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The Open 2019 Betting Preview : Some form players at incredible value

Golf previews
Last Updated : 16th July, 2019 By FREEBets.org.uk
VENUE
Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland
TIME
Thu 18 July - Sunday 21 July
BROADCAST
Live on Sky Sports
See Stats

The highlight of many golf fans’ calendar comes around this week as The Open begins on Thursday at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland and it is sure to be a tense few days on the greens and fairways of County Antrim.

McIlroy is the Favourite

In his home country, it is no surprise that Rory McIlroy is the favourite to win this tournament and win The Open for a second time. Although he hasn’t lifted the famous Claret Jug since 2014, he has been remarkably consistent in the event, finishing in the top 10 in each of the last four years and in the top five of three of them.

Certainly an each-way bet would be very safe on the Northern Irishman, but it would not return a great deal of profit seen as his best price to win is 9/1 with Ladbrokes. Many will be taking that price on him to win outright, but it is a bit too skinny on a man who has not won a major for five years and we should really be looking elsewhere for value.

Great Value in McDowell 

If you want to back a hometown hero then the much more appealing option is Graeme McDowell who is playing on his actual home course this week. No one in the field will know Portrush as well as G Mac and, despite being past his best, that is an enormous advantage for him.

McDowell is all the way down at number 97 in the world rankings, but that actually shows a marked improvement from last year as he ended 2018 at number 238. Recent efforts saw him finish T16 at the US Open and T8 at the Canadian Open, so he is still competing with the very best.

To win The Open would be a monumental achievement for the 39-year-old and is probably out of his reach, but he could certainly compete till the final round and be a good each-way punt.The best price available on McDowell winning the Open is 80/1 at Unibet which is exceptionally good, It could be more sensible to take the 66/1 from BoyleSports, with 10 places being paid out. Either way, G Mac is worth backing.

Rahm the Best Outright Bet

A more likely outright winner at Portrush is Jon Rahm, for whom it looks only a matter of time before he lifts a major championship. The 24-year-old has never done much at all at The Open in the past, but he is ready to make an impact in Northern Ireland after top 10 finishes at the Masters and US Open this year.

The Spaniard has already had success in this part of the world this month, winning the Irish Open for a second time early in July, by two strokes. It has been a very consistent couple of months for the world number eight, finishing T2 at the Andalucia Masters and T3 at the US Open in his two tournaments prior to Ireland.

Rahm has admitted that England and Scotland has proved a struggle for him, but the face that he is heading to Northern Ireland will give him a mental boost. ‘I've been able to play well in Ireland, I have not been in able to play well in Scotland or England,’ said the Spaniard. ‘Maybe it's just the country, maybe it's the course. But we are playing in Northern Ireland this year so hopefully that will help. I'm going into The Open Championship with confidence.’

For someone who has never won a major and never performed at The Open, he might put some people off at just 16/1, but he is in great form and will be relishing taking on the Northern Irish course.

If you want to back anyone outright then it should be Jon Rahm at 16/1 with BetVictor.

Wiesberger Worth an Each Way Bet

Another man in encouraging form heading to Portrush is Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who might just be peaking at the right time for an unexpected challenge at a major.

The 33-year-old has six European Tour titles to his name, so has been a contender since the first two of those came in 2012, however, he has always struggled at the majors. His best finish at any was a T16 at the US Open in 2016 and his best finish at The Open is just T64.

This could be his time, though, as he his coming to Northern Ireland on a wave of momentum. Wiesberger won last weekend’s Scottish Open, the traditional warm-up event ahead of The Open. While not every big name in the game was there, it was still a strong field that Wiesberger beat out to finish on -22 and claim the title.

This followed a T2 finish at the Irish Open earlier in July and the win in Scotland was his second European Tour title of the year after winning Made In Denmark at the end of May. The Austrian is having a fantastic few months and will be as prepared as ever to make a challenge at The Open.

Going all the way to the Claret Jug may be a bit of a stretch for someone who has never really challenged on the biggest stage before, but Wiesberger is certainly capable of cracking the top 10 at The Open for the first time in his career.

Back Bernd Wiesberger each-way at 60/1 with William Hill, who are paying 10 places at The Open.

Great Scott

One final each-way punt worth a good look at is Adam Scott, who is still searching for his first Open title, but has a good record in the event and is in decent form at the moment. The Australian made his Open debut way back in 2000 and has not missed an edition of the tournament ever since.

While he hasn’t ever got his hands on the Claret Jug, he has earned a top 10 finish five times, finishing second in 2012 as his best effort. He certainly knows his way around the UK courses and is getting back to his best form at the majors. Scott finished T8 at the PGA Championship and T7 at the US Open, while he finished T2 at the Memorial Tournament in between those two impressive results.

After falling down the world rankings he is back up to number 16 and his game appears to be in a great place to challenge anyone this week at Portrush.

Back Adam Scott each-way at The Open at 28/1 with William Hill



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Statistics


  • Rory McIlroy has not won a major title since 2014
  • Graeme McDowell is playing this tournament on his home course
  • McDowell has risen 141 places in the world rankings this year
  • Jon Rahm has finished in the top 10 of four of the last seven majors
  • Rahm has won the Irish Open twice, including this year
  • Adam Scott’s form has seen him rise from number 41 in the world to number 16 this year
  • Scott has finished in the top 10 of the last two majors
  • Bernd Wiesberger has won two European Tour titles this year, for the first time since 2012
  • The Austrian is into the world’s top 40 after finishing 2018 at number 185

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