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Ante-post Open Championship Betting: Course form is essential so get your head in the books

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Get your bets on The Open now says The Punter, but do your homework first!

Although still a few weeks away it's now time to start seriously looking at the British Open.

Traditionalists will be seething at me calling it the British Open, as opposed to The Open, The Open Championship, or even just The Championship. But it's what the world now refers to it as, and does it really matter?

I say now is the time because I always place my bets on the majors early. The market is up, there's no rule-four and you'll get your money back if your player doesn't start, so why wait?

I appreciate that this tactic has potential downsides; your selections could be disadvantaged by a poor draw or by getting the worst of the weather, or even worse, there's the risk of injury. Whoever heard of an injured golfer winning a major! But for me the better price usually attained is worth the risk and over the years I've found that going in early has been mostly worthwhile.

It may be a major but the criteria for ferreting out the winner are virtually the same as at any other event. The number one issue for me is always course form. That's not always easy at the majors though as, the Masters apart, they're all nomadic events. But certain rules will always apply.

The British Open is always staged at a seaside links course. This year it will be at Royal Birkdale, last used in 1998 when Mark O'Meara beat Brian Watts in a play off, Tiger Woods got blown off course, and the world became aware of a young English amateur called Justin Rose.

Prior to that, it was the venue for Ian Baker-Finch's demolition job in 1991. Although there was a gap of seven years the form was there, Mark O'Meara had finished three shots back in third that year.

So even though it was ten years ago, it's still worth looking at the result in 1998.
It's also worth reading up on any course changes for clues, for example Royal Birkdale has, according to the www.europeantour.com site, altered all but two holes, focusing on tightening rather than lengthening the course.

I'll also work through the recent results for the Dunhill Links, held every year in October and staged over three links courses, St Andrews, Kingsbarns and last year's Open venue, Carnoustie. It's not much help when assessing the chances of anyone from the States or Far East but there are plenty of examples of European Tour players that fare well in this tournament as well as the Open.

At a run of the mill event I would largely ignore event form if a different course is used but at the Open the courses and conditions are similar and the same skills are required year on year. For example, an ability to play in high winds is often an essential requirement.

So a player's Open record is by far the number one pointer.

Current form is also important but not essential. There are countless examples of players winning after a missed cut and the market often reacts too severely to current form.

Most weeks I'll use the stats, looking at previous placed and winning players at the course and seeing what their strengths are. Does the course suit straight hitters, those with good GIR figures, hot putters, or long hitters? But there's a myriad of statistical information and it can be mind blowing and even misleading. Too much statistical analysis can also result in you forgetting that you're assessing the chances of a human being!

All sorts of factors come into play: births, deaths and marriages and even birthdays have inspired many a player.

Two years ago Tiger Woods won from Chris Di Marco at Hoylake, both had just lost a parent. And how many times do you see a newly crowned champ celebrating with a new baby? The last two Masters champions were both brand new dads. A player revaluating their careers after turning 30 or 40 or even 50 can often trigger an upturn in form.

But where do we find out all this info? Well that's the hard bit, some players have excellent websites. Ernie Els' and David Howell's are both good but most are poor and it's just a case of lots of internet searching and lots of reading.

It may all be fruitless anyway, a look back at recent results show that it really can be an open Open. Mystic Meg would have struggled to root out either Ben Curtis or Todd Hamilton.

So my advice is, enjoy doing your research, get on early, and if you come up with some really big outsiders, don't be put off.