British Open Betting Odds and Picks
by Frank Doyle of Sports Interaction - 7/12/2011
The greatest game of golf played at Royal St George’s wasn’t a British Open. Rather, it was the game played between Auric Goldfinger and Commander James Bond of Her Majesty’s Secret Service in Ian Fleming’s 1959 novel Goldfinger.
In the movie, they used Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, for the game but the Royal St Mark’s course described in the book is recognisably this year’s British Open venue.
In the book, Fleming writes that the difference between a beautiful and an average golf shot is the difference between a beautiful and an average looking girl – a matter of centimetres. Rory McIlroy is going to find that out this weekend.
McIlroy, who’s in a three ball with former champion Ernie Els and Rickie Fowler for the first two days, is a very short price at 6/1 to add the British Open to the US Open he so thrillingly won at Congressional.
From Sports Interaction’s point of view, 6/1 is the only price we could lay. Any higher and it would have looked like a bargain and both squares and sharps would have piled in. But the real probability of McIlroy winning two straight majors is longer than 14% because of that difference of centimetres Fleming wrote about.
But we have to offer Rory at so short a price because his talent is such that people would have bet just because. Just because he’s so good, and so composed and so gosh-darned likeable. McIlroy proved himself this year to be just like the man in the poem who looked on triumph and disaster and treated those two imposters just the same.
Rory McIlroy could win the Open, but he isn’t a good bet at 6/1, not least in a season where there have been so many long price winners. A long price winner may emerge this weekend too – Rickie Fowler, who finished 14th at St Andrews last year has been mentioned in dispatches – but there are players who are value at midrange prices.
Jason Day, the Australian who’s been second in both majors so far this year. Matt Kuchar, who put in a good display at Inverness in the Scottish Open last week. Two time Open Champion Pádraig Harrington, who’s finally showing some form. And veteran Retief Goosen, a man also returning to form and a man who plays consistently well at the British Open.
Whoever your pick is, we have great golf betting all the way at Sports Interaction for the British Open – as well as the outright we have threeballs, matchups, best American, Group Betting and more! Get all the golf action with Sports Interaction!