The Open, St. Andrews, 15-18th July

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A thread for discussions, trades and so on...

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I've put on the following (or queuing on Daq but will take so will confirm prices once taken):

£10s
Ernie Els @ 23 - taken
Justin Rose @ 23.64 (averaged) - taken
Padraig Harrington @ 28 - taken
Luke Donald @ 45 - taken

£2.50s
Ryan Moore @ 110 - taken
Ricky Barnes @ 164 - taken
Ben Curtis @ 160 - taken
Bubba Watson @ 170 - taken

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Hope we can do well, gl

[sKiTz0]

Are these backs or lays musicbox?

I haven't done much trading, have had a bit of a flutter with the lay the draw strategy, and concluded that my game selection needs to be better.

I've been doing bookies and casinos for exactly a year now, so have a nice little float to be playing with, and was thinking of starting out properly on a tournament like this. As it seems perfect to get started on.

After that I'm going to be getting into it more when the football season starts.

[slim]

I have £2 on each of the following.

Ian Poulter 36
Sergio Garcia 100
Henrik Stenson 110
Justin Leonard 270
Mike Weir 370

I actually don't think any of these guys will win (possible exception is Poulter), but I do think any of them could have a good first day or couple of days and have their odds drop enough to make a few quid.

[bella]

Tiger Woods 10.00 7.2
Phil Mickelson 10.00 21
Lee Westwood 10.00 22
Ian Poulter 10.00 36

[Diamondgeezer]

Got £200 on Tiger at 8 with Betfred which I layed at 7.8 with a £200 refund if he misses cut by one stroke.

£100 on Harrington to place at 8.6 on the 1/3 odds Eurobet offer.

Have layed Tiger for enough to scare myself silly all weekend at 7.6.

Racing Post reccommend dabbles on Singh, Bjorn and Caberra if you are looking for a big priced runner.

Rose, Poulter and Els at the lower prices.

[musicbox]

Hi skitz, they're back bets.

They’re all back bets.

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The last ‘40 years’ of Open winners at St Andrews

2005: Tiger Woods (Masters 5th, US Open 1st)
2000: Tiger Woods (Masters 1st, US Open 2nd)
1995: John Daly Masters T45, US Open T45)
1990: Nick Faldo (Masters 1st, US Open T3)
1984: Seve Ballesteros (Masters missed cut, US Open T30)
1978: Jack Nicklaus (Masters 7th, US Open T6)
1970: Jack Nicklaus (Masters 8th, US Open T49)

The Masters and the US Open are the two majors which precede the Open over here. So looking at those ‘40 years’ of winners at St Andrews, 9 out of 14 results in the two majors leading up were top 10 finishes.

Even though I really like Mickelson and he won the Masters and finished T4 at the US Open this year, I've not gone for him because he has played two Opens at St Andrews, finishing 11th in 2000 and T60 in 2005. Whilst he has an astonishing Masters record (top 10 a total of 10 times, 3 of which he won), his Open record is surprisingly poor? Since 2000, he's been T11, T30, T66, T59, 3rd, T60, T22, missed cut, and T19 the last time he appeared in 2008.

And the winner of the US Open, Graham McDowell, missed the cut at the Masters and his Open outing at St Andrews in 2005 resulted in T11 finish which was his highest Open finish out of the 6 he's entered (2 missed cuts, T61, T19 and T34 make up the other results for him). So again, I’ve not gone for him.

The only thing that put me off betting Tiger Woods was his personal life to be honest. I mean things do point to him being there or thereabouts but any man that’s only slept with 35 porn stars in their life isn’t really a man is he? I’d had over 40 by the time I was 16. LOSER!

I've not gone through them all because I'm about to start on number 41 but my Wikipedia ramblings...

Ernie Els
2010: Masters T18, US Open 3rd
His three Open outings at St Andrews have resulted in T11 (1995), T2 (2000) and T34 (2005) and out of his last 10 Open outings overall, he’s made top 10 a total of 8 times! Also this year he won the WGC-CA Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational and shows an overall total of 6 top 10 PGA finishes this year. So for these all these reasons, I’m in!

Justin Rose
2010: Masters DNP, US Open DNP
He’s not had an Open outing at St Andrews but his last three Opens resulted in T12, T70 and T13 places. So it’s quite a shot in the dark on this basis but there are some positives this year; Honda Classic - 3rd, Memorial Tournament – 1st, Travelers Championship – T9 (was leading into final round) and this month he won the AT&T National. So on one hand there’s little impressive overall but like any sport, confidence goes a long way and it would be hard to have little confidence on the back of such good results in a short time-span I would suggest.

Ricky Barnes
2010: Masters T10, US Open T27
This is a guy who has not only never played an Open at St Andrews but he’s simply never played an Open. He won a 2-man team event this year but other than that I think I’ve lost the plot here. Oh wait… he’s had 6 top 10 finishes on the PGA tour this year. And he’s called Ricky… what more do you want?

Ben Curtis
2010: Masters missed cut, US Open T14
I bet on this guy as I mistook him for being related to Tony Curtis.

Bubba Watson
2010: Masters DNP, US Open DNP
Another guy who hasn’t played an Open at St Andrews. In fact, the only Open he’s played he missed the cut (last year). Jewizz, what am I playing at here… oh, he had his first PGA tour win in a couple of weeks back, finished 2nd in the Bob Hope classic, 3rd in the Transistions Championship and I’ll stop there… mainly because that’s pretty much it. And if I can bet on a guy called Ricky, you ain’t gonna stop me backing the big Bubba!

[musicbox]

Pretty much goes without saying but just because you set up to trade, watch out for the opportunities popping up at books to get on some players too then lay off into your 'book'. Just added onto Els and Harrington as I found them @ 25 and 30 respectively, and Stricker 41, McIlroy 17, and Woods 7.5. Woods was 8 at Freds earlier iirc, darn.

[LFC81Eoin]

Excellent thread , dabbling in this myself .

Ernie els 10 units @20 think he will be well able for the weather conditions
Lucas Glover 5 units @ 300 i like this guy think he could do well
Davis love III 5 units @ 240 watched him play a links course recently and i was impressed
Martin Kaymer 10 units @55

[bella]

Greened up for 20.00 so far...

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Looking like my research paid off! That's the pub research I did before they tee'd off of where I would drown my sorrows