There are probably a lot of you out there who love to wager, but who only stick to a few of your favorite sports. While that is fine, it also means that you could well be missing out on an opportunity to really cash in on a big winning ticket. Golf is one sport where you can really make some nice money on a pretty small investment, and with the 145th British Open set to go at Royal Troon in Scotland this weekend, it’s a sport that you should be brushing up on this week. With 4 days of golf on tap for the weekend, you have multiple opportunities to win, but you can get the ball rolling early by picking the leader after day 1. The betting odds here are great, and with the PGA Tour doing a great job of keeping stats, you have a solid idea of which players tend to get off to a fast start.
A Closer Look At The British Open Favorites Selections to Go Well in Round 1
The Best Day 1 Players in 2016
Dustin Johnson is one of the favorites to win the British Open this year, and for very good reason. This is a man in form, and his year to date stats also show that he is the best day 1 performer on the tour in 2016. He is averaging a score of 68.29 through 14 rounds, and is closely followed by world number one Jason Day who has an average of 69.25 through 12 rounds. It’s no surprise that these two are the day 1 favorites at odds of +1400.
Taking the Elements into Account
The British Open is very often played on links style courses, which means very specific issues for golfers. Links courses are always by the coast, which means that high winds and inclement weather are common. It also means that while there is often no tress at all, there is thick rough and bunkers that are as deep as many of the players are tall. It is not uncommon to see a British player do well in the first round of the Open, usually because they are accustomed to playing in said conditions. While that may seem to play into the favor of Rory McIlroy, it is worth noting that he is way down on the list of day 1 average this season at a touch over 71. That would have him at even par here, which is probably not good enough for the day 1 lead.
Opening Round Prediction
If you take both of these factors into account heading into the 145th British Open, I believe that there is one player who jumps right off the page, and at very good betting odds, too. Justin Rose is in the top 10 in day 1 average scores at 69.42 through 12 rounds. He is also a British player who will have played in these types of conditions more often than most. He is my pick to be atop the leaderboard after the opening round, and at very sweet odds of +3000.
