Henrik Stenson will try to turn around an inconsistent season as he gets set to defend his British Open title as a +2500 wager at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The 41-year-old has missed the cut in five of his past 10 PGA Tour and European Tour events, including the Masters and the U.S. Open, both of which he entered sporting +3000 odds. But Stenson has shown signs of turning the corner after breaking 70 in five of his past eight rounds going into Thursday morning’s start of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.
After finishing in the top three at the Open Championship on three previous occasions, Stenson broke through last year, claiming his first major tournament victory at Royal Troon with an impressive 20-under par to pay out on long +2800 odds. However, he shot a combined +11 in the first two majors of 2017.
Stenson tees off on Thursday partnered with Dustin Johnson, who joins two-time major tournament winner Jordan Spieth at the top of the odds to win the British Open as +1400 co-favourites.
Johnson took the golf world by storm in 2016, recording 15 top-10 finishes including his first major win at the U.S. Open, where he overcame a four-stroke deficit entering the final round to reward bettors on generous +1200 odds. Johnson, though, suffered a back injury just prior to the first round of this year’s Masters, and has been limited to just five tour appearances since.
With eight of the past 10 majors being won by a first-time major tournament winner, the field is wide open at this year’s British Open.
Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm travel to England looking for their first major win, and are knotted at +1600, well ahead of Hideki Matsuyama, who joins 2014 Open Championship winner Rory McIlroy and 2013 U.S. Open winner Justin Rose at +2000. England’s Tommy Fleetwood looks to build on a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open as a +2200 bet.
Fowler’s fifth-place finish at the U.S. Open marked his first top-10 finish at a major since 2014, while Rahm has rocketed to No. 7 on the World Golf Ranking with seven top-10 finishes and two wins this season, including a stunning 24-under performance to win the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open earlier this month as a +1400 wager at online betting sites.
Matsuyama has climbed to No. 2 on the world ranking on the strength of a pair of tournament victories this season, and has shot five rounds of 68 or less over his past two tournament appearances.
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