Open Championship 2025 Special Bets: Dave Tindall's pick of the specials from odds-on up to 80/1

• Local hero Rory McIlroy features in a special bet at 80/181.00

• Get a free bet for every first round birdie your Open selection scores. T&Cs apply

• Read Dave Tindall's 10-year trends piece here

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Bet 1 - Hole in One? Yes

It may be a short price but the numbers say we're getting decent odds.

This has landed in four of the last five Opens and that includes Emiliano Grillo making a '1' at the 13th in the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush.

As for this season, aces have been made in the last two majors. These guys are good and with no extreme winds, it's fair to expect another.

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Bet 2 - Chris Gotterup to miss the cut

Golf has a habit of bringing you back to earth and Chris Gotterup may be on the end of that after his superb Scottish Open win last week.

The American's huge hitting was a massive benefit at The Renaissance Club but Royal Portrush is a more subtle test and a much harder course to learn.

Gotterup's first PGA Tour win came by a hefty six-shot margin in last year's Myrtle Beach Classic. How did he follow that? By missing his next three cuts, the first in a major (2024 US PGA).

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Bet 3 - Harry Hall for Top 20 Finish (Inc. Ties)

I want to be on Harry Hall in some way this week and the side markets look best given his lack of experience at this level.

Top 20 may be a reasonable ask for a player who has been playing some great golf on the PGA Tour this season. Hall has six top 20s in his last seven starts, including 19th at May's US PGA in just his second major start.

Hall grew up playing links in Cornwall, qualified for this week's Open at Burnham and Berrow and showed a further display of his links skills when 17th in last week's Scottish Open. A brilliant short game suggests he'll adapt nicely to Royal Portrush.

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Bet 4 - Stewart Cink for Top Senior

Padraig Harrington is the 23/103.30 favourite in this market and the Irishman, who won the US Senior Open last month, will be a popular pick. But the double Open winner was only 71st in Scotland last week and he missed the cut at Royal Portrush in 2019. In other words, he's far from nailed on.

The value here could lie with 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink. The Turnberry hero was 20th at Royal Portrush in 2019 and added another top 25 at Hoylake two years ago. As for latest form, he was runner-up in the US Senior Open and his last seven Champions Tour results show 2-3-15-4-12-1-6.

As for the rest, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood are showing average form on the LIV Tour while it would be a big surprise to see Darren Clarke (MC Portrush 2019), KJ Choi or Justin Leonard being a factor. Cink is beating them on a regular basis.

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Bet 5 - Any 2 of Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton & Shane Lowry to Finish in the Top 5 (Inc. Ties)

All the big names can't play well all the time so I quite like the 'Any 2 of' options in the #OddsOnThat markets. And yet in this bet, I genuinely think you have three genuine challengers batting for you.

Lowry and Hatton were first and sixth respectively at Royal Portrush in 2019 and both have played some excellent golf this year. Hatton was fourth in the US Open last time which will stand him in good stead for this and anyone thinking Lowry has used up all his Royal Portrush magic should recall the case of Louis Oosthuizen who won the Open by seven at St Andrews in 2010 and then made a playoff when it next staged the tournament five years later.

Hovland is very good at majors and already has four top fives in the last 12, including fourth at St Andrews. It's a tough ask but getting two into the top five comes with a hefty reward.

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Bet 6 - Rory McIlroy to Win, Tommy Fleetwood Top 10 Finish & Shane Lowry Top 20 Finish (Inc. Ties)

If you're really into Rory this week but don't want to take a single-figure win price, there are ways to get some huge odds - if he gets a little help from his friends.

Masters champ McIlroy looks to be peaking again after his second place in Scotland last week and it's far from unusual to see players win two majors in a season. Xander Schauffele did it last year while Rory himself has managed the feat, as have Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and, of course, Tiger Woods this century.

The case for Lowry has already been made so that leaves Fleetwood, who was runner-up at Portrush in 2019 and has three top 10s in his last five Opens. 

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Bet 7 - Masters Repeat: Rory McIlroy to Win, Justin Rose Top 5 Finish (Inc. Ties)

This bet, found in #OddsOnThat - Featured, is billed as a 'Masters Repeat' but there's a bit of artistic license which goes in our favour. Yes, Rory has to win again but Justin Rose, who lost that dramatic Masters playoff to McIlroy, 'only' has to make the top five (including ties) this time.

Can Rose pull it off? Well, the Englishman was runner-up in last year's Open and sat fourth after 54 holes at Royal Portrush in 2019 before falling away to 20th on Sunday.

Rose is far from consistent but seems to rise to the occasion at iconic venues and this year he's finished second at Augusta, third at Pebble Beach and eighth at Bay Hill. And to give us extra belief that this is a fun bet with a genuine chance of landing, the former US Open winner was sixth at last week's Scottish Open.

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Now read more Open Championship golf previews and tips here

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