his form has shown some signs that his A-game is returning, with four top 10 finishes this year.

The injury will scupper his chances of retaining the claret jug but won’t stop him topping a poor UK & Ireland field.

RUNNING BALANCE
+£237.50

RECOMMENDED BETS
£15 e/w Stewart Cink @ 33/1 in The Open
£15 e/w Phil Mickelson @ 20/1 in The Open
£10 e/w Padraig Harrington @ 7/1 to be top UK & Ireland player at The Open