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Horse Racing Open Championship 2024 Tip: 41.00 Pick For Next Year’s Action
The Open Championship Tip: Thursday, June 13th
The Open Championship returns to Royal Troon in 2024. We have analysed the early betting markets to bring you our Open Championship best bet.
Odds via bet365 as at 23.45 14th November 2023. Odds may now differ.
In this article:
2024 Open Championship Preview
The Open Championship returns to Royal Troon in 2024 for the tenth time. Few can forget the last event held there in 2016, when Troon memorably hosted a duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, with the Swede coming out on top.
Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy are the joint 10.00 favourites to follow in the footsteps of their European compatriot in 2024. Both players are respected but The Open certainly isn’t an event to be backing players at short odds so far in advance. Unpredictable British weather can derail even the best of players and I’d advise caution if looking at the very front of the market.
The Honda Classic isn’t normally an event I would look at when trying to pick an Open Championship winner but winners at Royal Troon do seem to have a connection with the event held in Florida on the PGA Tour. Three of the last four winners of the Open Championship at Troon were also winners at the Honda Classic and that extends to four of the last six if you go back to the inaugural Honda Classic in 1972.
Henrik Stenson bucked the trend when winning in 2016 but there are plenty of Honda Classic winners in recent years who have excellent Open Championship pedigree. Sepp Straka, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Padraig Harrington are all relatively recent Honda Classic winners and merit further consideration in 2024.
Straka could perhaps be the most interesting option out of those mentioned. The Austrian made his Ryder Cup debut earlier this year and looks primed to win some of golf’s biggest events after finishing second at this year’s Open. First and fifth at The Honda Classic in the last two years, there aren’t many better players who fit the trend. Odds of 101.00 are available with bet365 if you do wish to follow that line of thinking. However, the player I like best to win golf’s grandest prize is someone who has no significant Honda Classic form.
2024 Open Championship Tip
Max Homa may well tee it up in the 2024 Honda Classic and boost the trend but even if he doesn’t, he rates as my best 2024 Open Championship tip. Homa recorded his first and only top ten in a major at last year’s Open Championship. Consecutive top 20 finishes at the Scottish Open the past two years further emphasise his liking for links golf, even if The Renaissance, host course of the Scottish Open, is a modern links rather than a traditional test like Troon.
Homa has taken full advantage of his trips to Scotland by fitting in extra rounds on traditional links courses in Scotland in his free time. A well publicised visit to North Berwick in 2021 in the middle of the Scottish Open was proof of just how much he enjoys this type of golf. He clearly appreciates the history and design of these courses and is on record as saying he enjoys keeping the ball on the ground in order to play them.
Currently world number seven, Homa has undoubtedly taken his game to a new level in recent years. That ascent isn’t reflected in his odds for next year’s Open Championship though. Sixteen players are priced up at shorter odds than Homa at the time of writing and whilst it is acknowledged that several LIV players should perhaps be ahead of Homa, there are not sixteen golfers in the world who have a better chance of lifting the Claret Jug.
Two wins in each of the last three years mark him out as one of the most prolific winners over that timespan and I like the fact that his game is now suited to a wider range of courses. Often described as a California specialist, his recent win in South Africa at the Nedbank Golf Challenge an example of his game becoming increasingly rounded.
One perceived negative in relation to Homa is that he is yet to challenge for a major and perhaps needs to contend for one before he wins one. That’s a fair challenge and it would be more of a worry had Homa not shown himself to be an excellent closer over the past couple of seasons.
He’ll also play three majors in 2024 before teeing it up at the links in Troon and there is every chance he contends in one of those three majors given how consistent he has become. Furthermore, strong showings at the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup demonstrate an ability to perform under the most intense of situations. In short, he no longer has any reason to feel inferior amongst the world’s best.
Take the industry best price of 41.00 with bet365 on Homa to win his first major at the 2024 Open Championship.
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