The first round of the 149th British Open is largely in the books (handful of players still going as of this writing, none within four shots of lead), with South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen leading the final major championship of the season after a 6-under 64 at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, England. Americans Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman are one shot back. On the live golf odds at William Hill Sportsbook, Spieth is the new -400 favorite to win his second Claret Jug and Oosthuizen +450 to win his second. No one else is below +1600.
Oosthuizen won the 2010 British Open by seven shots at St. Andrews but hasn't won a major since – although it seems he's always in contention. He was T26 at this year's Masters but a runner-up at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open – that's six career second-place finishes at majors. Oosthuizen is averaging a stellar a 14.5-place finish in his past eight major starts. He paid out at +4000 to be the British Open's first-round leader and was +3000 entering Thursday to win.
In his last 29 worldwide starts entering this week, Louis had three Top 3 finishes, all in majors. He had no Top 5 in any other event. Oosthuizen began his round Thursday by parring his first seven holes and then birdied six of his final 11. The 64 tied the lowest opening round in an Open at Royal St. George's (1985, Christy O'Connor Jr.). The two previous times Oosthuizen opened with a round in the 60s at the British Open, he won that 2010 event and lost in a playoff in 2015.
"Probably in my mind the perfect round I could have played," he said. "I didn't make many mistakes. When I had good opportunities for birdie, I made the putts."
Spieth won the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, his last major title, and his 65 matched his best round ever at the British Open – which also happened to be his first round in '17. On Thursday, he made four putts outside of 20 feet. For what it's worth, Spieth is playing the first two round with Bryson DeChambeau and Branden Grace – Grace has played with the eventual winner in the first two rounds of the last two British Opens.
Americans Collin Morikawa and Webb Simpson are +1600 third favorites to win. Simpson is tied for fourth at 4 under, while Morikawa is T9 at 3 under. Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Harman are each +2000. As we mentioned, Harman is tied for second, while Koepka is T33 at 1 under and Johnson T18 at 2 under.
Spain's Jon Rahm was the pre-tournament favorite at +700 and is now +3300 after shooting 1-over 73. DeChambeau hit only four of 14 fairways in the first round, shot 1 over and is +10000. Defending champion Shane Lowry also shot 1 over and is +12500 to repeat.
British Open Round 2 Tee Times (Eastern, all off first tee)
1:35 a.m.: Aaron Rai, Paul Waring, Daniel Croft
1:46 a.m.: Daniel Van Tonder,Jazz Janewattananond, Christoffer Bring (a)
1:57 a.m.: Harold Varner III, Brendan Steele, Matthias Schmid (a)
2:08 a.m.: Troy Merritt, Adam Long, Jaco Ahlers
2:19 a.m.: Jason Day, Joost Luiten, Johannes Veerman
2:30 a.m.: John Catlin, Romain Langasque, Aaron Pike,
2:41 a.m.: Padraig Harrington, Brad Kennedy, Sam Forgan
2:52 a.m.: Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Adam Hadwin
3:03 a.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fox
3:14 a.m.: Francesco Molinari, Marc Leishman, Matt Wallace
3:25 a.m.: Collin Morikawa, Corey Conners, Sebastian Munoz
3:36 a.m.: Jason Scrivener, Keith Mitchell, Sam Bairstow (a)
3:47 a.m.: Charley Hoffman, Emiliano Grillo, Benjamin Hebert
4:03 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Richard T. Lee, Rafa Cabrera Bello
4:14 a.m.: Carlos Ortiz, Brendon Todd, Matthias Schwab
4:25 a.m.: Webb Simpson, Russell Henley, Shaun Norris
4:36 a.m.: Matt Jones, Daniel Hillier, Marcel Siem
4:47 a.m.: Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner
4:58 a.m.: Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler
5:09 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott
5:20 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith
5:31 a.m.: Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Matt Kuchar
5:42 a.m.: Antoine Rozner, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Ben Hutchinson
5:53 a.m.: Kurt Kitayama, Deyen Lawson, Poom Saksansin
6:04 a.m.: Yuki Inamori, Jimmy Walker, Ricardo Celia
6:15 a.m.: Rikard Karlberg, Ryutaro Nagano, Nicholas Poppleton
6:36 a.m.: Richard Bland, Andy Sullivan, Marcus Armitage
6:47 a.m.: Chan Kim, Justin Harding, Haotong Li
6:58 a.m.: Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Abel Gallegos (a)
7:09 a.m.: Alex Noren, J.C. Ritchie, Richard Mansell
7:20 a.m.: Dean Burmester, Danny Willett, Laird Shepherd (a)
7:31 a.m.: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sam Horsfield, Min Woo Lee
7:42 a.m.: Viktor Hovland, Ryan Palmer, Thomas Detry
7:53 a.m.: Paul Casey, Abraham Ancer, Ian Poulter
8:04 a.m.: Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Garrick Higgo
8:15 a.m.: Daniel Berger, Joaquin Niemann, Joel Dahmen
8:26 a.m.: Darren Clarke, Bernd Wiesberger, Joe Long (a)
8:37 a.m.: Chris Kirk, Marcus Kinhult, Jack Senior
8:48 a.m.: Talor Gooch, C.T. Pan, Jonathan Thomson
9:04 a.m.: Ernie Els, Gary Woodland, Cole Hammer (a)
9:15 a.m.: Sam Burns, Lucas Herbert, Jorge Campillo
9:26 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Branden Grace
9:37 a.m.: Brian Harman, Mackenzie Hughes, Dylan Frittelli
9:48 a.m.: Victor Perez, Kevin Streelman, Guido Migliozzi
9:59 a.m.: Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen
10:10 a.m.: Stewart Cink, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer
10:21 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose
10:32 a.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Sergio Garcia, Yuxin Lin (a)
10:43 a.m.: Harris English, Erik Van Rooyen, Chez Reavie
10:54 a.m.: Lucas Glover, Byeong Hun An, Brandt Snedeker
11:05 a.m.: Cameron Tringale, Takumi Kanaya, Marcel Schneider
11:16 a.m.: Lanto Griffin, Rikuya Hoshino, Connor Worsdall
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