Steve Palmer's Open Championship specials predictions & free golf betting tips

Golf tips, best tops & specials bets and player analysis for the Open Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 6.30am Thursday

Best bets

Padraig Harrington top senior
5pts 9-5 bet365

Sam Bairstow top amateur
2pts 16-5 bet365

Matthew Jordan top debutant
1pt each-way 25-1bet365

Thomas Pieters top continental European
1pt each-way 10-1 bet365, Betfair, Betfred, Power

Rory McIlroy-Jordan Spieth dual forecast
1pt 100-1 bet365

Preview

Padraig Harrington is full of trademark chirp going into the Open at St Andrews and the dual champion knows he is not just making up the numbers at the Home of Golf.

Harrington, who lifted the Claret Jug in 2007 and 2008, is a two-time winner of the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. He has twice finished 20th in the Open there and seems a solid investment for top senior honours this week.

Harrington won the US Senior Open at the end of last month, then produced a dazzling second-round 64 on his way to fifth place in the high-class JP McManus Pro-Am last week. A missed cut in the Scottish Open probably had more to do with the 50-year-old's hectic schedule than anything else, so expect a return to form in the Open.

Phil Mickelson appears understandably glum at the moment - he has clearly lost the respect of many peers over recent comments and his legacy has been tarnished - and Lefty could be finished at the highest level. The rusty American missed the cut by eight shots in the US Open.

Ernie Els and Darren Clarke have trekked back from the Senior Players Championship in Ohio, so Harrington seems by far the best Open senior option.

Sam Bairstow appeals in the top amateur market. He has played in the St Andrews Links Trophy three times and never carded an over-par round. Teeing up in his second Open this week, he should be calmer than most of the amateurs.

Matthew Jordan, a links natural who has finished fifth in the Dunhill Links, seems a massive price in the top debutant market, while Thomas Pieters is playing well enough to upset Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland for top continental European.

The 100-1 about the Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth dual forecast is too tempting to resist. It would be no surprise to see these two superstars raise their game for the ultimate event - an Open at St Andrews - and be slugging it out for the Claret Jug on Sunday afternoon.

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