2022 British Opens Odds & Expert Picks: Bets for Tony Finau, Christiaan Bezuidenhout at St. Andrews

Bet the British Open, Win $200 (No Matter What!)

Bet Now

We had a couple chances on Sunday with Jordan Smith and Matti Schmid both getting late tee times for the final rounds on Sunday, but neither played well at all to close out the Scottish Open or Barbasol Championship unfortunately.

Now, we're on to the final major of the season with the Open Championship at St. Andrews.

Not much of a lead-in is necessary here. St. Andrews has been fairly straightforward over the years as long as the weather doesn't get involved. If the current forecast holds, it doesn't appear like it will be too much of a factor this time around.

The must-have app for golf bettors

Custom scoreboard for your bets

Free picks from experts

Live odds for every golfer

Download Now

The Course

The Old Course is set to play a little over 7,300 yards for a par-72. The scoring hasn't been too difficult without the aforementioned weather. The last four winners each reached at least 14-under par, which is fairly low for a major championship. The Opens as whole have been fairly gettable lately with five of the last seven winners reaching 15-under or better.

We've seen a solid run of winners here historically with strong Augusta pedigree. Most recently Zach Johnson in 2015, but also Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballestros and Jack Nicklaus. But on the flip side, we also had Louis Oosthuizen in 2010. It doesn't look too crazy now given his track record for contending in majors, but at the time of his victory he'd only made one cut in eight major starts so if there ends up being a decent tee draw edge, it can open up this field quite a bit.

The Favorites

Rory McIlroy opens as the favorite at around +1000. He was third here in 2010 which included a second round 80 on the awful side of a weather draw, then missed the 2015 version with an injury. The form has been great this year, especially in majors where he's finished inside the top 10 in the first three.

Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm are next up at around +1400. Schauffele has taken over the hottest golfer in the world title from Scottie Scheffler with wins in each of his last two starts. Both he and Rahm will be making their Old Course debuts this week.

Behind them are Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Matthew Fitzpatrick between +1600 and +1800. Spieth is the only one of the bunch who has played here before, finishing fourth in 2015. Both he and Fitzpatrick are coming off top-10s in the Scottish Open on Sunday, while Scheffler missed the cut.

In the +2000s, we see Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Cameron Smith, Will Zalatoris, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa. Lowry has played here twice, but the best result was just 37th. He's reached a different level in his career in that time, though, so it's hard to read too much into those results.

Of this range, Scheffler and Smith were early adds to the card during the first couple months of the year at +4000. I wouldn't play Scheffler at the current number, but Smith in the high +2000s is definitely still worth a look. He's coming off a good week at the Scottish where he finished 10th and improved his ball striking quite a bit. I'm not sure how popular he'll be but if there's some drift during the week into the +3000s, then he'd be a solid play given how well he's played this season.

Get a Free $250 INSTANTLY To Bet the Open Championship.

Bet Now

The Mid-Tier

With the two aforementioned bets already on the card, I won't be betting a whole lot down in this range, but I'll start here with Tony Finau at +5000 at BetMGM, BetRivers or WynnBet. Finau hasn't played the Old Course, but has solid Open form. He's made all five cuts with no finish worse than 27th. His third in 2019 is the best major finish of his career, so this has been a spot where he's been comfortable in the past. Outside of a bad driving week at the U.S. Open last month, his ball striking has been solid for a couple months now.

Bet the British Open risk-free up to $1,000.

Bet Now

The Longshots

With the depth of talent in golf and the form of the best players in solid shape, we haven't seen too many longshots this season.

But St. Andrews has been a place for players to pop up. The last two winners, Johnson and Oosthuizen, could both have been found at triple digits prior to their wins, so this isn't a bad spot to take a chance.

One play I have that's no longer available in this range is Max Homa at 150-1. He's about a third of that price now at most places. If something in the +7000s or 8000s pop up somewhere, he'd be worth a look, but I'm not really looking at his current number.

Instead, I'll be going down here with Christiaan Bezuidenhout at 110-1 on FanDuel. Bezuidenhout was 16th at the Scottish and second at the John Deere over the past two weeks. He's also got four top-20 finishes in his past six starts. In those high-end finishes, he's been able to pair up a solid approach game with a good putting week. Bezuidenhout doesn't have a high major finish to date, but he has made the cut in seven of 10 starts.

Open Championship Card

• Tony Finau +5000 (.66 units)
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout +12000 (.25 units)

Total Stake: 0.91 units

Bet the Open Championship at FanDuel, get a $1,000 risk-free bet.

Bet Now