Steve Palmer's Senior Open Championship predictions, best bets, free golf tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the Senior Open Championship at the King's Course, Gleneagles.

When to bet

Starts 7am Thursday - live on Sky Sports Main Event from midday Thursday

Best bets

Padraig Harrington
4pts 13-2 Betfair, Power

Colin Montgomerie
1pt each-way 40-1 bet365

Preview

Gleneagles has taken centre stage for some prestigious events, most notably the 2014 Ryder Cup, but it is normally the PGA Centenary Course which is used. This week, for the Senior Open Championship, the much older King's Course has been given the nod.

The King's Course, a James Braid design on some moorland, hosted a few Scottish Opens in the early-90s. The generous fairways and forecast for calm skies means scoring should be pretty low, although Steve Stricker, David Toms, Stephen Ames and Retief Goosen have not entered.

Champions Tour revelation Steven Alker takes his standard place as one of the market-leaders but preference is for two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington.

The Irishman is still good enough to compete on the DP World Tour and he gave his fans a thrill in last week's Open Championship at St Andrews when reaching five under par in the early stages of round two.

Harrington's Open challenge petered out, but the 50-year-old takes an enormous downgrade to roundbellies company and could be the man to beat. Pod still possesses plenty of length off the tee and he won the US Senior Open in fine style last month.

Harrington's senior Majors record is 2-20-1 and he can complete an Open hat-trick of sorts by adding this week's title to his 2007 and 2008 triumphs in the main event.

The King's Course is an inland layout - the Senior Open is not always on a links - and a Scotsman who is particularly looking forward to teeing up this week is Colin Montgomerie.

Monty is one of the few players in this field with positive course experience. He played extremely well in the 1992 Scottish Open at the King's Course, finishing runner-up after an amazing finish by Peter O'Malley, then the European Tour legend was fourth in 1994.

Montgomerie says the King's Course is by far his favourite at Gleneagles and the inspirational surroundings can help the 59-year-old go close to a third Senior Major success on Sunday. The lack of wind means his high ball-flight, unusually in an Open, becomes a positive.

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