Bookies Blog

The Open due to start on Thursday looks to have a pretty high chance of rain, the weather report says it should only last 24hrs after such we may well be blessed with some sunshine. Still, its enough to throw some confusion among the ranks of golfers lining up for the biggest event on Britain’s golfing calendar.

Sergio Garcia has a lot to prove here at Birkdale, with the absence of Tiger one of his main rivals will be Padraig Harrington who landed two balls in the drink and then came back to beat Garcia last year at Carnoustie by one stroke. Harrington has had a good week as he opted out of the Loch Lomond Scottish Open this year in order to compete in the European open which he subsequently won.

Garcia is favourite at 9/1 on 888sport, Bluesq and Coral while Harrington is ranked fifth favourite at 16/1 (general). Both players made critical mistakes at last year’s Scottish Open despite both starting off comfortably. It’ll be interesting to see which one prevails this year, if you like the look of Padraig’s form recently then the bookies have offered pretty good value for the defending champ, but Garcia has had some training with Stan Utley recently and his putting is seen to be shaping up as proved by his latest win at the Players Championship.

And then there’s Ernie Els close behind Garcia with a short 10/1 with Totesport who pulled off a late win at the Honda Classic in March, pulling back from Luke Donald’s lead. He’s been looking reasonably good of late, apart form his win in Florida Ernie has also had a joint sixth in the Players Championship.

With the unwelcoming weather waiting for the players in Birkdale both Els and Mickelson are looking to sharpen their short game in order to get an edge on those who’ll rely on their drive to steal a couple less shots. Birkdale will be a real challenge for players like Garcia as no two holes are facing the same direction. Mickelson is at 16/1 (General) with his best price of 18/1 at Betfred.

All these contenders priced so close together and then add in a Lee Westwood at a 16/1 (General) it seems we’re spoilt for choice. But im inclined to take Garcia out of the equation due to the weather conditions and the difficulty of readjusting his shot according to varying strong winds, not that this is beyond his skill merely that the Spaniard cannot handle the psychological pressure applied at this level of play. Instead I feel Ernie Els to be pretty good value.

For more British Open betting markets click here.