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The Open Championship

Lots of great offers from bookmakers around for the ultimate test in golf, The Open Championship. Boylesports paying EIGHT places each-way at 1/4 the odds, Sportsbet Australia paying money back if your player misses the cut, and numerous more.

The market is remarkable - on Betfair it's Tiger at 3.5, and next best is Lee Westwood at 30, with 10 players in all between 30 and 50. So essentially, it comes to one question - do you back Tiger or lay him? I've got to oppose him on this track. His form has been good since his return from injury but not invincible, and there's a quality chasing pack.

My glory story of trading occurred in this evnt back in 2003 when I backed a handful of players at big prices on the first morning. One of them was Ben Curtis at 1000 for £5. Only expecting him to stay on the leaderboard for a few hours on day one, I traded out at 550, then some more at 210 and then finally at 1.7 on the final day for a lovely green book.

This year, Tiger at 3.5 represents 28.57% of the market. If he suddenly starts with a shocker and blows out to 10, his % share of the market decreases to 10%, meaning that difference (18.57%) has to be redistributed amongst the rest of the field. The market will weaken a bit (105% out to 125% or so while play is underway, overnight is when it will tighten up each day) and other players have to trade shorter - in fact when the market is weaker is when they are more likely to trade short - as there will be gaps between prices - eg back 100, lay 140.

Good luck with your trading.

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