Steve Palmer's Open Championship matches preview, best bets and free golf tips

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Golf, 6.30am Thursday

Best bets

Patrick Reed to beat Collin Morikawa
3pts 9-10 Betfair

Brooks Koepka to beat Bryson DeChambeau
3pts 8-11 Betfair

Jon Rahm to beat Rory McIlroy
3pts 8-13 BoyleSports

Preview

Collin Morikawa is a fantastic player with a Major title under his belt, but his lack of links experience makes him vulnerable in the Open Championship this week, and the Californian can be opposed in a 72-hole match against Patrick Reed.

Morikawa got his first taste of linksland in the Scottish Open last week - and it did not go well. He closed with a 73 for a share of 71st place, with only five Sunday qualifiers finishing behind him. The Renaissance Club is a doddle compared to what Morikawa faces at Royal St George's, and the 24-year-old's Open debut could prove a baptism of fire.

Reed is vastly more experienced - a veteran of 30 Majors - and he is teeing up in his seventh Open this week. Four top-30s in the Open show he can handle the test, and tenth place at Royal Portrush in the last edition was his best result.

Portrush started a streak of seven consecutive Majors finishing in the top 20 for Reed - the 2018 Masters champion relishes the big stage - and steady recent form suggests the Texan will give a decent account of himself again.

Pitching Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau against each other in a tournament match has become popular with bookmakers, the layers catering for punters who have been enjoying the increasingly tedious spat between the American duo. It was a tough match to call in the previous Majors, but Koepka appears to have a significant advantage in this one.

Koepka has form figures of 10-6-39-4 from the last four Opens, while DeChambeau's three Open spins have resulted in two missed cuts and a share of 51st place in 2018. The musclebound Californian may lack the finesse for a tricky links like St George's, where his driving distance does count for a great deal.

Koepka has comfortably beaten DeChambeau in the last three tournaments in which they have both competed, but perhaps the most important reason for expecting the Floridian to win this match is DeChambeau's change of caddie.

Timmy Tucker, who DeChambeau has relied heavily on through the years, left his side before the Rocket Mortgage Classic. A missed cut followed there and it will probably take DeChambeau time to settle with new bagman Brian Zeigler.

Another match-bet which appeals at odds-on is Jon Rahm to defeat Rory McIlroy. Rahm has so much self-belief over the ball at the moment - from tee to green he has been performing magnificently - while McIlroy is still short of ball-striking authority in the wake of coaching and swing changes he made last spring.

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