Sky Bet pay 10 places on The Open Championship at Carnoustie

08:37 · THU July 19, 2018

Ahead of the Open Championship at Carnoustie, Sky Bet have revealed that they are paying 10 places on each-way outright bets.

The firm have been offering customers eight places for various high profile events throughout the summer, but there are two more added for the season's third and perhaps most eagerly anticipated major championship.

Dustin Johnson heads the Sky Bet market at 10/1 from Rory McIlroy at 12/1, with defending champion Jordan Spieth alongside Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler at 16/1.

England's Tommy Fleetwood has been the subject of a major antepost gamble and is now among the favourites at 18/1, with compatriot Paul Casey at 30/1, former Open champion Phil Mickelson at 40/1 and Tiger Woods quoted at 25/1.

Sky Bet's Sandro Di Michele said: "It looks another wide-open renewal of the Open, arguably the most difficult of the four majors to predict, and we're giving our customers every chance of a return by paying out all the way down to 10th.

"Last year we ran the same offer, one which was extremely popular with punters and costly for us with the well-fancied Spieth doing the business.

"This time we'll be looking to avoid Fleetwood and Rose, both well-backed in the run-up, while Woods is sure to attract his share of backers in the coming days.

"And for those still smarting after England's World Cup exit, how about 150/1 chance and links specialist Matthew Southgate?"

The Open Championship begins at Carnoustie on Thursday, July 19 and all bets placed on the outright market prior to the first tee-shot will apply, subject to terms which can be found via the Sky Bet website.

Ben Coley's betting preview will be published on Monday

Sky Bet are paying 10 places on the Open Championship - click on the image to bet

Press Association Sport looks at some of the possible contenders for one of golf's biggest prizes, the Open Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood (18/1)

From 188th in the world as recently as September 2016, Fleetwood has climbed to 10th thanks to a successful title defence in the Abu Dhabi Championship in January and his thrilling runners-up finish in the US Open, where a closing 63 equalled the lowest score in tournament history and left him just a shot behind Brooks Koepka. After the pressure of having the Open on his doorstop last year, the 27-year-old from Southport will again have to cope with high expectations as he holds the course record at Carnoustie.

Sergio Garcia (25/1)

Five years after claiming he was not good enough to win a major, Garcia proved himself wrong in dramatic fashion by beating Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Rose in a play-off to win the 2017 Masters. He missed the cut in his title defence, although he was perhaps understandably distracted following the birth of his first child Azalea, named after the 13th hole at Augusta. A return to Europe has yielded two top-12 finishes and Garcia also has 10 top-10 finishes in the Open since 2001, including three in the last four years.

Henrik Stenson (25/1)

Stenson is surprisingly somewhat under the radar for the Open, despite finishing fifth in the Masters and sixth in the US Open. The 2016 champion has finished outside the top 25 just twice this season and continues to lead the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and greens in regulation. The 42-year-old has not played in the Dunhill Links Championship - which uses Carnoustie as one of its three courses - since 2012, but does have three top-10s in the event. An elbow injury which saw him withdraw from the Scottish Open will hopefully not prove serious.

Jon Rahm (18/1)

The 23-year-old only joined the paid ranks after the 2016 US Open, but has already won twice on the PGA Tour and three times on the European Tour, including on the links of Portstewart in last year's Irish Open. Rahm also staged a superb defence of the title at Ballyliffin, recovering from an opening 74 and a triple bogey seven in the final round to finish in a tie for fourth.

Tyrrell Hatton (40/1)

Won his maiden European Tour title in the Dunhill Links Championship in 2016 and successfully defended it the following year before winning the Italian Open the following week. Suffered four missed cuts in five events earlier this season but was almost unnoticed in finishing sixth in the US Open and was fourth in the France Open on his next start.