Home > Golf Lines > Golf Articles > Betting Odds

LOCATION: Royal Park I Roveri Club, Turin, Italy

DATE: September 19-22, 2013

European Tour Golf Betting Odds: With Italian golf stronger than ever before, the Italian Open returns for the fourth consecutive year to the Royal Park I Roveri club in Turin. Defending the title will be England's Robert Rock.

The Italian Open has been part of the European Tour schedule since the tour's debut season in 1972. But the tournament goes back much farther, first played in 1925. BMW has been the title sponsor since the 2009 tourney. Past winners include Tony Jacklin, Mark James, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Sam Torrance, Greg Norman, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

In 2010 it had a prize fund of $1.3 million, which was one of the smaller purses among the European Tour events played in Europe itself. So with the small purse and being played one week before the U.S. Open, most top ranked players will probably skip this event, including some of Italy's best. The Molinari brothers and teen sensation Matteo Manassero will all likely miss this year's BMW Italian Open in order to rest and prepare for the second Major championship of the year. This should pave the way for a rookie or no-name player to etch his name on the trophy.

In order to make the Italian Open one of the premiere stops on the European Tour, the purse needs to be increased and the date must be changed. It's simple – it's difficult to attract a star-studded field one week prior to any Major championship and it doesn't help when the purse is the lowest on Tour.

How to bet on Italian Open

The odds of a golfer to win the Italian Open will generally look something like:

• Tiger Woods + 150
• Phil Mickelson + 250
• Steve Stricker + 300
• Jeff Overton + 700
• Ernie Els + 700
• Field + 600

These betting odds will be lower when betting on a golfer to finish in the top three, as the sportsbook must pay off three different winning bets.

A player would have to bet $10 to win $150 that Tiger Woods will win the Italian Open, while the bettor wagering on Jeff Overton stands to win $70 on their $10 wager.

Another commonly placed bet in European Golf golf is head-to-head finish between two players. With this bet, a player doesn't really care what place the golfer finishes in, as long as the golfer wagered on finishes higher than the other golfer.

A head-to-head betting line for the Italian Open will look something like:

• Tiger Woods - 190 Steve Stricker + 150

In this bet, players wagering on Woods to finish higher than Stricker will be asked to risk $19 to win $10, while bettors believing that Stricker will finish higher than Woods will bet $10 to win $15.

Those familiar with sports betting will have no trouble making the transition to European Golf golf wagering, while those new to the world of sports betting should be able to pick up the concepts of European golf betting without to much trouble.

2012 BMW Italian Open Winner - Fernandez-Castano captures Italian Open

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain won the Italian Open on Sunday for the second time, edging South Africa's Garth Mulroy by two strokes.

European Ryder Cup players Nicolas Colsaerts and Martin Kaymer also fared well.

It was the sixth European Tour win of Fernandez-Castano's career. The 31-year-old Spaniard's biggest previous victory came at last year's Singapore Open.

He hit a solid shot out of the rough following an errant tee shot and birdied the final hole of the Royal Park I Roveri course outside Turin, finishing at 24 under.

Mulroy fell behind after a bogey on the 17th.

Gregory Bourdy of France and Italian teenager Matteo Manassero tied for third at 20 under.

Colsaerts and Kaymer finished in a tie for fifth with Gary Boyd of England and Pablo Larrazabal of Spain, six shots back.

The Ryder Cup will be held in two weeks at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago.

The third Ryder Cup player in the field, Italy's Francesco Molinari, shot a 65 — his best round of the week — to finish at 10 under.

Europe captain Jose Maria Olazabal also finished with a 65 to end the week at 7 under.

2011 BMW Italian Open Winner - Robert Rock Wins 2011 BMW Italian Open title

Englishman Robert Rock led from the very first round at the BMW Italian Open and he shot a final-round of 67 to end the tournament 21-under, just ahead of fellow countryman Gary Boyd and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.

Rock slipped up early with a bogey at the par-four-third, but he soon got his challenge back on track with four successive birdies from the fifth hole to reach the turn in three-under. He picked up two more shots with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11, and a bogey at the par-three 12th was soon erased by a seventh birdie at the 13th. The 34-year-old then pared the remaining five holes, and it was enough for him to end a nine-year wait to win a title on the tour.

Check back the week of June 13-16 and Bookmaker Sportsbook will have live odds for the 2013 Italian Open.