How Las Vegas sees The Open Championship
Three Sundays ago, I calmly placed my to win tickets on Dustin Johnson on my refrigerator after he three putted from twelve feet on the 18th green to win and then lose the US Open. Inside I was steaming, the placement in full view serves as a reminder to never wager on Dustin again. Sports betting in Las Vegas, or for that matter, anywhere, is not for the faint of heart.
The 144th Open Championship kicks off this Thursday at the home of golf, The Old Course at St. Andrews. This will be a very early tee time for me as the ESPN television coverage begins at 1AM local time on the west coast. Draft Kings as well as the other sites offering golf will have major contests for this event.
In 2010, the last time the Open was held at St. Andrews, a then 27 year old unknown, South African, Louis Oosthuizen lapped the field with a 7 stroke victory in poor weather conditions. The final leader board was dominated by Europeans with only two Americans, Nick Whatney and Sean O'Hair finishing in the top 10.
Las Vegas bookmakers have , of course installed Jordan Speith, golf's wonder boy and hottest player in world as the tournament favorite at 6 to 1.
Some other interesting names and lines include:
Dustin Johnson 12/1
Justin Rose 15/1
Rickie Fowler 15/1
Jason Day 25/1
Louis Oosthuizen 20/1
Sergio Garcia 30/1
Phil Mickelson 30/1
Tiger Woods 30/1
Recreational bettors will line up at the windows to place wagers on Tiger, Phil. Sergio and other household names not withstanding their current form or lack thereof. These players have not shown me any recent form to make a to win outright wager on The DFS sites have followed suit with the Las Vegas favorites carrying the highest salaries for the week.
For both my wagering and DFS purposes, I am looking at a core of these four players:
Henrik Stenson 20/1 DK $10,200. Swenson finished T3 at St. Andrews in 2010, a second place finish in 2013 and T39 in last years event. He was also 2nd in his last start, the BMW International Open.
Louis Oosthuizen 20/1 DK $9,900. Obviously he likes the course as evidenced by his win here in 2010. He is also coming off a T2 at the US Open, a course with similar conditions. His back is always a question mark, but he took last week off to prepare for this event.
Victor Dubuisson 60/1 DK $7,500 Dubuisson has had a down year on the PGA tour making only 2 of 6 cuts. His recent form overseas is better, finishing 12th and 10th in his last 2 starts. He finished T9 in last years Open Championship.
Sure, I will sprinkle a little bit on Jordon Speith, but when wagering golf, similar to the big GPP's, I am looking to play the golfers with low usage and high odds.
