Jordan Spieth installed as big favorite to win The Open Championship
Jordan Spieth has a three shot lead at The Open Championship, and the odds are literally in favor of him winning his third major.
Branden Grace set a major record and moved into contention with a 62 at The Open Championship on Saturday, as scoring conditions were remarkably favorable. But after a one-under 69 in Friday’s far tougher conditions, Jordan Spieth posted his second 65 of the tournament to surge to a three shot lead over Matt Kuchar heading into Sunday’s final round.
Spieth has two major wins under his belt approaching his 24th birthday next week, winning The Masters and the U.S. Open in 2015. He closed out 54-hole leads both times, so he’ll be in a familiar position when he tees off at Royal Birkdale in the final group on Sunday.
Next: British Open 2017: Best shots of Round 3
After Kuchar at -8, there are another eight players within eight shots of Spieth’s lead. So the 2017 Open Championship winner seems sure to come from that final pairing, and at least one oddsmaker has basically backed that up with updated betting lines.
British Open updated
— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) July 22, 2017
J Spieth 1/4
M Kuchar 5/1
B Koepka 20/1
H Matsuyama 30/1
B Grace 40/1
D Johnson 50/1
H Stenson 60/1
A Connelly 80/1
Jeff Sherman of Golfodds.com and WestGate SuperBook has Spieth as a 1-4 favorite to take home the Claret Jug, with Kuchar carrying 5-1 odds. Other notables on the list are 2017 US. Open Champion Brooks Koepka (20-1), third round star Grace (40-1), world No. 1 Dustin Johnson (50-1) and defending British Open champion Henrik Stenson (60-1).
With a winning walk on Sunday, Spieth can do something no one has ever done in golf history
With a win tomorrow, Jordan Spieth would become 1st player in golf history with 10 PGA Tour wins including 3 majors before age 24.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) July 22, 2017
Spieth’s most recent 54-hole lead in a major came in the 2016 Masters, which a memorable back-nine meltdown. A repeat of that clunker of a closing stretch seems unlikely to come on Sunday, in a different event on a different golf course obviously, and the odds are so far in favor of Spieth winning it’s actually a losing bet.