British Open Golf - 15 To 18 July 2021

[Ken4155]

Wobblybum's done and dusted and the Euro's ended in tears. Now it's almost time for our Golfers to compete with the world's best at Royal St George's, Sandwich. I have done the required studying and if i have half as much good fortune as i had with the tennis and the football, i'll be a happy chappy. I've given myself a bank of £50 and these are my initial bets;

£5 free bet (Sky) Jon Rahm @ 8/1 - not particularly known as a links golfer but is currently in the form of his life and cannot be left off anybody's shortlist.
£2 each way Brooks Koepke @ 16/1 - playing his way back to full fitness after a knee op in March. In contention on the last day without quite capturing the prize in both the USPGA Championship (2nd) and US Open (4th).
£1.50 each way Louis Oosthuizen @ 25/1 - finished no lower than 3rd place in 3 of his last 5 majors.
£1.50 each way Tyrrell Hatton @ 28/1 - has 2 links course wins to his name.
£1.50 each way Brandon Grace @ 55/1 - Tied for 2nd and 4th in last two majors.

Sky are paying out on 11 places.

[Chinajan]

The Open. Not the British Open. ;-)

[Ken4155]

^
Pedant

[rowanwitch]

I always had a place bet on F Molinari, and Justin Rose, probably a few quid up over the last few years. Had he not had problems Koepke would have been on my list. Not sure this year. Will have a look later

[Chinajan]

// Pedant //

:D

I was waiting for 'someone' to label me anti-British.

[novalis]

I think Xander Schauffele (20/1 with Hills) is a good each-way bet.

[Ken4155]

There's quite a few in with a shout, novalis, and i certainly wouldn't put anyone off Schauffele - or the two Rowan mentioned. In fact, if you've read any of my previous golfing threads, you will have seen that Schauffele has figured in a few of my bets. Can't back them all, though:-) Well, i probably could but that would just be silly and i wouldn't be guaranteed to end up in pocket come Sunday :-J

[Ken4155]

China; it may be me who is labelled 'anti-British' for not recognising that putting 'British' before 'Open' instead of the definitive article is totally unnecessary:-)

[Ken4155]

The only thing i would say, novalis, is that were i to back Schauffele, i would much prefer to take the 4 points less with Sky for the 2 extra places. Willy Hill paying on 9 places, Sky on 11.

[novalis]

Thanks for the info about the odds and places Ken. I will probably have £1 each-way with both firms.

[murraymints]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Championship

to be super smart "The Open Championship" is the correct moniker...

[Ken4155]

After the first day's play, Louis Oosthuizen leads the field on -6. Very early doors but off to a good start. The same cannot be said for the rest of 'my team'. I'm just hoping they have a better round of golf today than they did yesterday :-)

[Ken4155]

Oosthuizen extended his leady to 3 shots, finishing on -11 after an almost flawless round. 36 holes played and just the one bogey. Obviously not counting my chickens yet. Far from it, there are some very good players in the chasing pack and Oosthuizen is there to be shot at.
Both Rahm and Koepke improved on yesterday's showing and are 5 under for the 2 rounds. The rest of my team missed the cut.
I did manage to watch a good few hours of golf, today. Hopefully i've seen enough to concoct a successful acca on tomorrow's '2 balls'.

[Ken4155]

A few golfers here who haven't yet played anywhere near their best and have barely made the cut. Just slight improvement in their performance ought to see them winning their 2 ball match-ups in th early tee-offs;

R Mcilroy, B DeChambeau, R Fowler, X Schauffele & J Thomas.

£5 @ just over 9/1 = poss £51.90.

[Ken4155]

At least 2 of the above need to revisit the drawing board :-(

Hoping these guys can do better;

L OOSTHUIZEN v C Morikawa
J SPEITH v D Frittelli
D JOHNSON v S Scheffler
E GRILLO v D Van Tonder
B KOEPKA v M Hughes
J RAHM v C Tringale
T FINAU v R Fox
S LOWRY v B Snedeker

£5.50 @ 58.4/1 = poss £326.74

[Ken4155]

Quite an exciting days play, yesterday, and today promises the same. Hard to believe that Collin Marikawa only turned pro 2 years back. He was strutting around the course as if he owned it. And he may well do so after today's final ball has been sent into the cup. I know he won the PGA Championship back in 2020, but this is the first time i've had a really good look at him, close up, so to speak. He is definitely one to follow in future majors.
As i said, my man Louis is there to be shot at - and he was sniped from all directions - and, though he wasn't at his best, he remains at the head of the leader-board by just the one shot. He will need to be on his mettle today, big time!
Led by Marikawa and Jordan Speith, the others are queuing up behind him and man of the moment John Rahm is hoping a few of them fall by the wayside - or the rough:-)

S GARCIA v B-H An
J THOMAS v M Schmid
B SNEDEKER v D Burmester
V HOYLAND v T Fleetwood
B KOEPKA v R Fox
J ROSE v B Harman
J RAHM v S Scheffler

£5 @ over 43/1 = poss £222.92

Bit of a novelty, this one;

R McIlroy & S Horsfield to draw @ 15/2
J Speith & C Connors to draw @ 15/2
D Frittelli & M Hughes to draw @ 15/2

£1 Patent, £1 Treble = poss £1,470.49

Total tournament outlay = £33.50
Profit/loss; to be decided

[Ken4155]

Another great day's golf and the pressure of leading the field finally got to Louis Osthuizen. Not that he did much wrong with a 1 over par, finishing 3rd on -11, but a few of the others had really good days; John Rahm showed that there is much more still to come from him with a -4 66 last day to finished tied with Oosthuizen, Jordan Spieth put yesterday's poor finish behind him, also carding a -4 66 to finish runner up. And what can you say about the unflappable Collin Morikawa? He also finished -4 on the day to win the Claret Jug by 2 strokes but it was the manner in which he did it. Such an old, cool head on young shoulders and he is going to need a bigger trophy cabinet.

Brooks Koepka had the day's best score with -5, ending in tied 6th with Mackenzie Hughes.

The biggest letdown of the day - as far as i am concerned - was Justin Rose who chose today to have a terrible round of 73, some 4 shots behind his playing partner, letting the acca down :-(

Total returns = £18 Total loss = £ £15.50