The British Open – Second Round Betting Preview

For those golf bettors who’ve been looking forward to the British Open for awhile now, they weren’t disappointed Thursday, as the tournament kicked off with some record setting golf. But as we look forward to the second round Friday, should we expect more records to fall in the golf betting odds?

Thursday at the Open Championship was marked by some extremely low scoring, thanks in large part to weather at St. Andrews Golf Course that would have to be considered mild by any stretch of the imagination.

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For those who teed off in the morning, they were met by no rain, calm wind, and sunlight, with most having to remove long sleeves by the end of the round. Those who teed off in the afternoon were met with the rarest of weather conditions in Scotland, sunlight. The moderate weather- which is most definitely not normal for this time of year- led to a slew of players shooting below par Thursday

No one was more impressive than Rory McIlroy. The 21-year-old stayed calm early and attacked St. Andrews late, with an eagle on No. 9, and six birdies on the back nine. The Northern Ireland born McIlroy shot a 63, becoming the 22nd player ever to shoot nine under par for a round at a major, and the first person to ever do it in a first round.  

Joining him atop the leaderboard are South Africa’s Louis Oosthuzien (-7) and five players at six under par, including American John Daly and Andrew Coltart, who also played in his group. Three-time British Open champion Tiger Woods and Masters runner-up Lee Westwood are two off the pace at five under.

Heading into tomorrow though, course conditions are expected to be much different, which has to be a cause for concern when looking at the golf betting odds. According to weather reports, overnight rain is expected to continue into the morning, leaving the entire field with a soggy course when they tee off Friday. After experiencing pleasant weather in the 60’s, temperatures are expected to dip back down into the mid-50’s as well.

All of that means that golf bettors can wave good-bye to the low scores that popped up across the scoreboard on Thursday.

Of the notable players, keep an eye out early Friday for Oosthuzien, who tees off with the second group of the day (6:41 local, 1:41 a.m. EST) as well as Y.E. Yang (-5) and Ricky Barnes (-4) who will hit the course at 7:36 a.m. local, 2:36 a.m. EST.  

As for the afternoon, that’s when the big boys will come out, with Daly teeing off at 12:36 p.m. (7:36 a.m. EST), McIlroy and Lucas Glover (-5) at 1:31 p.m. (8:31 EST) and Woods a 2:20 p.m. local, 9:20 a.m. EST.

While the scores likely won’t be as low Friday, that doesn’t mean the action won’t be just as intense.

Be sure to get in your second round British Open golf bets now!