This week the golf world ventures to where it all started, The Old Course at St. Andrews, for the 150th Open Championship. There is a fresh rejuvenation of hope in the air as many golfers are primed to celebrate the 150th anniversary at one of the most historic golf courses. To add the cherry on top, golf Hall of Famer and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods is back in the field and is aiming to lift the Claret Jug for the fourth time. Two of Woods’ three Open victories came at St. Andrews. PointsBet Sportsbook has Woods’ odds currently set at +8000. It’s rumored that he shot a 63 in his Sunday practice round. While that is probably an unequivocally false rumor started by playing partner Justin Thomas, I am still interested in him regardless of how his practice round went.
Rory McIlroy is this week’s odds-on favorite at +1000. Scottish Open Champion Xander Schauffele follows him at +1400. 2021 US Open Champion Jon Rahm and three-time major champion Jordan Spieth are both set at +1600. The defending champion Collin Morikawa is priced at +2800.
At first glance, there are two golfers who I am interested in this week. The first is Patrick Cantlay at +2800. While Cantlay has had obvious struggles in majors, his T4 finish at the Scottish Open was a promising sight. Going into a major with momentum is a perfect way to fight any major demons. The second golfer is Cameron Smith at +2200. I was on Smith to win the US Open and on him to win The Open. His golf game fits this course well; his biggest worry is his mental game. He’s had some issues carding big scores after one errant shot. If he can fix that, he should be in contention come Sunday.
Here’s a look at other notable odds on PointsBet Sportsbook:
+1000: Rory McIlroy
+1400: Xander Schauffele
+1600: Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler
+1800: Matt Fitzpatrick
+2000: Justin Thomas
+2200: Cameron Smith, Shane Lowry
+2800: Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris
+3300: Dustin Johnson
+3500: Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton
+4000: Brooks Koepka, Louis Oosthuizen, Sam Burns
+4500: Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama
+5000: Joaquin Niemann, Tony Finau
+6000: Max Homa, Sungjae Im
+6600: Justin Rose
+7500: Ryan Fox
+8000: Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods
+9000: Corey Conners, Marc Leishman, Robert MacIntyre
+10000: Abraham Ancer, Adam Scott, Billy Horschel, Gary Woodland, Lucas Herbert, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Mito Pereira, Seamus Power, Thomas Pieters
+12500: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Victor Perez, Aaron Wise, Adrian Meronk, Cameron Young, Harold Varner III, Jordan Smith, J.T. Poston
+15000: Danny Willett, Keegan Bradley, Padraig Harrington, Cameron Tringale, Dean Burmester
+17500: Francesco Molinari, Harris English, Jason Kokrak, Russell Henley, Hao Tong Li, Joohyung Kim, Sahith Theegala
