The British Open takes place at St Andrews this week and Tiger Woods the man who has won the last 2 Opens played at the course starts as favourite at 6/1.

Bookmakers continue to pay Woods amazing respect which is perhaps understandable given his record at St Andrews but possibly also a bit surprising as the great man has given us very little reason to believe his game is anywhere near where it needs to be at the moment. GreatOdds and Betxchange go 6/1 about his chances but frankly I will rather take advantage of the inflated prices his presence creates elsewhere down the betting boards.

First up I am going to give Ernie Els another chance at 20/1. I have over the years flirted with Ernie ever since backing him in his maiden US Open win back in 1994 and at times I have promised myself never to back him again. He certainly owes me some money but I simply cannot ignore his Open record which has seen 8 top 10’s in his last 10 starts with 5 top 5’s and a win back in 2002. He has won twice on the US Tour in 2010 and despite some indifferent form since he faded in the final round of the US Open I want this links specialist on my side this week.

Justin Rose has gone from the nearly man to a multiple Tour winner this season and had it not been for a final round blowout in the Travelers Championship he could have had 3 on the trot in the States having won the Memorial and the AT&T with the latter coming just 10 days ago. Rose you may recall burst into the spotlight as an amateur in the Open in 1998 and while his career took some time to touch those heights again he looks well set to build on a couple of top 15’s in this event in the last 3 years. This will be his first Open appearance at St Andrews and he is a top price of 25/1.

Steve Stricker has been battling injury this year but he showed that he is right back to form by defending at the John Deere last week. St Andrews will be a different test but with his top notch wedge game and generally solid ball striking I think he is a big runner and can improve on his top 10’s of 2007 and 2008 where he showed his liking for links golf. Stricker is 40/1 this week.

Time for a couple of long shots and the first of these is Francesco Molinari at 75/1. He has been outdone by his brother in recent times but he has always looked the player likely to go further in my opinion and his recent form is impressive with a couple of top 5’s on the European Tour. His putting tends to be his Achilles Heel and if he can master the greens he is the sort of guy who could shock the more fancied players.

Finally American Ryan Moore is quoted in triple figures at 125/1 and I think he is a decent roughie and I also have some good memories of him as he delivered place returns at the AT&T where he made a late run at Rose. He hits the ball very well, can play in adverse conditions and made the cut in his only previous appearance in an Open.

There are loads of different markets and I will take a close look at the 72 hole match plays, Top Senior Players and the spreads before posting additional bets in this thread in our Forum – keep an eye on it to see what other punters fancy.

STAKING PLAN

Betxchange is offering quarter odds Top 6 Places this week and I will be taking all place bets with them even if on occasion I am taking a slightly lesser price. The other bookmakers quoted all bet quarter odds Top 5 so if you prefer a bigger price but less places you can do the math yourself and decide.

1 unit win Els at 20/1 with Mbet, World of Sport or GreatOdds
3 units Els Top 6 at 9/2 with Betxchange

1 unit Rose win at 25/1 with World of Sport
2 units Rose Top 6 at 11/2 with Betxchange

1 unit e/w Stricker at 40/1 with Betxchange

0.5 unit win F Molinari at 75/1 with World of Sport
1 unit F Molinari Top 6 at 16.25/1 with Betxchange

0.5 unit win Moore at 125/1 with Mbet, World of Sport or GreatOdds

1 unit Moore Top 6 at 25/1 with Betxchange

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