Jeremy Chapman's Senior Open betting preview, free tips, lowdowm & TV details

Starts 7am Thursday
Sky Sports Golf & Mix, 10am Thursday

Ten years is a long time between drinks and it took classy Retief Goosen, without a victory anywhere since 2009, a dozen Champions Tour starts to regain a winner's mindset after turning 50 in February.

Now that he's cracked it by making the first one a Major, the Senior Players Championship, two weeks ago, there's no reason why 'Iceman' should not do the business again in the Senior Open at Royal Lytham.

It has to help his cause that many of the best Americans are swerving a possibly wet and certainly windy weekend on an unrelenting, bunker-infested Lancashire links. In particular, Steve Stricker, Scott McCarron, Kirk Triplett and David Toms will be missed.

Jerry Kelly will still represent the USA well, and good old boys Tom Lehman, winner of The Open on the Lytham links in 1996, five-time Open hero Tom Watson in his last Major before turning 70, and Fred Couples (59) are all hoping to roll back the years.

Lehman is 60 now but made the cut on the main tour a few weeks back. The great Bernhard Langer is even older and not quite as good as he was, nor is defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, and although all three are 2019 winners, the coast is clearing for the new generation.

Rookies Goosen, eight times a top-ten Open finisher between 1997 and 2010, and 2011 Open hero Darren Clarke have a big start in age and power. Dazzler played superbly for 35 holes at his beloved Portrush but took seven at the 36th to blow the cut.

The Irishman could cash in on the feelgood factor enveloping the Emerald Isle by taking out his frustration on Lytham, where he shared third place with two of this week’s rivals, Langer and Jimenez, in the 2001 Open.

Paul Broadhurst and Colin Montgomerie have five senior Majors between them and aren't out of it - Broady won one at fearsome Carnoustie three years ago and is a great grafter - nor is 1999 Open champ Paul Lawrie.

And it was heartwarming to see dual Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal, whose health has diminished his great career, back contending in a European event in Germany at the weekend.
Ollie, who has never won as a senior, led going into the final round but was overhauled by Texan Clark Dennis's closing 63. Still, 150-1 are long odds for a short-game genius.

American plodder Bob Estes, fourth at last month's Senior US Open, could sneak a place. The secret to winning will be avoiding the 204 bunkers - 140 more than at Portrush - and he is boringly straight. So, hopefully, is Goosen and he is longer and a superior putter.

Recommendations
R Goosen
2pts each-way 9-1 Coral, Ladbrokes, Sky Bet
D Clarke
1pt each-way 50-1 general
P Broadhurst
1pt each-way 25-1 bet365
B Estes
0.5pt each-way 40-1 BoyleSports
J M Olazabal
0.5pt each-way 150-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Lowdown

Course Royal Lytham & St Annes GC, Lancashire
Prize money £1.5m (£250,000 to the winner)
Length 6,948 yards
Par 70 Field 144
When to bet By 7am Thursday
Where to watch Sky Sports Golf from 1pm Thursday

Last year Miguel Angel Jimenez beat Bernhard Langer by one at St Andrews
Course winner taking part Tom Lehman (1996 Open Championship)
Latest Major form – Senior Players Championship 1 R Goosen, T2 T Petrovic, J Haas, T4 K Jones, S Parel
Latest European form - Winstongolf Senior Open (Vorbeck, Germany) 1 C Dennis, 2 J M Olazabal, 3 J Kingston, T4 B Langer, J Spence, T6 P Price, T Wiratchant, A Bossert

Course overview
Royal Lytham is flat, demanding and the least photogenic of the Major links with no sea views. By some way it has the most bunkers, 204. Unusually it starts with a par three. Seve Ballesteros won two Opens there. The last three Open winners there were Tom Lehman in 1996, David Duval in 2001 and Ernie Els in 2012. Lytham hosted four Senior Opens in a row from 1991-94 but none since

Weather forecast Sunny intervals, very warm (up to 27C) for round one after some early showers, then temperatures around 20C with showers on Sunday

Type of player best suited to challenge Straight hitter and good bunker player/scrambler

Key attribute Accuracy

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