European Open Betting Guide

Betting on golf has become more and more popular as television coverage of the top tournaments has increased. Now, in the comfort of your own living room, you can live and breathe the game, cheer or jeer the top contenders, and gasp in awe at the sheer finesse displayed by the very best in international golf.

There are two main options to golf betting:

Outright bets or picks – here the punter simply places a bet on a golfer to win the European Open. European Open odds will vary according to who the golfer is. Someone like Colin Montgomerie or Retief Goosen may be given odds of 2-1, whilst relative unknowns on the European Tour –

England’s Lee Slattery or Welshman Mark Pilkington – may well end up with 20-1 odds. Thus, if you wager £100 on Pilkington to win at the K Club in 2008, and he is successful, you will win £2000, plus your original bet of £100. However, if you bet £100 on Retief Goosen winning his second European Open, and he does, then you will be the proud recipient of £200 plus your original wager. Match-ups – this is where you have one golfer pitted against another on the golf betting odds board. The sports bookmakers select the golfers, and set up the match-up. Possible match-ups for the 2008 European Open may include Lee Westwood against Angel Cabrera. Cabrera may be -240 and Westwood +200. This is a straight money line bet where the punter will risk £240 for every £100 he wants to win on Cabrera, and gets back £200 for every £100 he risks on Westwood.Before placing a bet, it is critical to glean as much knowledge about the players. Knowledge is power, and there are a couple of variables that will be helpful to the golf punter in European Open betting:

1. Current form – take a look at the form of the golfer, how he has played in his last 3-4 events.
2. Past history on the course – has the golfer been successful at the K Club in Dublin in the past?
3. Personal issues – be aware of any personal problems the golfer may be battling with – illness, messy divorces, money woes and so on.
4. Statistics – number crunching has proved to be invaluable to the successful punter. Most of the top-ranked golfer’s statistics will be available on the PGA Tour’s and European Tour’s websites. Take a look at www.golfstats.com for additional information, and go to our betting tips page for an in-depth look at relevant statistics.

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