British Open: Sentimental favourite Tiger Woods among bookies’ biggest liabilities
Rory McIlroy consensus favourite to end his dought of majors since 2014
St. Andrews, Scotland: Tiger Woods may be fighting the cut line more than competing for the Claret Jug this week but the 15-time major winner remains a sentimental favourite among bettors ahead of The Open Championship.
Woods has been backed more than any other player at DraftKings, drawing 14 percent of the outright winner bets and 13 percent of the handle as a +6000 longshot as of Monday.
He is also the biggest liability at BetMGM, where he opened at +4000 but had moved to +6600 despite being backed by 5.8 percent of the bets and 8.4 percent of the handle. That represents the third-highest ticket count behind Rory McIlroy (7.7 percent) and Will Zalatoris (6.5 percent), second only to McIlroy’s 13.1 percent of the handle at the sportsbook.
Woods is being supported by 4.5 percent of the bets at PointsBet, but was not among the top-10 in handle percentage. Max Homa, who has drawn 5.5 percent of the handle at +6000, is currently the sportsbook’s top liability this week.
Zalatoris is PointsBet’s second biggest liability as he has been backed by 6.6 percent of the bets and 9.3 percent of the handle at +3000.
McIlroy is the consensus favourite among the nation’s largest regulated sportsbooks at +1000 as he seeks his first major title since 2014. He is ahead of Xander Schauffele, whose consensus line per TheLines.com is +1400 as he comes off a victory at the Scottish Open.
Consensus Odds Rory McIlroy (+1000) Xander Schauffele (+1400) Jon Rahm (+1600) Scottie Scheffler (+1600) Jordan Spieth (+1600) Matthew Fitzpatrick (+1800) Justin Thomas (+2000) Shane Lowry (+2200) Cameron Smith (+2600) Patrick Cantlay (+2200) Woods opened the week as a consensus +6500 choice.
The event begins Thursday at the iconic Old Course at St. Andrews, which will play host to The Open for the 29th time.
“This is one of the strongest fields we’ve seen with 50 of the top 51 players set to tee it up this week,” said Brett Collson, lead analyst at TheLines.com.
“With a strong field and a course that could be carved up by longer players if the weather stays down, bettors will keep a sharp eye on how the forecast develops over the week.”