Top Prop Bets for the 2021 Open Championship

The final major of the year comes with an assortment of betting opportunities. All of the traditional markets are available – from odds to win to a massive head-to-head matchup selection – but there’s a lot more on the table this particular week.

I’m referring to the variety of Open Championship props that most of the top golf betting sites have unleashed. After surfing through the options, here are five wagers you may want to consider.

I’ll take the under. Unless the conditions turn torrential and/or the wind blows steadily over 20 mph, it’s unlikely that one of the touring professionals who qualified for this event will shoot 86 or higher.

There are eight amateurs in this year’s field and a few elderly past champions, however, all the past champs teeing it up are still active and are playing good golf.

While guys like Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, and Darren Clarke chose to play, names like Todd Hamilton, David Duval, Mark Calcavecchia did not.

Why did the latter names choose not to play?

Perhaps the difficulty of Royal St George’s was one of the leading deterrents. The winning score here in ’03 was 1-under par; only four men finished the week in red numbers here in 2011.

Three #TheOpen courses since 2003 have yielded a GIR percentage under 56% for the week. Two of those weeks have been at Royal St George’s (55.0% in 2011, 55.9% in 2003). Royal Birkdale in 2008 is the other.July 12, 2021

Amateur Craig Hinton fired an 87 on Friday at the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s, although that was the lone score recorded over 83 for the week. Remember, this is a par-70 golf course in 2021.

Once again, my money’s on the under. The difference here is we only have to lay -115 instead of coughing up -130.

Research works against my prediction as 65 was the lowest score shot the last time The Open was held at this venue. In fact, not a single sub-67 round was recorded over the last three days at the 2011 British Open.

With that being said, there’s a whole lot of firepower descending upon South East England this week.

Gary Player called Royal St. George’s the easiest of The Open golf courses, highlighting wind as its primary defense in this article.

And while the 2019 British Open was contested miles away at Royal Portrush, it’s worth noting that six scores of 65 or lower were registered, including Shane Lowry’s 63 (-8) in the third round.

Even if the gales don’t turn extreme, a constant flow of 10-15 mph is enough to cause problems. Hence, of all the British Open prop bets, this is the one I fancy the most.

Expecting to see the line for this wager to be set closer to 8-10, here’s a possible explanation. The oddsmakers are likely the oddsmakers a bit skewed due to 29 players shooting under par at the last Open Championship when Royal Portrush was playing “gettable.”

Frankly, that’s neither here nor there.

Expect the circumstances to toughen up over the weekend – which will lead to red numbers disappearing from the leaderboard.

75-75 was good enough to make the cut at the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St George’s. 72-72 at the 2011 Open (at Royal St George’s) sent a player home packing. Golf is a funny game.

Keep in mind, there is no 10-shot rule at The Open. The top 70 players plus ties after the completion of 36 holes will make the cut – plain and simple.

As appealing as it is to capture the plus-money attached to the over, I think the cut falls at 143 or 144.

There’s just a 10% chance of precipitation on Thursday and Friday, and the forecast anticipates the wind to top out at around 15 mph. Should that projection hold up, it’s hard to envision five-over-par being good enough to stick around for the weekend.

Here’s one more piece of advice regarding the selection of Open Championship prop bets. The bookies not giving any love to the reigning PGA Championship winner has nothing to do with them not liking Mickelson.

They’re simply trying to lure the public into placing a bet on Phil. I’ll pass.

Garrick Higgo is intriguing but has sincerely tapered off since his magical run from April to June. Dating back to his victory at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree, three missed cuts and a T41 are all the young South African has to show for his efforts.

Brian Harman has posted eight top-20s in his last 10 starts, although don’t jump the gun on the University of Georgia product. Harman, is coming off an MC at the John Deere Classic and hasn’t exactly fared well in this event in the past.

And then there’s Bob MacIntyre, the sharp Scotsman who finished T6 in his only other start in a British Open. MacIntyre goes off at 2:59 pm on Thursday with Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler in one of the Open Championship tee times you won’t want to miss.

Having connected on eight straight cuts, look for Bob to rise to the occasion. 

After getting your hands on these British Open props, be sure to save some funds for additional Open Championship betting online. There are lots of other markets to attack and the DFS golf lobby is on fire.

When you’re ready to shift your attention to these other arenas, check out the following two posts.