Open Championship Find Me a 100 Winner Special: Is Scott set to emulate Zach?

As highlighted in my preview, the Open Championship has been a good event for outsiders over the years.

Paul Lawrie closed out the last century by winning at Carnoustie at a huge price and seven of the last 18 winners have been matched at a triple-figure price.

Tiger Woods was far from an outsider when he won at St Andrews in both 2000 and 2005 but the last two winners at the home of golf both went off at a triple-figure price.

Louis Oosthuizen was matched at more than 600.0599/1 before romping to a seven-stroke victory in 2010 and Zach Johnson was generally a 150.0149/1 shot in 2015.

Augusta link looks strong

Less than two years after his win here, Louis Oosthuizen traded at long odds-on to win the US Masters before losing in a playoff to Bubba Watson and the last two Open winners at St Andrews, Johnson, and Woods, have both won the US Masters at Augusta.

As Dave highlights in his 10-year trends piece, as many as nine of the last 10 Open winners at St Andrews had previously posted a top three in the US Masters.

That's quite a stat on its own but when you consider it doesn't include Oosthuizen's second at Augusta in 2012 and that the surprise 2016 US Masters winner, Danny Willett, won the Alfred Dunhill Links Pro-Am Championship last year (an event in which two of the four rounds are played at St Andrews) and the link between the two venues is quite remarkable.

Given he'd sat second after rounds one and two before finishing tied for sixth here back in 2015, Willett was on the radar for this year's renewal but other than a top-12 finish at Augusta back in April, he hasn't been playing well this year and he had a Putting Average of 2.0 last week when missing the cut at the Scottish Open.

Putting that poorly is going to drag any pro down so the chances of him emulating Zach and winning his second major at St Andrews look incredibly slim but the same can't be said of the 2013 US Masters winner - Adam Scott.

Is Scott all set to emulate Zach?

Collin Morikawa was 24 when winning on his debut Open appearance 12 months ago and Shane Lowry was only 32 when he won at Royal Portrush three years ago (2020 edition was cancelled because of the pandemic) but Francesco Molinari became the ninth player aged 35 and above to win the Open in 12 years when he lifted the Claret Jug in 2018.

The Open is a great Championship for the veterans so the fact that Scotty is 42 is a positive rather than a negative and he has a very strong Open portfolio already.

It's now ten years since the Aussie traded at long odds-on before he capitulated in front late on at Lytham to let in Ernie Els and he traded at a low of 2.447/5 12 months later at Muirfield before eventually finishing tied for third.

Scott also finished tied for fifth in 2014 and he was matched at a low of 4.03/1 here in 2015 before a late stumble in round four saw him finish the week in a tie for 10th.

His Championship record's been fairly poor since 2015 and it's now two years since he won his last PGA Tour title - the 2020 Genesis Invitational at Riviera - but he caught the eye at the US Open last time out when he finished 14th and he might just cause a bit of a shock here.

Could Scott win his second major championship at the home of golf, nine years after winning his first at the US Masters? Almost exactly emulating Johnson in 2015 who won his second major here, eight years after winning at Augusta. I like the synergy and I like the price.

Back 2 u Adam Scott @ 130.0129/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

Kisner ticks plenty of boxes

As many as 19 of the last 28 majors have been won by a first-time major winner so it makes sense to include at least one selection in search of his first. And it's also worth noting that 41 of the last 42 majors have gone to someone inside the top-50 in the Official World Rankings.

The closest that the world number 25, Kevin Kisner, has come to winning a major was in this event in 2018, when he finished runner-up to Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie, and he looks a juicy price to go one better following a fine sixth in the Travelers Championship last time out, where he scrambled and putted nicely.

Kisner's had an in-and-out time of it since winning the Wyndham Championship last August but there have been plenty of highlights this year amongst the missed cuts.

In addition to his top-six finish last time out, he's finished third in the Sony Open, fourth in the Players Championship and he was runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in the WGC Match Play in March. An event he won two years ago.

Kisner ticks plenty of boxes and he's simply too big to ignore at odds in excess of 300.0299/1.

Back 1 u Kevin Kisner @ 310.0309/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

Cink a big price after a decent week at the Scottish

It's now ten years since the title went the way of a previous winner (Ernie Els at Lytham) but multiple winners are commonplace in the major that rewards event experience more than any other and we may well be due another.

In addition to Ernie, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, and Padraig Harrington have all won at least two Opens in the last 50 years and having signed off last week's Scottish Open with an impressive 67 to climb up into a tie for 24th, the 2009 Champ, Stewart Cink, looks over-priced at 500.0499/1.

Having beaten a physically and emotionally drained 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff at Turnberry 12 years ago, Cink must rank as one of the least popular winners of the Open but that's a little unfortunate for such a congenial character.

Now 49 and very much at the veteran stage, Cink is definitely viewed as one of the good guys and with his son Reagan on the bag, he's enjoyed quite a renaissance of late, winning twice on the PGA Tour as recently as last season.

Back 1u Stewart Cink @ 500.0499/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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Watch Golf... Only Bettor, ahead of this week's 150th Open Championship below, presented by Sky Sports golf presenter Sarah Stirk with guests Dave Tindall from betting.betfair and Sporting Life's Ben Coley, with another Betfair tipster, Matt Cooper, joining them live from St Andrews.