Open Championship Betting Odds Look Appealing As Harrington Tees Off Thursday 17 July 2008 at 12:09 2007 British Open Champion Padraig Harrington ended the uncertainty about his participation in this year's event when he teed off at 7.58 this morning. This was much to the relief of his supporters but doubts must still remain about his fitness to see out the four days at the top of his game.
Punters should keep an eye on the skies
The participation of Harrington has been somewhat overshadowed this morning by the atrocious weather conditions at Birkdale and damage limitation golf is the order of the day for the early starters with anything approaching Level par looking like a good score. The players with a later tee time will be hoping that the weather improves and punters could take advantage if that does happen. Tournament favourite Sergio Garcia has a 2.31pm start time today and can still be backed at 9/1 with William Hill for those that fancy the Spaniard.
Masters Champ could copy O'Meara
Masters Champion Trevor Immelman has a 1.53pm tee off time and looks decent value at 50/1 with Skybet to emulate Mark O'Meara in 1998 who won the Open at Birkdale after winning the Masters a few months earlier. Immelman has experience of golf in Europe and is starting to come to terms with the fact that he has won a major. If you are looking for a late starter with a chance, he could be the one for you.
Great White Shark could go well in Round One
Greg Norman makes a rare appearance in a competitive golf event today and you could be forgiven for believing that the former Open Champ of 1986 and 1993 would have his work cut out in a three ball with Robert Karlsson and Woody Austin. However, on the times that the Norman does tee it up he still manages to be fairly competitive and he is likely to enjoy these conditions much more than Austin who has played once before in the Open (1996) and missed the cut. 7/2 with Stan James about Norman looks a very fair price in this three ball that starts at 12.58.
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