2017 Golf Specials: Will next year’s Open crown a home winner?
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Golf proved full of surprises in 2016, with the four Majors each crowning a debutant winner for the first-time since 1999. So with 2017 rapidly approaching, our traders have priced up a number of specials.
There will be plenty of focus on British players, as Danny Willett looks to prove his Masters success wasn’t a one off, and Paul Casey hopes to finally land that first Major title.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy heads into 2017 having not won one of the four big ones for two years, while Americans Dustin Johnson and Jimmy Walker will be hoping to kick on from their Majors breakthrough in 2016.
And then there’s Tiger Woods, who finally looks ready for a full year on tour.
At 2/1, our traders certainly fancy that an Englishman is a very real proposition to win a Major next year.
Willett and Justin Rose have both done just that in recent times, and while Casey has been giving it his all in Majors for 15 years now, there are a couple of new kids on the block who will be boosting the English contingent in 2017.
Tyrrell Hatton and Mathew Fitzpatrick enjoyed breakthrough years in 2016, and both should be seriously considered for Major glory this time around.
Hatton enjoyed a fine end to the year, bagging a T5 at the Open and T10 at the PGAs, before landing his first European Tour win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October.
And alongside 25-year-old Hatton, is 22-year-old Fitzpatrick.
The 2013 US Amateur champion secured his first pro title at the 2015 British Masters, and kicked on from that by finishing T7 at this year’s Masters in Augusta.
Victory in June’s Nordic Masters and the DP World Tour Championship in November – by one shot from Hatton – left few in any doubt about two men ready to become regular contenders in the very near future.
Andy Sullivan, Andrew Johnston and Chris Wood are also worthy of mentions here as men to watch in future. And of course, will Lee Westwood finally rid himself of the nearly-man tag?
Meanwhile, it’s 4/1 that any Brit wins the 2017 Open, so here we can include McIlroy, Graeme MacDowell and Russell Knox among the aforementioned English crusaders.
With Rory and Darren Clarke claiming Open success in the last six years, that’s a steady 30 per cent success rate for British players.
And we end with Tiger, who is set to tackle a full year on Tour for the first time in three years.
After a glimpse of the old Woods with a second round 65 at the Hero World Challenge in early December, the bookies go 5/1 the American lands his 15th Major in 2017.
Ladbrokes latest betting
Golf 2017 specials
Europe to win the Solheim Cup – 2/1
An Englishman to win a Major – 2/1
A Brit to win The Open – 4/1
Tiger Woods to win a Major – 5/1
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
