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PGA 2012 British Open Preview/Picks & Gambling Lines

PGA Betting – 2012 British Open Tournament Predictions

The third major of the year goes down this weekend and for those of us in North America, get your breakfast ready and watch the contenders struggle their way around what promises to be a damp and difficult Royal Lytham.  

2012 British Open
Location: Lytham St Annes, England, United Kingdom
Course: Royal Lytham
Date: Jul 19-22, 2012
Total Purse: US $ 8,000,000
Winner’s Share: US $ 1,451,830 (18% of total purse)

Defending Champion: Darren Clarke ($1,451,830)

The rough is reportedly nasty making the accurate rather than the bombers the ones to watch this week – the sexy ball-striking stat may not be as heavily looked upon this week as in other majors. Besides the rough, the weather will likely play a huge role, the bunkers will pose a problems and the narrow fairways and small greens will be a test – any why not?

This is a major!

Let’s take a look at some of the names to keep an eye on this weekend.

The Favorites:

Tiger Woods 4/1

Any Major means that Tiger has to be in the hunt, especially since he has won three times on TOUR already this year. He’s fifth on the PGA TOUR in total driving, he ranks 11th in greens hit, 22nd in Strokes Gained-Putting and first in adjusted scoring. His accuracy has returned and he won’t have to bring out his driver at all – intriguing to say the least. But with a stellar field and some wildly inconsistent play, it is hard to back Tiger this week.

Rory McIlroy 10/1

It is safe to say that Rory is not in top form at the moment – two top-10s in his last six starts worldwide. He will need to be on top of his game to win here. I just can’t see Rory suddenly putting it all together this week against this Top field.

Luke Donald 15/1

The World #1 has never fared well at this event for some reason – two top-10s in 11 starts in the British Open that occurred in 2009 and 2010 are all that he has mustered. But with improvements in his all around game, he could reasonably contend in an event that requires some serious touch!

Lee Westwood 15/1

Is there any golfer in the world that is due like Westwood? I didn’t think so – six top threes and two more top 10s in his last 11 starts in majors. All he does is contend on the biggest stages minus last year’s British in which he unbelievably missed the cut. He is a tad injured at the moment but expect his name to be prevalent as per usual.

The Contenders:

Padraig Harrington 20/1

Has won the British twice in the past and is playing arguably his best golf in a very long time at the moment – a T16 at the Scottish Open was his fifth consecutive top 20. He also has top 10s in both majors so far this year. Harrington is back and is dangerous once again!

Justin Rose 30/1

Rose’s game is well suited for this course making him a popular choice to win it all this week. But he hasn’t done well traditionally at this event – one top-10 in 10 starts was a T4 as an amateur in 1998. He has eight top 10s this year and one win and he has the accuracy, the short game and the putter to make some noise this week.

Graeme McDowell 30/1

McDowell hasn’t tasted victory since 2010? Amazing! He has been close however – his accuracy, his genius out of the sand and his steadily improved putting should keep him in contention this week. McDowell deserves a win and my bet is that he will improve his US Open finish (solo second) by one this week!

Dustin Johnson 40/1

Will be looking for his first Major… again. He finished second in the British last year and was 14th in 2010 so we know that he is not intimidated by the conditions. He likes the muck and will almost certainly carve up the shortish Par 5s this week. Johnson is maybe the best value on the board.

Hunter Mahan 40/1

Unfortunately, Mahan’s weaknesses could be his downfall this week – he ranks 142nd in birdies or better on par-5s and 120th in sand saves.

Jason Dufner 40/1

Welcome back Mr. Dufner –where have you been? He has two wins, a solo second and a T4 (at the U.S. Open) in his last five starts but hasn’t fared well here – two starts and two missed cuts. Duf is 16th on the PGA TOUR in fairways hit and sixth in greens in regulation and he is very good out of the sand. I love Dufner but another improbable win may be asking too much!

Francesco Molinari 40/1

Played very well last week at the Scottish but came up short settling for his second straight runner-up finish and sixth top 10 in his last eight starts worldwide. He is accurate, he is tenacious and he is pissed after finishing second two straight weeks. Watch out for this Italian – he could be scary. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

The Sleepers:

Steve Stricker 66/1

I have to go back to accuracy and Stricker is just that – great off the tee and superb on the greens. Stricker played well last week and may be out to avenge a defeat that was snatched from the mouth of victory.

Zach Johnson 80/1

Why not? At 80/1 his magic putter has to give him some sort of edge doesn’t it?

The Pick:

My pick this week is Graeme McDowell at 30/1. He has shown good form in majors and on a British Open course that resembles the US Open course, I love him to emerge victorious. I also love Molinari at 40é1 but I am taking McDowell.

My sleeper is Steve Stricker at 66/1. Accurracy, accuracy, accuracy!

2012 British Open Betting Lines & Future Odds

CLICK TO BET 

Tiger Woods 8/1  
Lee Westwood 14/1  
Luke Donald 14/1  
Rory McIlroy 16/1  
Padraig Harrington 18/1  
Francesco Molinari 30/1  
Graeme McDowell 30/1  
Justin Rose 30/1  
Martin Kaymer 33/1  
Phil Mickelson 33/1  
Sergio Garcia 33/1  
Louis Oosthuizen 35/1  
Adam Scott 40/1  
Dustin Johnson 40/1  
Ernie Els 40/1  
Ian Poulter 40/1  
Rickie Fowler 40/1  
Jason Dufner 40/1  
Bubba Watson 40/1  
Hunter Mahan 40/1  
Jim Furyk 40/1  
Matt Kuchar 40/1  
Peter Hanson 50/1  
Charl Schwartzel 50/1  
Paul Lawrie 50/1  
Fredrik Jacobson 50/1  
Geoff Ogilvy 50/1  
George Coetzee 50/1  
Matteo Manassero (Suspended) 50/1
Nick Watney 50/1  
Nicolas Colsaerts 50/1  
Ross Fisher 50/1  
Steve Stricker 66/1  
Thomas Bjorn 66/1  
Zach Johnson 50/1  
Ben Curtis 66/1  
Bo Van Pelt 66/1  
Branden Grace 66/1  
Keegan Bradley 66/1  
K.J. Choi 66/1  
Martin Laird 66/1  
Ratief Goosen 80/1  
Aaron Baddeley 80/1  
Alexander Noren 80/1  
Alvaro Quiros 80/1  
Andres Romero 80/1  
Brandt Snedeker 80/1  
Jamie Donaldson 100/1  
Rafael Cabrera -Bello 100/1  
Raphael Jacquelin 100/1  
Robert Karlsson 100/1  
Simon Dyson 100/1  
Anders Hansen 100/1  
Angel Cabrera 100/1  
Bill Haas 100/1  
Carl Pettersson 125/1  
Gary Woodland 125/1  
John Senden 100/1  
Marcel Siem 125/1  
Michael Hoey 125/1  
Miguel Angel Jimenez 125/1  
Richard Sterne 125/1  
Robert Rock 125/1  
Stewart Cink 125/1  
Thongchai Jaidee 125/1  
Thorbjorn Olesen 125/1  
Trevor Immelman 125/1  
Y-E Yang 125/1  
Charles Howell III 125/1  
Darren Clarke 125/1  
Davis Love III 150/1  
Greg Owen 150/1  
Harris English 150/1  
John Daly 150/1  
Jonathan Byrd 150/1  
Paul Casey 150/1  
Robert Allenby 150/1  
Ryo Ishikawa 150/1  
Sang-Moon Bae 150/1  
Thomas Aiken 150/1  
Tim Clark 150/1  
Vijay Singh 150/1  
Jeev M Singh 125/1  
Chad Campbell 125/1  
Gonzalo Fernandez 200/1  
Gregory Havret 200/1  
Jbe’ Kruger 200/1  
John Huh 200/1  
Johnson Wagner 200/1  
Kevin Na 100/1  
Kyle Stanley 200/1  
Kyung-Tae Kim 200/1  
Lucas Glover 200/1  
Marc Leishman 200/1  
Mark Wilson 200/1  
Pablo Larrazabal 200/1  
Richie Ramsay 200/1  
Stephen Ames 200/1  
Troy Matteson 100/1  
Alejandro Canizares 250/1  
Bob Estes 250/1  
Greg Chalmers 250/1  
James Morrison 250/1  
Joost Luiten 250/1  
Justin Leonard 250/1  
Marcus Fraser 250/1  
Richard Finch 250/1  
Alan Dunbar 300/1  
Garth Mulroy 300/1  
James Driscoll 300/1  
Lee Slattery 300/1  
Tom Lehman 300/1  
Tom Watson 200/1  
Toru Taniguchi 300/1  
Daniel Chopra 400/1  
Matthew Baldwin 400/1  
Simon Khan 400/1  
Andrew Georgiou 500/1  
Brad Kennedy 500/1  
Brendan Jones 500/1  
Chez Reavie 500/1  
David Duval 500/1  
Hiroyuki Fujita 500/1  
Justin Hicks 500/1  
Juvic Pagunsan 500/1  
Koumei Oda 500/1  
Mark Calcavecchia 500/1  
Morten Orum Madsen 500/1  
Paul Broadhurst 500/1  
Prayad Marksaeng 500/1  
Rafa Echenique 500/1  
Sam Walker 500/1  
Steven O’Hara 500/1  
Steven Tiley 500/1  
Ted Potter 300/1  
Todd Hamilton 500/1  
Toshinori Muto 500/1  
Troy Kelly 500/1  
Warren Bennett 500/1  
Yoshinori Fujinoto 500/1  
Barry Lane 750/1  
Steven Alker 750/1  
Aaron Townsend 1000/1  
Adilson Da Silva 1000/1  
Anirban Lahiri 1000/1  
Ashley Hall 1000/1  
Dale Whitnell 1000/1  
Elliot Saltman 1000/1  
Grant Veenstra 1000/1  
Ian Keenan 1000/1  
Kodai Ichihara 1000/1  
Mardan Mamat 1000/1  
Nicholas Cullen 1000/1  
Russ Cochran 1000/1  
Sandy Lyle 1000/1  
Scott Pinckney 1000/1  
Tadahiro Takayama 1000/1  
Manuel Trappel 1000/1 

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