The Open Championship In-Play Betting Tips: Keegan to kick on in our treble

The Open Championship is underway but that doesn't stop Jamie Worsley from working his magic. So without further ado, here are Jamie's specials Open Championship In-Play Betting Tips.

Golf Odds

The opening round of the 152^nd Open Championship at Royal Troon is in the bag and after a thrillingly difficult, windy day – on which many big names struggled - we have an unexpected name sitting at the top of the leaderboard.

Open Championship leaderboard after round one:

1^st – Daniel Brown (-6)

2^nd – Shane Lowry (-5)

3^rd – Justin Thomas (-3)

T4 – Justin Rose (-2)

T4 – Joe Dean (-2)

T4 – Xander Schauffele (-2)

T4 – Nicolai Hojgaard (-2)

T4 – Mackenzie Hughes (-2)

T4 – Alex Noren (-2)

T4 – Russell Henley (-2)

That man is Englishman, Daniel Brown, who capitalised on kinder conditions late in the day – teeing off in the second-last group – to fire a bogey-free 65; not only on his Open Championship debut but his first ever round in a major. The DP World Tour winner had been in poor form of late, making his first cut in seven starts at last week’s Scottish Open, but he put all that to one side, leading the field off-the-tee and ranking 2^nd in greens-in-regulation and putting on his way to that 6-under par round.

Irishman, Shane Lowry had not long since set the clubhouse lead, himself going bogey-free with a 5-under 66. Both of these men surpassed our early leader, Justin Thomas, after the two-time PGA Championship winner rallied from a double bogey on 12, by birdying his last two holes and finished the day in 3^rd at -3.

There were positive starts for this year’s PGA Championship winner, Xander Schauffele and look out for former grocery delivery driver Joe Dean, who has turned his career around with some excellent finishes on the DPWT this season, and joins Schauffele in that seven strong group in 4^th place.

Lurking just a further shot behind is a quartet of major champions, including the world #1 Scottie Scheffler, along with Brooks Koepka, Matt Fitzpatrick and Adam Scott.

For every big name who went well, it feels like there were two who played poorly. 2022 Open Championship winner, Cameron Smith shot his worst ever round in the event of 80 and sits 145^th of 156 players after 18 holes. Tiger Woods shot just one better with a +8; Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark sit on +7 and the impressive winner of the US Open at Pinehurst, Bryson DeChambeau sits just inside the top-100 on +5. All with a huge amount of work to do if wanting to make the weekend in Scotland.

SELECTIONS

Conditions for round two look very similar to Thursday, with strong, gusty winds forecast throughout Friday.

Whilst we suffered some disappointments from the pre-event selections on day one, there were also plenty of positives, including both the headline pick, Xander Schauffele (12/1) and my outsider, Mackenzie Hughes (300/1) sitting in 4^th place.

This means I have no interest in dipping back into the outright market at this stage and will instead focus on those second round 3-balls.

Chris Kirk to beat Stewart Cink & Dominic Clemons

Chris Kirk beat playing partners, Stewart Cink and Dominic Clemons, by six and seven shots respectively yesterday and at odds-against, he looks an attractive price to get the better of them again on Friday.

Kirk has found a little consistency entering this week, making his last three cuts – including finishing 26^th in the US Open – after missing his previous three. Opening with a 1-under 70 on Thursday, when he made just the one bogey, he looks liking continuing that recent run in Scotland.

All areas of his game looked solid yesterday, ranking 24^th tee-to-green and 25^th in putting. He scrambled better than anyone, 7/7 for up-and-downs and was also among the straightest drivers, ranking 4^th in driving accuracy.

In contrast, Stewart Cink ranked 70^th-or-worse in every area in round one, whilst 21-year-old amateur, Clemons relied heavily on the putter, ranking 31^st.

Cink has been playing well on the PGA Tour Champions this year, though hasn’t really featured on the leaderboard when teeing it up on the PGA Tour, and though Clemons has some good links form in the amateur ranks, this is obviously a huge step up. One that he struggled with on Thursday.

With two PGA Tour wins to his name in the last two years, both in events that could correlate to this championship, Kirk is the clear choice of this trio and looks a must-bet at anything even money or bigger.

Keegan Bradley to beat Will Zalatoris & Gordon Sargent

Keegan Bradley won his 3-ball against Will Zalatoris and Gordon Sargent on Thursday, and with big question marks hanging over both of his playing partners, I don’t see them reversing that result today.

Bradley opened with a 3-over 74 yesterday, which was enough to beat Zalatoris by two shots and Sargent by six. He drove the ball well, ranking 25^th off-the-tee in round one, and looked sharp around-the-greens, though hit a couple of loose irons on the back nine and had a tough day on the greens.

Will Zalatoris has been struggling with his back again in recent months, which has led to a very poor run of form, as he’s without a top-40 in his last seven starts and withdrew from the Rocket Mortgage Classic due to this issue two starts ago. He showed little positivity throughout his bag yesterday and with those lingering injury problems it’s hard to see him turning that around.

Sargent, meanwhile, may be the best amateur around at the minute but he’s largely failed to make his mark when teeing it up with the pros. He hit the ball really poorly yesterday, ranking 149^th of 156 in ball-striking and it would take a drastic turnaround to see him trouble this Friday 3-ball.

Coming into this week, Bradley had been playing well, making his last eight cuts, including at the previous three majors; at which he’d finished no worse than 32^nd. Those two areas in which he struggled yesterday have both been an asset this season, ranking 13^th in this field on the greens over his last 20 rounds and his approach play has always been a strength. If he can get those areas clicking today, he should be hard to beat.

Adam Hadwin to beat Lucas Glover & Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Adam Hadwin only managed to tie with Christiaan Bezuidenhout in this 3-ball yesterday, as he shot +4 due to a terrible day on the greens. He hit the ball excellently though and as a usually strong putter, I fancy him to go better than his two playing partners today.

Ranking 2^nd in greens-in-regulation and 3^rd off-the-tee, Hadwin was the 11^th-best ball-striker in the field on Thursday. However he was 154^th of 156 players in putting.

In comparison, Bezuidenhout struggled in most areas, with scrambling the only stat in which he ranked inside the top-50 and the final man in this group, Lucas Glover – who shot two-strokes worse than the other two on Friday – didn’t hit the ball well and got little help from his short game.

Each of this trio had shown form coming into this week. Though Bezuidenhout’s withdrawal from last week’s Scottish Open, after jarring his wrist playing out of a bunker, would be somewhat of a concern in relation to his overall fitness. Whils Glover has been solid, he hasn’t produced anything anywhere near as good as Hadwin’s 3^rd in the Memorial Tournament just four starts ago.

I’m hoping that the Canadian can find his usual class with the putter today and if able to combine it with the quality of yesterday’s ball-striking, he should take the beating in this 3-ball.

*You can get all the up to date and live The Open Championship 2024 Odds over on betfred.com

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