GRACE to be best of the rest in pick of Open Specials

Bookmakers have gone to town on the Open creating a whole range of special markets for you to bet on. Here is our guide to the best of the bets from these markets.

In outright piece we already tipped up the chances of Branden Grace and he has to be worth taking at 16/1 (TOTESPORT/betfred) in the top Rest of the World market. Grace was second in the Scottish Open (losing to Mickelson in a play-off) and is a great player of links courses. He should be backed each-way in this market as he has a game much more suited to the course than many others in this section. Adam Scott has never really excelled on links courses, Jason Day does not have much links experience while fellow South Africans Schwartzel and Oosthuizen are not as strong. Els is a clear and present danger though the price and the each-way bet reflects this.

Another player market that interest me is the Top American one where Webb Simpson looks good each-way value at 25/1 (boylesports). Simpson finished runner-up at this year’s Heritage Classic to Graeme McDowell in an event that is as close as the PGA Tour gets to links golf. A 16th place in his only previous Open suggests Simpson is more suited to the course then many of the Americans playing here with smaller prices and higher rankings.

The First Round leader market is an interesting betting option for those looking for an interest on the Thursday before getting too heavily involved themselves. The favourite is Tiger Woods at 18/1 (SPREADEX) though the American might suffer from not being out on course until later in the afternoon (14:45) as the early players will have more birdie making potential.

At 9.22 am Billy Horschel is out on course and he should benefit from this. The American sits third in the opening round scoring average on the PGA Tour and was leader after 36 holes of the US Open. He can be backed at 80/1 (SKYBET) to be the leader after 36 rounds and 100/1 (STAN JAMES) each-way to be ahead after round one.

A number of standout three balls exists with at 9.11am Justin Rose, Ernie Els and Brandt Snedeker in action. Later in the morning Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Hideki Matsuyama compete while afternoon three balls put Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel together as do Adam Scott, Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar. Favourite Tiger Woods plays with Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen.

The pick of these three ball bets though is in the one between the veterans Nick Faldo, Fred Couples and Tom Watson. Watson loves Muirfield having won the Open in 1980 here and the Senior British Open at 2007. Watson shot a final round 69 at the US Senior Open Championship that shows he is in form and at 15/8 (STAN JAMES) looks the value.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Branden Grace, EW Top Rest of the World, 16/1 (TOTESPORT/betfred)
SILVER: Horschel, EW to be ahead at end of round 1, 100/1 (STAN JAMES) Horschel to be ahead at end of round 2, 80/1 (SKYBET)
BRONZE: Webb Simpson, EW Top American, 25/1 (boylesports)

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18/07/2013     © Frixo 2026