Rory McIlroy British Open Win Would Crush Bookies

The 21-year-old from Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy tied the major championship record Thursday by shooting a 9-under 63 in the opening round of The Open Championship at St. Andrews. He sat atop the leader board by the end of Day 1 play.

BetUS.com had McIlroy listed with +1400 or 14/1 odds of winning the 2010 Open Championship. But the British bookies stand to lose significant amounts of money with a McIlroy win should he go all the way. Most of the betting action coming into the tournament was on the young Irishman as it was both years when Ireland native Padraig Harrington took home the trophy.

McIlroy became only the eighth player to go so low at the British Open, equaling a mark from 17 years ago by the late Payne Stewart at Royal St. George.

Tiger Woods, with his longest odds ever at nearly 6/1 coming into the Open Championship, was very much in the hunt, ranking within the top 15 on the leaderboard after Thursday’s play.

Odds were to be updated shortly at BetUS.com.

Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com