Structure
Nowadays, the Open Championship is still open to amateur golfers and professionals alike. Golfers can enter the competition by invitation or through winning qualifying rounds. The golfers invited to the competition include all golfers who have previously won the Open, those who have a high position in the Official World Golf Rankings, or those who have had good performances in the Tour or in other major tournaments in that year.
The tournament uses the same format as all the other majors. The golfers are scored with the stroke play format, meaning that the overall number of strokes are counted, and not which golfer wins a certain hole. The Open is played over the course of 4 days, with golfers playing 18 holes per day, for a maximum of 72 holes. Each day is split into two, golfers will have a front nine holes and a back nine holes, and after the second day there is a cut. Of the 156 golfers, the top 70 will make the cut and can continue to play for the final two days. At the end of the competition, if there is a leader, then they are crowned the new Open champion. If the score is tied between two or more golfers, they have to compete in a three hole playoff. If there is still no decisive winner after the playoff, the remaining golfers will have to play in sudden death rounds.
2022 Open Championship
The 2022 Open Championship will be the 150th edition of the competition, and it will be a just as fiercely contested as ever. Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, are a few of the golfers predicted to win.
Scheffler may not have as much experience as some of the older contestants, but he was joint eighth in the previous Open and he will come to the British Open on the back of a win at the Masters. Spieth just missed out on winning the previous edition of the Open, but he did win it in 2017, and though he has not won any majors recently, he will definitely pose a threat to the other title contenders. McIlroy is a bit similar. Although it has been longer since he last won a major. Despite this, McIlroy finished in second place at the Masters this year and it looks as though he has found his form again. Fitzpatrick, like Scheffler, is also one of the younger contestants; he too comes to the competition on the back of a huge victory, winning the US Open this year. Lowry won the Open in 2019, he has had some extremely good performances on this year’s tour but unfortunately, he has regularly fallen short by a small number of shots. Though the Open is the most challenging for Thomas, he is definitely an accomplished golfer whose style of low bullet draws suits the Open. He comes on the back of a PGA Championship win this year. Rahm sits behind the first placed Scheffler in the world rankings. His first, and to date only, major win was at last year's US Open. Morikawa, the defending champion, sits in fourth place in the world rankings, behind third placed McIlroy. He had a phenomenal Open Championship last year and managed to overcome the leader, Oosthuizen, in the final round, as well as stay ahead of Spieth who did not finish far behind.
Outrights
Bettors can pick who they think will win the 2022 British Open with outright bets. There will be bets offered for all of the golfers in the competition such as Scheffler, Spieth, McIlroy, and so on. There may be other outrights available, such as which amateur will place highest, which golfers will make the cut, and more.
Each Way
Each way are bets on a golfer to win the tournament or to place. The bet will indicate whether the golfer needs to make the top two, three, or four, although the larger the number of places the bet covers, the lower the odds will be.
Versus the Field
Versus the field are bets that are unique to golf. They are bets on one of the golfers not to win the tournament. If a bet is placed on Scheffler, for example, then the bet will require any other golfer to win the British Open.
Head to Head
Head to head are bets on which golfer will win between two of the contestants. There may be bets on which golfer will win between Scheffler and Spieth, McIlroy and Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy, Fitzpatrick and Thomas, and many more. It does not matter where the golfers place at the end of the tournament, as long as the chosen golfer finishes with a better score than the other.
Round Winner
There may also be bets on each of the four rounds in the British Open. These are bets on which golfer will win the round, and are independent of what happens in the other rounds. For example, if a bet is placed on Scheffler to win the third round, then he will have to finish the third round with the best score out of all the remaining golfers after the cut. It does not matter if he is not the first in the overall score.
Leader By Round X
This bet allows punters to place money on which golfer they think will be leading the score at the end of a certain round. There will be bets for which golfer will be leading after the second round and which golfer will be leading after the third round.
Game Props
There are many different aspects of a golf tournament that can be bet on through game props. These can relate to certain individual feats or to scenarios that may or may not happen during the tournament. Bets that relate to how a golfer may win the Open may include will there be a wire to wire winner, will a certain golfer lead in at least two rounds, will the winner be decided by a playoff round/sudden death, and many more.
The props that relate to individual golfer performances in the whole tournament may include how many birdies a golfer shoots, how many eagles a golfer shoots, how many bogeys a golfer shoots, total shots in the golfer’s best front nine, total shots in the golfer’s best back nine, and many more.
Round Props
There may be bets offered for golfer’s performances in individual rounds. These will be the same as the props that relate to the player feats for the game as a whole, except for the bets on the total points for a golfer’s best front and back nine. These will simply be bets on what score the golfer will have in the front and back nine for one specific round.
Live Bets
Once the British Open starts, the live betting market will open. Here, there are all types of bets, ranging from the main bets such as outrights, head to head, versus the field, round winner, all the way to props. All bets are offered with live odds, which means that they will change throughout the course of a game.
There may also be bets that will only be available temporarily, which will relate to what will happen next in the current round. These may include bets such as which golfer will have the best front or back nine, will a certain golfer shoot an eagle, how many bogeys will there be in the round, and more.