British Open Preview: Top Three Contenders

As the sports betting world turns its attention to the British Open, all eyes are on the old course at St. Andrews. This golf season has been filled with plenty of drama and back stories. The two most interesting stories are the trials and tribulations of Tiger Woods, and the inability of Phil Mickelson to take over the number one spot in the world. Even as NFL betting draws closer, it will be interesting to see how the drama plays out in this year’s British Open.

The top three contenders in this year’s Open represent a wide cross-section of the crew that will be playing in this tournament. Noticeably missing in this list is Tiger Woods. If Tiger cannot pull his game together well enough to win on an American golf course at this point, then the links-style course of St. Andrews will frustrate him to no end. Even though Tiger is one of the odds-on favorites at 9-2, he is still far too removed from his game to compete in this event.

Lee Westwood (15-1)

Lee Westwood has been making headlines on the PGA tour all season long. He lost in a storied playoff to Phil Mickelson in this year’s Masters, and he won this year’s St. Jude Classic. Westwood has spent most of his time on the European tour, and has only played in nine PGA events. But he has made the cut in each PGA event he entered, he has five top 10 finishes and seven top 25 finishes. He is a golfer on a mission, and he has absolutely terrorized the European tour this year. He has been the number one ranked European golfer since last year, and he has a history of playing well in PGA major tournaments.

Justin Rose (15-1)

This could be the year of the Rose. It wasn’t too long ago that Justin Rose was old enough to be on campus doing some NCAA football betting, but his history in South Africa did not offer a lot of spare time. Rose has played in 15 PGA tournaments this year, and he has brought in almost $3.5 million in prize money this year alone. He has made the cut 12 times, and he has two wins to his credit. His two wins were extremely impressive as he won this year’s Memorial tournament, and the AT&T National. He is ranked 16th in the world, and he is third on the Fedex Cup point standings. His first ever PGA tournament was the 1998 British Open where, as an 18 year old amateur, he finished tied for fourth.

Ernie Els (15-1)

Many people will be placing an online bet on Ernie Els to win this year’s British Open. It is always a good bet to place your money on Ernie Els. In 2009, Els had an off-season dropping to 17th in the rankings. This year he has fought his way back up to sixth, and has two tour wins to go with his 11 out of 13 cuts made this season. Els has always been the model of consistency on the PGA tour, and he has always played well in the British Open especially when he won in 2002.