Best British Open Betting Offers

• Tournament winner: The most popular type of golf wager, but also the most difficult to win, given the size of the British Open’s 156-player field. Look for candidates playing well in events leading into the week, on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Each-Way: A double wager that allows the bettor to hedge by picking a player not just to win the tournament, but also finish near the top of the standings (usually top five), as determined by betting apps and sites.
• Head-to-head: A bet that pits two players against one another for a round or the tournament. All that matters is how they fare against one another, not their place in the event.
• Two and three-ball: Picking a player out of a twosome or threesome to have the best score in that day’s round. Again, all that matters is how the players fare against one another. First- and second-round pairings are released a few days ahead, so study up.
• Top 5, Top 10, Top 20: Betting on a player to finish within a specified range of finishing positions. Some sportsbooks feature up to a top-20, although British Open odds get considerably less favorable as that range widens.
• Prop bets: An array of wagers that typically have nothing to do with the outcome, such as betting a player to make or miss the cut, betting on whether the winner’s finishing score will be above or below a specific number, and betting on whether there will be a hole-in-one.

The British Open means huge galleries, giant yellow scoreboards, tee times into the early evening, and blustery conditions on windswept links golf courses. Nothing quite defines golf’s oldest major like its geography, with rolling, rough-hewn layouts sitting hard against the roiling sea.

That marriage creates a unique challenge for competitors and bettors alike.

The oldest continually run championship in golf, the British Open (or officially, the Open Championship) has been held since 1860. 

Since 1872, it’s been rotated around nine clubs throughout England and Scotland, with one of the few exceptions being 1951 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

Dominated by English and Scottish players in its early years, Americans, led by Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, enjoyed success by winning 11 of 13 events between 1921 and 1933. This was a precursor to what was to come between 1970 and 2006, when U.S. players won 23 times.

The Open has become an international event since then.