Golf betting blog: Great Dane wins Irish Open

DownThe18th reflect on Soren Kjeldsen's hard-earned win at 150/1 at the Irish Open.

If you did not find the Irish Open exciting then something is fundamentally wrong with you.

It was as enthralling as any major in recent memory and made us drool at the prospect of a links-esque US Open and, of course, St Andrews to come later in the summer.

With Rory McIlroy (3/1 with most) on hosting duties, exhausted and enjoying the fruits of his new relationship, a missed cut was not a great surprise.  Arguably, the 80 that caused it was.

Rickie Fowler was tempting at 12’s, but after a gorgeous eagle at the 16^th on Saturday to get a sniff of the lead, he finished like a 28-handicapper with two 8’s.

The American was not the only one to suffer in the difficult conditions; there were only four players under par on the final day!  GM’s pick Danny Willett (40/1) was one of them.

It was inevitable that a play-off would decide proceedings, with the outstanding Søren Kjeldsen (150/1), Eddie Pepperell (200/1) and Bernd Wiesberger (80/1) fighting it out for the trophy.

But the golfing gods were looking down on Kjeldsen, who ultimately deserved his win.

Obviously our headline bet at 22/1 Shane Lowry was going nicely before losing his head, breaking his putter and having to use a pitching wedge on the greens for 15 holes. Good stuff.

Over in the States, the field wasn’t great, but Jordan Spieth (5/1) and Dustin Johnson (12/1) took the brunt of the odds and meant value was there to be had.

We felt there was an outside chance of something happening for us going into the final day, but both Jerry Kelly (150/1) and Matt Kuchar (33/1) were two of the only guys over par, whilst Will Wilcox (250/1) simply couldn’t motor on.

As it was Steven Bowditch and his unique eyebrows stormed to victory from absolutely nowhere.  He could have been found at a whopping 500/1.

Just to put this week into perspective – a £1 e/w bet on Bowditch and Kjeldsen would have won you £80, 500.  Just shows – get your doubles on!