Zach Johnson can make it back-to-back senior majors and secure a big Scottish double by capturing the Senior Open at Gleneagles.
Golf betting tips: Senior Open
5pts win Zach Johnson at 5/1 (General)
1pt e.w. Henrik Stenson at 18/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5)
1pt e.w. Jamie Donaldson at 25/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
Full disclosure: I'm not the biggest fan of seniors' golf in principle. It seems a little bit absurd to me that veterans can play for millions of dollars, but I suppose the bottom line is there's a market for it and this is probably one of those things where the 'old man yells at cloud' thing applies, somewhat ironically.
The Senior Open, sponsored by ISPS Handa, at least sits centre stage given the timing and with no DP World Tour event this week, and the Women's Open to follow next week, I am more than happy to set aside my preconceptions. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say I'm quite looking forward to watching it.
Gleneagles is best known for hosting the Ryder Cup on the Centenary Course in 2014 but the King's Course has staged one of these more recently, in 2022, when Darren Clarke beat Padraig Harrington. Clarke was a 28/1 chance, Harrington the clear favourite, and surprises in these are few and far between. Since 2010, just two seasons have passed without a multiple senior major winner.
Very rarely do I advise short prices and after Scottie Scheffler somehow didn't win the Travelers I wouldn't be rushing to do so again, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to why ZACH JOHNSON is 5/1.
Last time out, Johnson won his first senior major by six shots as a 9/2 chance. He skipped the Open itself to focus on that and this and apart from the fact that we're in Perthshire rather than Ohio, what reason could there be for bookmakers doing anything but chopping the price, even if we're adding Harrington back into the mix?
Let's not forget, Johnson won an Open in Scotland, which was part of a run of four Opens held in the country where he was bang in the mix. He played the Ryder Cup here at Gleneagles too, performing well enough in a well-beaten US side, so by no means is he coming in blind.
There's also clear precedent for one major following another at this level. Alex Cejka, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink and Richard Bland all went back-to-back and that's just in the last five years. Kenny Perry, Roger Chapman and Colin Montgomerie did it too and the prolific winners, the likes of Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer, have often rattled them off.
Johnson is on a seniors' hat-trick and has won three times in nine goes so far, also bagging ninth place on the PGA Tour at the beginning of the month, and I can't get away from the idea that he should be the price Harrington was four years ago, which is around 3/1. At 5/1, it's a straightforward choice.
Confidence in Johnson is enhanced by the fact that Cink was poor in the Open and so was Harrington who shot 80 in round one. Clarke relied on his putter and whereas even 36 holes might have been beneficial were we keeping to links golf, Johnson sticking to parkland may prove a winning move.
Any European golf fan should recall that JAMIE DONALDSON's finest hour came when completing victory for Paul McGinley's side and he must be thrilled that his Senior Open debut comes here albeit on a different layout.
The Welshman turned 50 last year and won twice in Spain, ideal preparation for the move stateside where he's been fourth and fifth from three starts. The latest came in the US Senior Open won by Harrington and he was placed behind Johnson in Florida back in March.
Being back in the UK can't hurt and it's not just the Ryder Cup from which he can draw positive memories: Donaldson was third in the Johnnie Walker in 2010, sixth a year earlier, and one of three DP World Tour titles came close to home.
In his case we do pay a bit of a UK premium as he's in from 33-40/1, but that also reflects his first move in senior major golf and he's narrowly preferred to Steven Alker, the prolific New Zealander who may draw inspiration from Ryan Fox's heroics.
Ben Crane, Pat Perez and George McNeill are three US raiders to take seriously while Soren Kjeldsen is a course winner, but by far the most interesting of the relative newbies is HENRIK STENSON.
Like Johnson, he's an Open champion here in Scotland and like Donaldson, he has fond memories of Gleneagles. They come from a couple of decent efforts towards the start of his career and then the Ryder Cup, where he was key to Europe's success before losing a tight singles match to the standout US player, Patrick Reed.
Stenson is still barred from the Champions Tour after leaving LIV Golf late last summer so it's been a quiet introduction to the senior ranks and on bare form, you'd have to say he needs to find improvement from somewhere.
However, that improvement looks set to arrive as he gets back into the flow of tour golf after taking what he described as the longest break of his career. Having left LIV, where he contended on his final start, Stenson played very little golf as he focused on his family, his son's golf game, and a business venture or two back in Sweden.
But he's improved with every start since returning and I'd apply that not just to his seniors' form (47-20-11, two of them majors) but to last week's Open missed cut.
Stenson fell just shy of making the weekend owing to a balky putter, but his trademark precision off the tee and quality approach play were both of a standard plenty of younger players couldn't match. In round one, only Collin Morikawa gained more strokes with his approaches.
Two rounds rather than four may prove a blessing in disguise and I think we'll see him step up and contend for a tournament which very seldom throws up anything surprising at all. Perhaps the last such surprise was a win for Wales and we'd take one of those, but Johnson should be awfully difficult to beat.
Posted at 11:25 BST on 21/07/26
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