Open Championship Betting Trends: Play the Age Card

The PGA Tour prepares for its final Major Championship of the 2021 season: The Open Championship.

With the Open being the only major that decided to cancel the 2020 edition of it instead of postponing it until the fall, this will be the first time that it will be held since 2019, when Shane Lowry won the Claret Jug for Ireland.

As is the case with every major, golf bettors around the world are trying to find every edge and betting trend they can get their hands on in order to help them predict who will be the 2021 Champion Golfer of the Year.

Consider this trend that was tweeted out by Justin Ray of Twenty First Group.

The Open Championship has had the highest average of the winner among all four major championships since 2011.

The biggest contributors to this high average are Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Henrick Stenson who all won the tournament in their 40s. This bodes well for one of my favorite picks to win the Open, Paul Casey, who will be 43 years old when he tees off on Thursday. His odds to win his first career major this weekend are set at +4000 at WynnBET.

To further add to this trend, only two golfers who have won the event since 2011 were in their 20s. Rory McIlroy won it in 2014 at the age of 25, and Jordan Spieth won in 2017 at the age of 23.

If you think that trend holds merit, you may pause before betting on the likes of Jon Rahm (+700), Viktor Hovland (+2500), Bryson DeChambeau (+3000), Collin Morikawa (+3000) and Matt Fitzpatrick (+4000), all who are near the top of the odds board but find themselves on the young side of 30.

So why do older golfers seem to succeed at the Open?

A lot of the factors that come with links style golf favor experience over raw talent. Aspects like how to deal with wind and/or rain, or how to play a hole with extreme undulations, are things that can only be improved upon with age and experience. Younger players may be able to hit the ball a mile and make it stop on a dime on the green, but if they’re facing a strong northeast wind off the tee, knowledge will trump skill.

Phil Mickelson proved at this year’s PGA Championship that old guys can still compete with the young bucks on Tour, so don’t be surprised if it’s a grizzled veteran hoisting the Claret Jug on Sunday.

Who's your pick for the Open Championship? Download the WynnBET app in New Jersey, Indiana or Colorado.