Ahead of the 2019 edition of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush – from 18th to 21st July – it is time to take a Spread Betting Perspective on the last 5 years of the competition!

2014 – Rory McIlroy
McIlroy became only the 3rd player in history to win 3 major championships by the age of 25 when he picked up his first and only Open title in 2014. He had headed into the Royal Liverpool Golf Club as one of the favourites, Spreadex pegging him at a Leaderboard Index spread of 8-11 – which makes up to 80 if you win the whole thing.

2015 – Zach Johnson
With the injured McIlroy the first defending champion to miss the Open in more than 60 years, it looked like Jordan Spieth had a fairly clear run to his 3rd back-to-back major. However, the American finished 1 stoke shy of the 4-hole playoff, eventually won by outsider Zach Johnson at a teensy binary spread of 0.7-1.5.

2016 – Henrik Stenson
Starting at a solid Leaderboard Index spread of 6-8, Henrik Stenson spent the 2016 Open breaking records, including a lowest final score in relation to par of -20, and a lowest final score of 264.

2017 – Jordan Spieth
Joining McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as an incredibly youthful 3-time majors champion, in a wire-to-wire victory no less, was Jordan Spieth. Unlike Stenson and Johnson in the previous 2 years, Spieth was much-fancied beforehand, and sat at a Leaderboard index spread of 9-12.

2018 – Francesco Molinari
Rivalling Johnson for the most surprising victory of the last few years, Francesco Molinari – who went into the competition at a binary spread of 1.5-3.5 – became the first Italian major winner with his 2018 triumph at a heatwave-baked Carnoustie.

2019 – ???
So, more often than not in the last 5 years the favourite has failed to win the Open. That doesn’t bode well for McIlroy, who has a clear Northern Ireland-edge at a Leaderboard Index spread of 15-18. There also hasn’t been a defending champion since Padraig Harrington in 2007 and 2008, meaning Molinari might struggle at 4.75-6.75.

As for world no. 1s – based on the Official World Golf Ranking – they haven’t done well. In 2014 Adam Scott came tied for 5th; McIlroy was absent a year later. Jason Day in 2016 was then stuck all the way in 22nd, while Dustin Johnson was miles off in both 2017 and 2018. 2019 PGA Championship winner, and current table topper, Brooks Koepka won’t be happy to hear that, at a Leaderboard Index spread of 11-14.

Europeans have had better luck than Americans, with 3 of the last 5 victors coming from the continent. However, the winner has flip-flopped from continent to continent year-on-year since 2012. Following on from the Italian Molinari we might then be looking for an American; freed from being the world no. 1, Dustin Johnson could stand a chance at 10-13.

Based on that geographical pattern, Spreadex’s USA Hotshots spread of 44-48 becomes a bit more interesting. The group is formed of Johnson, Koepka, Tiger Woods and Xander Schauffele, where a top ten finish is worth 25 points, alongside a 50 point win bonus (the maximum make-up is 150).