Weekend Review: Punters latch onto Cameron Smith as Aussie lifts golf’s Claret Jug
Rory McIlroy falls just short after being 2/5 in-play during the final round, much to the delight of the layers
Cameron Smith carded a final round of 64 as he overcame a four-shot deficit to win the Open Championship on Sunday at St Andrews with a score of 20 under par.
The 28-year-old Australian had been well-supported in the betting at 28/1 with some bookies ahead of the tournament and was put up by respected golf tipster Ben Coley of the Sporting Life.
Before the fourth round teed off, the mullet-haired and moustache-wearing Smith was available to be backed at 16/1 in places after shooting a disappointing 73 the prior day.
Rory McIlroy, who had been the 10/1 pre-tournament favourite, was slightly odds-on after taking a four-shot lead alongside Norwegian starlet Viktor Hovland going into the final round.
Yet Smith went on a remarkable run, including five successive birdies from the tenth hole, to take the lead and eventually the Claret Jug.
Another Cameron – America’s Cameron Young – played some of the best golf of his life to finish runner-up with a score of 19 under par at odds of 125/1.
McIIroy, who last won a Major in 2014, came third, while 35/1-shot Tommy Fleetwood was tied in fourth with Hovland (55/1).
After his victory, Smith lived up to the Aussie stereotype by revealing he was going see how many beers would fit inside the famous Claret Jug.
A Sunday for the record books for Cameron Smith.@TheOpen champion charged his way to winning the Claret Jug 🏆 pic.twitter.com/FJAXJ6Kmm9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 17, 2022
From one bookie’s perspective, the beer stayed firmly in the fridge. Steve Freeth of bet365 described the result in one word: “Carnage”. He added that Smith was a “six-figure loser” after being boosted to 28/1.
It was a different story over at Kindred Group, though. Ali Gill commented: “With McIlroy having been favourite going into the event, and sitting atop the pile going into Sunday, he was the man the punters wanted, leaving us nicely in the black after a frustrating round with the putter saw him come up short and only manage third.”
From an exchange perspective, Aiden O’Sullivan of Matchbook said McIIroy went off pre-tournament favourite at 12.5 (11.5/1) and garnered 52% of the bet share in-play across the four days.
McIlroy was 1.99 (just under evens) coming into the final round and was matched as low as 1.4 (2/5) as Hovland faded away.
O’Sullivan said: “Plucky Australian Cameron Smith – 40.0 pre-tournament – didn’t exactly read the script but only received some lukewarm support on Sunday morning, being matched at 30.0.
“A back nine for the ages from Smith was ultimately enough to break the hearts of Rory-backers.”
Elsewhere, on the horseracing front, 15/2-shot Eddie’s Boy ridden by Hollie Doyle kept on well to take Newbury’s Super Sprint Stakes.
Woolhampton at 80/1 finished two lengths behind in second while Rogue Spirit (4/1) and Looking for Lynda (33/1) were third and fourth, respectively.
On Eddie’s Boy, Gill said: “He didn’t have a whole lot of love from backers and the win left us well ahead, with favourite Maria Branwell disappointing in eighth.”
Across the Irish Sea at the Curragh, favourite-backers were cheering on Saturday after Magical Lagoon took the Juddmonte Irish Oaks at 5/4 (opened 11/8).
Janis Strauts, head of trading at Virgin Bet, said: “Emily Upjohn was the hot ante-post favourite for this race, but she had to be withdrawn the night before due to travel issues.
“As the plane that was due to take her to the Curragh was involved in a bird strike and no other aircraft were available. This left the race open for 5/4 favourite, Magical Lagoon.”
We were treated to a thriller of a renewal of the Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Saturday, with the gallant Magical Lagoon seeing off the challenge of Toy to claim the Classic for @Jessica_Racing! ✨pic.twitter.com/fPnLs8jLah
— HorseRacing.net (@HorseRacing_Net) July 18, 2022
Strauts was impressed with the performance of Little Big Bear as the promising two-year-old landed the Jebel Ali Racecourses and Stables Anglesey Stakes at the skinny price of 2/5.
Back in England, at racing’s HQ, Strauts added: “It was a brilliant day for top jockey William Buick at Newmarket, where he rode the last five winners of the seven-race card.
“A great achievement for the jockey and one that would have delighted punters, who landed lots of multiple bets.”
Finally, the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party, and with it a move into Downing Street as Prime Minister, has been heating up.
A series of television debates involving the final five candidates has caused plenty of movement in the betting markets.
Indeed, Matthew Shaddick, head of political betting at Smarkets, tweeted on Sunday that if he were designing a voting system to maximise betting interest, he couldn’t devise anything better than the one the Tories have picked. “Absolutely tremendous,” he wrote.
📈 PRICE SURGE: Truss overtakes Mordaunt as second favourite in the Tory leadership race.https://t.co/tqPVbY57Ih pic.twitter.com/aoSyyNmAyu
— Smarkets News & Politics (@SmarketsPol) July 18, 2022
Over the past few days Penny Mordaunt has drifted from slightly odds-on to 4.0 (3/1) and greater on the exchanges, with Rishi Sunak now the clear favourite at around 2.1 (11/10).
Alan Firkins of Betfred said: “Penny Mordaunt dominated early in the hunt to be the next Tory leader and therefore PM, but it might not in fact be plain sailing.
“We now have Rishi Sunak heading the market, at 6/5. Mordaunt is out to 9/4, it’s then 10/3 Liz Truss, 19/2 Kemi Badenoch, and 80/1 Tom Tugendhat.”
The final five will be whittled down to just two candidates by the end of this week before the party’s membership vote on who should be their next leader.