The Open Championship tees off Thursday at The Old Course at St. Andrews.
Golf's final major of the calendar year should be an absolute doozy with several contenders that could realistically emerge victorious at the famed Scottish course. It certainly won't be an easy task, though, as St. Andrews tends to punish players whose all-around game isn't clicking.
"You're not looking for a type of golfer per se," golf handicapper Wes Reynolds told NESN. "It's a very unique style of links golf with no trees on the course. There are no trees to protect the wind and it's an exposed layout. It's not a typical PGA Tour event. It's a wide-open course with wide fairways and massive greens that are basically double-sized. Distance matters, but you don't exactly have to be long.
"Usually, greens in regulation are really important, but not here. You can go 18-for-18 and hit all the greens and still shoot 80. The putts tend to be very far away because the greens are so big. You'll have 80- and 90-foot putts and you've got to lag it to either make birdie or save par.
"It's a pretty wide-open field," Reynolds continued. "You can't key in a bomber or a strong iron player. St. Andrews tests all the facets of your game, especially your scrambling and your play around the green. You'll see a lot of awkward wedge shots to the green and little chips from 50 to 75 yards out. Those will be crucial."
Odds to win Open Championship at BetMGM:
Rory McIlroy +1000 ($100 wins $1,000)
Xander Schauffele +1400
Jon Rahm +1800
Jordan Spieth +1800
Justin Thomas +2000
Matt Fitzpatrick +2000
Scottie Scheffler +2000
Shane Lowry +2200
Cameron Smith +2500
Patrick Cantlay +2500
Will Zalatoris +2800
Collin Morikawa +3300
Dustin Johnson +3300
Tommy Fleetwood +3300 ($100 wins $3,300)
Reynolds is the type of golf bettor that likes to spread his bets around and fire wagers on guys with bloated odds. He's never been the type of person to put all his eggs in one or two baskets.
"I played Patrick Cantlay at 25-1," Reynolds said. "While, he's relatively young and has never really contended in majors, he's No. 4 in the world right now. Cantlay is a great under-the-radar golfer. His iron play has improved immensely over the last few weeks. He's due for a really good effort in a major."
Other golfers Reynolds likes are Cam Smith (+2500 at BetMGM), Dustin Johnson (+3300), Tommy Fleetwood (+3300), Tony Finau (+4000), Adam Scott (+8000) and Thomas Pieters (+12500).
Last, but certainly not least, we had to address the biggest elephant in the room: Tiger Woods.
All eyes will be on the three-time Open Championship winner at every turn. Woods has won the event twice at St. Andrews (2000, 2005) and he's a monster liability for multiple American sportsbooks. If Tiger finishes atop the leaderboard this weekend, it'll be the biggest loss for BetMGM.
"This is a course based on Tiger's history where he can be competitive," Reynolds admitted. "He always has a scintilla of chance at places like Augusta and St. Andrews because he has the experience and knows every nook and cranny across the layout. But I wonder about his physicals. He played that JP McManus Pro-Am last week and shot seven over par combined for two rounds. Expectations have to be tempered.
"Tiger to make the cut is probably all I would do."
