World No.1 Adam Scott is joint favourite with Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy to win the British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake next week but compatriot Jason Day could miss his second major in a row.
Scott and McIlroy will begin at odds of 12/1 but Day’s persistent thumb injury may yet rule him out of competing.
Tiger Woods, who recently returned after a lengthy injury layoff, is on the third line of betting with Day and defending champion Phil Mickelson at 20/1. They are behind new US Open champion Martin Kaymer and Swede Henrik Stenson who are listed at 15/1 in the Las Vegas PGA TOUR betting odds released by GolfOdds.com.
"I am still not expecting much from Tiger here, although he does command betting support at 20/1 or higher," says GolfOdds.com’s Jeff Sherman.
"The PGA Tour golfers will now get involved in some European tournaments leading up to the British, so that’s where attention will be turned for looking for golfers coming in playing well.
"Stenson looks like he’s regained his form from the end of last year and is a serious threat. I will again believe that Sergio Garcia is worth supporting in match-ups but not in the odds to win market." Garcia opened at 25/1.
Despite not playing last week, Adam Scott remains entrenched at the top of the latest World Golf Ranking.
The 33-year-old is more than a full point ahead of Stenson, who moved up to second place after finishing second in the European Tour’s BMW International Open in Germany.
Scott has 9.16 points, while Stenson has 8.12.
Moving to third is two-time Masters’ champion Bubba Watson, followed by fellow American Matt Kuchar. Though he failed to make the 36-hole cut in the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club, Woods stayed in fifth place.
Rounding out the top-10 at are Day, McIlroy, England’s Justin Rose, Garcia and Texan Jordan Spieth.
With just the Scottish Open and the John Deere Classic remaining before next week’s Open Championship gets under way, eight Australians are guaranteed a start at Royal Liverpool.
Several spots are still available from both tournaments but at present Adam Scott, Jason Day, John Senden, Matt Jones, Brett Rumford, Marc Leishman, Bryden MacPherson, and Rhein Gibson are in the field.
Rumford starts following a stellar season in Europe last year where he finished inside the top 30 in the Race to Dubai. Leishman’s spot on the International Presidents Cup side earned him a start, while Gibson and MacPherson gained their place in the field courtesy of their good finishes at the Australian Open which served as an International Qualifying event for the Australasian region.
Day suffered his thumb problem in the lead up to this year’s Masters but opted to play through the injury.
He was not competitive but finished a respectable 20th. However he appeared to have aggravated the injury while playing and needed another rest on the sidelines.
Day stayed off the course for over a month before returning at the Memorial Tournament in the first week of June.
He came back to share fourth in the US Open but the issue has continued to dog him as he finished 18th at the Travelers Championship before missing the cut at the recent Quickens Loans National.
The Queenslander was forced to shelve plans to play in last week’s Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia and there is a cloud over his chances of attempting to improve his record in the British Open, which has not matched his excellent performances in the US majors.
Day has played in three Opens – he was 60th on debut at St Andrews in 2010, 30th at Royal St George’s in 2011 and 32nd at Muirfield last year.
By: Robert Grant