The fourth and final golf major, The Open Championship, is here!
The vast majority of the world’s best players are either already in, or jetting in to compete in the tournament.
This year, Jon Rahm won The Masters, Wyndham Clark the US Open and most recently Brooks Koepka the USPGA Championship. That just leaves The Open as the final major to be won.
And as you can see, preparation for the start of The Open is now well underway at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
The Open is the last major of the season and occurs just before we head towards the end of season run in. Furthermore, we have a Ryder Cup on the horizon too.
So, there is plenty to play for here for all golfers. With that subsequently in mind, let’s take a closer look at the course itself.
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Royal Liverpool is based in Hoylake, on the Wirral. It is nestled behind sand dunes against the banks of the River Dee and Irish Sea.
It is a typical links course with undulating fairways and greens. It has sandy, well-drained ground and manicured putting greens. The course is notable for drying out very quickly.
As with most links’ venues, weather is key – particularly the wind. This can swirl and change direction a great deal at times, notably when the tide starts to turn.
Having played may rounds on the former local municipal at Hoylake, I know how tricky those gusts can be! The former council course was just across the road from Royal Liverpool.
Changeable weather is forecast for the tournament. That means the conditions could well be as big a factor in who wins The Open as the course.
You can check out the official The Open hole preview below with our summary of the 18 holes shown underneath the Twitter bio.
For standard members, Course is the first hole, with Dun the 16th and the final two holes being Royal and Stand.
However, for The Open, Royal and Stand become the first two holes with Little Eye and Dun the final two holes, ensuring an exciting finish to the days play.
Royal Liverpool has hosted The Open 12 times previously. It was one of the first courses outside Scotland to host the tournament back in 1897.
It was a regular part of The Open Rotation until 1967, after which there was a hiatus of 39 years before it was returned to the rotation in 2006.
Previous winners of The Open at Royal Liverpool are shown below. They include many of the biggest names in golf history.
With Tiger Woods absent through injury, only Rory McIlroy in the current field will have tasted success in The Open at Royal Liverpool.
Will it be a lucky 13th Royal Liverpool Open for the Irishman, or will someone else land the famous Claret Jug trophy?
Let’s take a look at some of the big names bookies like bet365 Sport feel have the best chance of success this weekend.
The latest odds with bet365 for The Open are as follows.
Clearly Rory McIlroy’s good recent form, his Scottish Open win and his victory here in 2014 have him as the bookies favourite.
The Irishman has a strong following in the North West of England. Additionally, he is likely to also enjoy great backing from the galleries too.
In the past 24/48 hours there has been a little money for Scottie Scheffler, the current World Number 1.
Others well-backed include Viktor Hovland (22/1 to 20/1), Patrick Cantlay (28/1 to 22/1) and Dustin Johnson (35/1 to 30/1).
I always say with golf tournaments that your each way bet is a much better option. With the standard outright betting market, bet365 is paying top five and ties at 1/5 of the stated odds.
However, there are more specialised markets available for each way bets. These offer a range of positional payouts at a variable fraction of the stated odds.
They are certainly well worth a look if you fancy backing a real outside and are prepared to take a smaller fraction of the win outright odds.
I can’t see past Rory McIlroy here as he best outright winner bet. He is 7/1, but there is an odds boost available to 8/1 with bet365 at present.
Brooks Koepka is an interesting option at 20/1 too. He does tend to win his Majors in clusters and he has been in the mix in two of the three Majors played this season.
Either of these players would be my pick for an outright winner bet.
Additionally, I would consider backing the following golfers at each way for a top five finish at 1/5 of the stated odds:
The Open begins Thursday morning UK time, with the final round taking place on Sunday.
*The odds were correct at the time of writing but will likely change in the run up to the tournament.
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