Golf comes home
The home of golf holds memories of some of the very best Open Championships so a return to the St. Andrews Old Course for the first time since 2005 is extremely welcome. Spread bettors may recall Tiger Wood's first Open victory here in 2000 or perhaps even John Daly -- fuelled by Mars bars and cola -- winning a tense playoff in 1995. Yet, the World's most iconic course is responsible for some of golf's most striking imagery and one suspects Jack Nicklaus's emotional final walk up the 18th five years ago will live longest in the memory.
However pleased spread punters are of a return to St. Andrews, none will be happier than Tiger Woods, who has won the tournament on both of his two Open appearances here as a professional. He is a massive favourite with Sporting Index's golf traders with a finishing position spread of 17-20, 12 places better off than nearest rivals Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. Even though the traders are doing their best to put off sellers of Woods' finishing position and buyers of his leaderboard index spread at 30, there will still be plenty to do so, given the World number one's admission that the Old Course is his favourite anywhere. Sellers of his index will be encouraged by his up and down form since his return to the Tour and the well-publicised divorce proceedings currently weighing heavy on his mind.
Recent US Open winner Graeme McDowell's leaderboard index, at 7-9pts, will prove attractive to spread buyers aware that of Northern Irishman's links pedigree and a fairly impressive six-under-par, tied-11th finish in 2005. The same will be true of Bradley Dredge's spread at 1-2pts - the Welshman carded a course record 64 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2006.
Those who wish to avoid the outright index and finishing position spreads may instead prefer to look at a host of interesting and pun-heavy player performance bets, including 'Eye of the Tiger', a 200-100-50-25-minus 25 index decided by whether Woods wins, finishes in the top 10, 20 or 30 or misses the cut. The spread is currently at 72-78. A similar market for Lee Westwood, 'Worksop Wonder', is available to buy at 42 while Ian Poulter's 'Lightning Poult' is set at 26-30.
As ever, there is selection of 72-hole match bets available for spread buyers and sellers. One of the more interesting and perhaps also one of the more challenging to call is that which pitches the in-form Molinari brothers against each other; Francesco favoured by a supremacy of 1-2.5 shots over elder brother Edoardo. Spread sellers will have seen Edoardo's weekend victory at Loch Lomond and note that he is listed higher in the Race to Dubai standings, but buyers will pay more heed to the extra consistency shown by Francesco and that he is currently in a stronger position for a Ryder Cup place.
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