The Daily Sweat: Get your bets in for the British Open
Golf’s last major of the year is upon us.
The 150th British Open begins while most of us are sleeping Wednesday night into Thursday morning. That’s why you need to make sure you get your bets in on Wednesday.
Let’s start with the basics. Rory McIlroy is the BetMGM favorite at +1000 and has held that status for quite some time. Xander Schauffele became the No. 2 favorite at +1400 after winning the Scottish Open. After them, there’s a four-way tie at +1800 between Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler. Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry are at +2200.
McIlroy is looking for his second British Open title and has finished in the top 20 in each of his last seven tournaments since missing the cut at the Texas Open the week before the Masters.
Five of those top 20s have been top 10s and McIlroy won the RBC Canadian Open. The favorite is +220 to get a top five at the British Open and +100 to get a top 10.
Schauffele is +275 to finish in the top five and +140 to get a top 10. He’s also -300 to finish in the top 40 while McIlroy leads all golfers there at -450.
Tiger Woods is +100 to finish in the top 40 after his odds to win have gotten longer. He’s BetMGM’s biggest liability ahead of the tournament as bettors are, unsurprisingly, hoping that Woods will win his third British Open at St. Andrews. But that didn’t deter the book from moving Woods’ odds from +4000 to +6600 as it publicly expressed doubts that he would be able to physically handle the toll of walking four rounds.
Woods is +1200 to finish in the top five and +600 to finish in the top 10.
He’s also +4000 to be the top American at the British Open. Thirteen players are ahead of him on the board in that category including LIV Tour defectors Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. Johnson has the best odds of any LIV golfer to win the Open at +3300 while Koepka is at +4000 and DeChambeau is down to +6600 after Bridgestone ended its relationship with him.
You can bet a lot more than a golfer’s finishing position as well. One of the most-bet props at BetMGM is a hole-in-one. You can bet on a hole-in-one happening at any point during the tournament at -165. The most-bet prop is McIlroy to come out firing and be the leader after the first round. He’s +2200 to be atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s play concludes.
There’s a prop bet regarding Woods’ Thursday performance too. He’s at -125 to shoot a 68 or lower, -110 to make five or more birdies or better, +350 to birdie his first hole, +800 to make an eagle and +1000 to be bogey free throughout his first 18 holes of the tournament.
Orioles and Mariners look to stay hot
The Baltimore Orioles are officially at .500 after winning their ninth consecutive game on Tuesday night against the Cubs. Baltimore is still in last in the AL East but is now 44-44. The O’s are slight underdogs on Wednesday against the Cubs at +110 to make it 10 in a row and you can get Baltimore getting 1.5 runs at -185.
The Mariners, meanwhile, remained stuck on eight straight wins Tuesday night after their game at Washington was rained out. That game was pushed to Wednesday as part of a doubleheader. The first pitch is just after Noon ET as Chris Flexen takes on Josiah Gray. The second game follows shortly after the first and Tommy Milone will take the mound for Seattle against Erick Fedde.
Women’s Euro 2022 continues
If you’re looking for your soccer betting fix you can bet on the women’s Euro 2022 tournament. Sweden takes on Switzerland at Noon ET while the Netherlands faces Portugal at 3 p.m. ET. Sweden is a heavy favorite at -650 to win while Switzerland is at +1650 to win in regular time. The Netherlands is at -250 to win while Portugal is at +625. Portugal and Switzerland tied in their first Group C match while the Netherlands and Sweden also drew with each other.
England and Germany have already clinched advancement to the quarterfinals with their strong performances over their first two games. England demolished Norway on Monday to move to the top of Group A while Germany took care of Spain on Tuesday for six points in two games.
Who cashed tickets Tuesday?
The White Sox and Guardians split a doubleheader on Tuesday while the Cardinals hung on for a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at home. The Oakland A’s got a grand slam from Chad Pinder in the 12th inning for a 14-7 win over the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants hit the over all by themselves in a 13-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
