Royal Troon member Monty backed for fairy-tale ending

Colin Montgomerie has been cut into 200-1 (from 250-1) by leading bookmaker Coral for the 145th Open Championship after the firm saw a flurry of bets for the veteran in his bid for his maiden major championship in what could be his final appearance in golf’s oldest major tournament. Monty is evens to make the cut this week at Royal Troon, while he is odds-on at 8-11 to miss out on the weekend’s action.

At the top of the betting, Dustin Johnson is the 8-1 favourite with Coral to win consecutive majors. Australian Jason Day is 9-1 to lift the Claret Jug, Rory McIlroy can be backed at 10-1 and Jordan Spieth is 11-1 to win this tournament for the second time.  With the last six winners at Royal Troon all being American, Coral go 13-8 that this year’s Open is also won by a golfer born in the United States.

Coral is offering its online each-way punters seven places on the tournament, while retail customers can also get seven places with their Connect Card in any Coral shop when betting on the tournament.

“Our punters have been backing a fairy-tale ending to the 145th Open as we have seen a flurry of bets for Colin Montgomerie winning his maiden major in what could be his final appearance in an Open Championship,” said Coral’s John Hill.

“Monty is our biggest liability going into the tournament but we have also seen strong patriotic support for Lee Westwood and Justin Rose to lift the Claret Jug for the first time in their careers on Sunday afternoon,” added Hill.

“The four big guns at the top of the market are all attracting their fair share of interest in the betting but Dustin Johnson is proving the most popular to win back-to-back majors and continue his rich run of form,” concluded Hill.

**145th Open Championship – Coral bet – 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 – 1/5

8 Dustin Johnson, 9 Jason Day, 10 Rory McIlroy, 11 Jordan Spieth, 25 Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace, Adam Scott, 30 Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, 35 Justin Rose, 45 Bar.

**Colin Montgomerie to make the cut