Perry’s British Open Prop Preview: Which Big Names Will Miss the Cut?
Ian Rutherford, USA Today Sports. Pictured: Bubba Watson
- The 2019 Open Championship begins on Thursday, July 18 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
- Bookmakers usually offer more prop bets for majors than they do for regular PGA Tour events.
- Josh Perry analyzes his favorite prop bets for the 2019 British Open.
It's a Major Weekend which means golf bettors will have ample opportunity to go after an expanded list of prop bets. During the regular weeks of the PGA Tour, the options are limited to outrights, top-5/10/20's, first-round leaders or matchups.
But when we're dealing with one of the big four, sportsbooks open up plenty of other avenues for action, which makes sense considering how many recreational bettors will get down on the golf this weekend.
For this column I'll focus on Missed-Cut Bets. Out of the 156 players in the field, only the top 70 players (including ties) will make it past Friday. My strategy is to target well-known players who come into the tournament in poor form.
Phil Mickelson (+135)
Mickelson's game is completely out of sorts. He's missed five of his last seven cuts and doesn't have a top-50 finish in that span.
He hasn't missed the cut in many majors throughout his career, but he tends to struggle at the Open Championship more than the other three grand slams.
Mickelson is also in the middle of a diet where he's fasting and dropping a lot of weight in a short period of time. He said in an interview this week that the focus really isn't on winning or contending. He might sneak through to the weekend, but I'll take the plus money on him.
Bubba Watson (+110)
Watson is a guy who usually plays well in places that he's comfortable with or has had success at — a windy, rainy Open Championship being played on a course he's never seen fits neither of those criteria.
He's missed the cut in three of his last five Opens. He's also missed the cut in three of his last five tournaments this season.
The game isn't in good shape and I just don't see how he fits on this course.
Padraig Harrington (+120)
Harrington is a two-time Open Champ, but has missed the cut in five of his last nine trips to this event.
His current form isn't showing much either, missing four of the last five cuts with just a 50th-place finish the one time he played all four rounds.
The Irishman may get a boost being close to home for this Open, but sometimes those events can come with added pressure. There may be more fans or media requests and that can serve as a distraction when a player's game isn't where it needs to be for a major.
Branden Grace (+125)
It's been a long time since Grace really factored into a tournament. He's coming off three straight missed cuts and hasn't made it to the weekend in four of his last five tournaments.
Overall, Grace has played very well in the Open and is the only player to shoot a 62 in a major. But his game has vanished in the year or so. He had made seven straight cuts in the Open before missing the number last year.
He tends to perform a little better in bad conditions, but overall, he hasn't shown any signs of a turnaround this year.
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