Open Championship three-ball tips: Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa expected to impress
- Planet Sport writer
- 19 July 2023
Planet Sport brings you a three-ball treble ahead of the opening round at the Open Championship.
Trawling through the early three-ball groupings produced slim pickings in terms of potential bets but a close inspection of the later starters threw up a rash of interesting options.
Number one is the 14.48 where the great hope of Norway Viktor Hovland is strongly fancied at 13/10 to outscore Tony Finau and Justin Thomas.
The latter is bang out of form with confidence at a low ebb, and is yet to master this links business.
Finau is likely to prove harder to overcome as he has a very solid Open record.
The key to the bet is recent form though and Hovland is in much better nick currently - and has two top-12 finishes in his brace of efforts at this historic championship.
Next up in the 14.59 marquee group of the day, Jon Rahm is taken to see off Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose.
The Masters champion has understandably dipped slightly since Augusta, unlike McIlroy who landed the Scottish Open at the weekend.
There is however an immense amount of pressure on Rory - and that stellar success only heightened expectations.
While Rose has had a much-improved 2023, he's not always shone at this event. At odds of 6/4, Rahm rates the value.
Finally, Collin Morikawa makes a good deal of appeal at 7/4 to emerge victorious from his grouping with Tyrell Hatton and Max Homa.
The 2021 champion has a game that looks tailor-made for this course, with his accurate ball-striking likely to pay serious dividends. He can start well on his way to winning another Claret Jug!
