The first-round leader at The Open is Daniel Brown, who shot a 65 to move to six-under at Royal Troon Golf Club. The world No. 272 took a one-stroke lead over Shane Lowry with a birdie on 18. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas sits in third after shooting a 68 on Thursday. All of these guys will be hoping for a mediocre Round 2 from world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who looked like he was in for a rough day after bogeying the first hole but ended up settling in and finishing one-under. All in all, the leaderboard is looking pretty stacked at the moment.
Friday’s second round should be a roller coaster, as the forecast calls for quite a bit of wind and precipitation isn’t out of the question. So, if you missed out on placing pre-tournament bets — or started poorly and want some new ones — you’re probably going to have some chances to grab some good live odds. In fact, our VSiN golf analysts are already looking for ways to get more involved. So, keep reading for some Round 1 observations and Round 2 predictions.
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Kelley Bydlon
The first round of The Open is in the books, and if you had a first-round leader bet on some dude named Daniel Brown, NEVER FORGET IT. And if you were on Shane Lowry, yikes….
That’s the story at the top of the leaderboard as Lowry, a former Open champ, trails Brown (-6) by one stroke. Brown had missed six cuts in his last seven starts coming into The Open. I’m not sure anyone is expecting him to stick around the top of the leaderboard through the weekend, but Lowry surely can. The Irishman gained almost everywhere on the course, including almost five strokes putting. It will be tough to maintain that level of putting through the tournament, but Lowry sure seemed to have the wind figured out while others struggled with it.
The morning wave definitely had the worst of it as the conditions — and their quality of play — sent names like McIlroy, DeChambeau, Theegala, Fleetwood, Tom Kim and Sungjae Im plummeting down the leaderboard. Their Opens are pretty much done. Since 1960, 87% of Open champions have been within four shots after the first round (@JustinRayGolf).
It feels like more guys than that could be in play for the win if they catch the right side of the weather, but I wouldn’t be looking too far past even par if you’re looking to add an outright. As of now, the weather looks like it could hurt the later groups tomorrow a bit more than the early ones, but I also wasn’t expecting the early groups to be affected as much as they clearly were today.
There won’t be any adds for me heading into the second round, but a live Top 10 on Alex Noren does stick out to me at +190. He was someone I was close to playing heading into the tournament but ended up staying away. He has played great this year on the PGA TOUR and has handled The Open well in the past, finishing Top 20 four times in his last eight opens — including two Top 10s.
Matt Youmans
As usual, I was up all night watching the British Open, my favorite major. It was not really an enjoyable first round from a betting perspective, however.
The players I liked the most — Ludvig Aberg, Collin Morikawa and Tyrrell Hatton — are barely relevant after the first round. I did add two long shots at inflated numbers late Wednesday and those plays are going well with Adam Scott (80-1) and Justin Rose (225-1).
So there is some hope. It’s interesting to note the first-round leader, Daniel Brown, went off at 1,700-1 odds at Circa Sports, which took no bets on Brown. Shane Lowry, who’s one stroke back of Brown, is a player I will add at 5-1. Lowry led the field in putting with 4.69 strokes gained and he’s got a British win on his resume.
Wes Reynolds
Longshot Daniel Brown, who was priced as high as 1700/1 to win at Circa Sports, birdied the 18th to post a 6-under round of 65 and emerge as the first-round leader at an average price of 250/1. The Englishman also shot an opening round of 65 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open but faded over the weekend to finish 61st, which did break a streak of six missed cuts. It is safe to expect the same over the weekend.
2019 Claret Jug winner Shane Lowry is a proven player in rainy and windy weather and is one off the pace at 5-under while leading the field for Strokes Gained: Putting.
Justin Thomas, the first-round leader last week at the Scottish Open, led the morning flight with a 3-under round of 68 while a host of players finished a 2-under including PGA Champion Xander Schauffele, Mackenzie Hughes, Alex Noren, Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Nicolai Hojgaard, and Joe Dean.\
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler posted a 1-under 70 and still remains the favorite to hoist the Claret Jug at 4/1.
A couple of players I am interested in for potential in-play adds include Matt Fitzpatrick (30/1) at 1-under. Fitzpatrick gained over three strokes on approach and shot under par despite only hitting six of 14 fairways.
Henley was one of my final “leave-offs” pre-tournament (although I did play in a Top 40 market). At 35/1 and just four strokes off the pace, his driving accuracy (11-for-14 fairways hit) and ball-striking (2nd in field for Strokes Gained: Ball Striking) adds to the look of a player who should stick around in contention all weekend.
