Racing Post's Irish Open first-round golf betting tips and predictions

Where to watch Irish Open

Live on Sky Sports Main Event & Golf, from 1.40pm

Best bets

Ewen Ferguson to win 1.40pm threeball
2pts 13-10 general

Irish Open first-round predictions

Rory McIlroy is the star attraction at the Irish Open and, having won this title at the K Club in 2016, the Northern Irishman begins his bid for a County Kildare repeat when he tees off at 8am on Thursday morning.

The world number two will be joined by American raider Billy Horschel and Poland's Adrian Meronk, who was almost certainly the final name crossed off Luke Donald's list of captain's picks for the European Ryder Cup team and will not be joining McIlroy in Rome at the end of September.

Given his ultra-consistent recent form and his course pedigree, it's not a surprise to see McIlroy odds-on to shoot the lowest first-round score of the three, but he was nursing a bad back when we last saw him in competitive action and that has to be a concern for anyone taking the skinny quotes about a fast start from the tournament favourite.

Better bets come from the afternoon groups, where Ewen Ferguson looks a solid threeball option when he tees off alongside two 2023 champions in Nick Bachem and Simon Forsstrom at 1.40pm.

The Scot won two titles in 2022, including the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Northern Ireland, and he's continued to shine this season, recording six finishes of 14th or better in his last 13 starts.

Ferguson missed the cut at the European Masters last week but his accurate style of play is well suited to the K Club and he ranks 18th in greens in regulation on the DP World Tour this season.

Long-driving Bachem is better suited to more open layouts, as he showed when winning the Jonsson Workwear Open and then again when finishing fourth at the Czech Masters, while Forsstrom has struggled since claiming the Soudal Open in May, finishing no better than 30th in nine events and missing four cuts.

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