British Open odds 2018: Tiger Woods among favorites at Carnoustie

The third men’s major championship can often be the toughest to project. The British Open is a completely different style of challenge for the best players in the world. It can yield unknown, random champions and it can also produce some epic duels among the players at the top of the world rankings. Weather can wipe out half the field or completely change the dynamic of a hot round when you’re out in the middle of it.

Carnoustie is reputed as the toughest course in the Open rota and this year’s edition will be a fascinating test due to a summer drought. Scotland is “baked out,” as they say and it’s giving these players different strategy options. Mid-irons are running out to 300 yards and drivers are running out well in excess of 400 yards. The fairways are faster than the greens and the course is playing like concrete. The rough is also much thinner and less penal than they’re used to at Carnoustie.

That’s led to a host of bombers saying they’re going to grip and rip it and if it goes into the rough, no big deal. They will have cleared the trouble and pot bunkers. Others have said they’ll hit more accurate mid-irons and still roll out into a desirable position. Some, like Phil Mickelson, have said they’ll fall somewhere in between mixing in more drivers than expected but also hanging back and utilizing the roll with shorter clubs.

It led Brandel Chamblee to say on Monday night that this felt like the most “open” major in some time. The odds corroborate that sense again, as we’ve seen at the first two majors this year. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the favorite again, but it’s not by a commanding margin. In past years, we’ve seen favorites listed down in the 5 or 6 or 7/1 range. At his peak, Tiger was an absurd 2 or 3/1 to win majors. This year, the favorites are often listed up in the double digits and DJ comes in lowest at 12/1 this week.

Tiger Woods comes in at the 25/1 slot which is ... kinda good value as far as Tiger goes? You’re almost never getting the real value for Tiger because the public money just pours in on the biggest draw in the history of the game. That pushes the books’ exposure upward and they continually bump his odds down to protect themselves, even if Tiger has no real chance to hang with the players at the top of the world rankings.

But he’s playing well this summer and this might be the major, especially with these conditions, that gives him the best chance to win over the final decade or so of his career. This season, he’s playing more like a top 20 player in the world and has shown he can contend on Tour again. He also knows how to play a links-style course better than almost anyone in the field. A 25/1 number is not bad!

2018 British Open Odds

Player Odds to Win
Player Odds to Win
Dustin Johnson 12/1
Justin Rose 14/1
Rory McIlroy 16/1
Rickie Fowler 16/1
Jordan Spieth 20/1
Tommy Fleetwood 20/1
Brooks Koepka 20/1
Jon Rahm 20/1
Justin Thomas 25/1
Henrik Stenson 25/1
Tiger Woods 25/1
Sergio Garcia 25/1
Alex Noren 25/1
Francesco Molinari 25/1
Jason Day 30/1
Patrick Reed 30/1
Paul Casey 30/1
Hideki Matsuyama 40/1
Marc Leishman 40/1
Branden Grace 40/1
Tyrrell Hatton 40/1
Phil Mickelson 50/1
Ian Poulter 50/1
Louis Oosthuizen 60/1
Matt Kuchar 60/1
Matthew Fitzpatrick 60/1
Zach Johnson 60/1
Tony Finau 60/1
Bubba Watson 60/1
Russell Knox 60/1
Adam Scott 80/1
Bryson DeChambeau 80/1
Rafael Cabrera Bello 80/1
Thomas Pieters 80/1
Xander Schauffele 80/1
Lee Westwood 80/1
Patrick Cantlay 100/1
Shane Lowry 100/1
Webb Simpson 100/1
Brandt Snedeker 100/1
Thorbjorn Olesen 100/1
Ryan Fox 100/1
Byeong Hun An 125/1
Charley Hoffman 125/1
Brian Harman 125/1
Haotong Li 125/1
Andy Sullivan 125/1
Luke List 125/1
Chris Wood 125/1
Daniel Berger 150/1
Charl Schwartzel 150/1
Martin Kaymer 150/1
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 150/1
Jason Dufner 150/1
Russell Henley 150/1
Jimmy Walker 150/1
Emiliano Grillo 150/1
Paul Dunne 150/1
Gary Woodland 150/1
Peter Uihlein 150/1
Ross Fisher 150/1
Keegan Bradley 150/1
Danny Willett 150/1
Dylan Frittelli 150/1
Matthew Southgate 150/1
Stewart Cink 150/1
Kevin Na 150/1
Ryan Moore 150/1
Kyle Stanley 200/1
Kevin Kisner 200/1
Si Woo Kim 200/1
Padraig Harrington 200/1
Cameron Smith 200/1
Anirban Lahiri 200/1
Alexander Bjork 200/1
Julian Suri 200/1
Beau Hossler 200/1
Retief Goosen 200/1
Eddie Pepperell 200/1
Kevin Chappell 250/1
Adam Hadwin 250/1
Shubhankar Sharma 250/1
Chesson Hadley 250/1
Alexander Levy 250/1
Chez Reavie 250/1
Brendan Steele 250/1
Pat Perez 250/1
Charles Howell III 250/1
Yusaku Miyazato 250/1
Matt Wallace 250/1
Jorge Campillo 250/1
Austin Cook 250/1
Brandon Stone 250/1
Michael Kim 250/1
Nicolas Colsaerts 300/1
George Coetzee 300/1
Matt Jones 300/1
Jonas Blixt 300/1
Jhonattan Vegas 300/1
Erik Van Rooyen 300/1
Shaun Norris 300/1
Marcus Kinhult 300/1
Bronson Burgoon 300/1
Jason Kokrak 300/1
Andrew Landry 300/1
Satoshi Kodaira 500/1
Scott Jamieson 500/1
Jordan Smith 500/1
Ernie Els 500/1
Cameron Davis 500/1
Fabrizio Zanotti 500/1
Yuta Ikeda 500/1
Hideto Tanihara 500/1
Bernhard Langer 500/1
Patton Kizzire 500/1
Ryan Armour 500/1
Abraham Ancer 500/1
Sung Kang 500/1
Tom Lewis 500/1
Zander Lombard 500/1
Kelly Kraft 500/1
Jens Dantorp 500/1
Sean Crocker 1000/1
Gavin Green 1000/1
Michael Hendry 1000/1
Brett Rumford 1000/1
Shota Akiyoshi 1000/1
Danthai Boonma 1000/1
Brady Schnell 1000/1
Darren Clarke 1000/1
Lucas Herbert 1000/1
Jazz Janewattananond 1000/1
Tom Lehman 1000/1
Kodai Ichihara 1000/1
Ryuko Tokimatsu 1000/1
Sanghyun Park 1000/1
Minchel Choi 1000/1
Oliver Wilson 1000/1
Grant Forrest 1000/1
Jack Senior 1000/1
Nicolai Hojgaard 1000/1
Masanori Kobayashi 2000/1
Masahiro Kawamura 2000/1
Yuxin Lin 2000/1
Mark Calcavecchia 2000/1
Jovan Rebula 2000/1
Ashton Turner 2000/1
Rhys Enoch 2000/1
Marcus Armitage 2000/1
Sam Locke 2000/1
James Robinson 2000/1
Haraldur Magnus 2000/1
Thomas Curtis 2000/1
Todd Hamilton 3000/1
David Duval 3000/1
Sandy Lyle 3000/1

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