The Open Championship 2023 – Day 2 Betting Tip and Prediction

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Day one of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club was filled with “feel good” stories. The next three days should provide plenty of entertainment which includes watching the pros hit out of tall and challenging greenside bunkers.

Tommy Fleetwood holds a share of the lead at 5-under in his home country, along with South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Argentinian Emiliano Grillo.

Lamprecht, 22, became the first amateur to lead a major since Tom Lewis did in 2011 at the Open. He was the clubhouse leader until Fleetwood and Grillo matched him later in the day.

Local member and crowd favorite Matthew Jordan hit the tournament’s opening tee shot and posted a 2-under par score putting him at T13.

In this article, we’ll provide one second-round betting tip for a head-to-head matchup.

The Open Championship Day 2 Tip: Head-to-head Matchup

The prediction below is for the 18 holes played on Friday.

Xander Schauffele over Hideki Matsuyama @ 4/6 (-150)

Both Schauffele and Matsuyama are currently in a tie for 19th after recording 1-under-par rounds of 70 on Thursday.

The La Jolla, California native, Schauffele, is a links golf specialist and has performed better than Matsuyama since 2015. According to data compiled by analyst Ron Klos, Schauffele is gaining an average of 1.96 strokes over the last eight years on such tracks.

The 1.96 average is among the highest in the world, better than the top three in the Official World Golf Rankings: Scottie Scheffler (1.85), Jon Rahm (1.88) and Rory McIlroy (1.85). It’s also 1.10 strokes better than Matsuyama’s 0.86 average.

Strokes gained average on links courses

• Schauffele: 1.96 (38 rounds)
• Matsuyama: 0.86 (42 rounds)

The Olympic gold medalist has also played much better in his career at the Open Championship compared to Matsuyama. Aside from his debut in 2017, Schauffele has finished better in the three most recent Opens that both participated in.

Schauffele vs. Matsuyama at the Open

Year	Schauffele’s Result	Matsuyama’s Result
2022	T15	T68
2021	T26	N/A
2019	T41	Cut
2018	T2	Cut
2017	T20	T14

The 29-year-old is also one of the best on tour in terms of scoring and is averaging nearly a full stroke lower (0.95) than Matsuyama.

Scoring averages (All four rounds)

• Schauffele: 69.264 in 61 rounds (4th on tour)
• Matsuyama: 70.214 in 68 rounds (30th on tour)

Schauffele also holds an edge over Matsuyama in second-round scoring average by 0.68 strokes

Second-round scoring averages

• Schauffele: 69.27 in 15 rounds (14th on tour)
• Matsuyama: 69.95 in 19 rounds (46th on tour)

At Boyle Sportsbook, the 4/6 (-150) odds in favor of Schauffele (No. 6 in the OWGR) are a fair price to take him over Matsuyama (No. 34) in Friday’s round.

Despite Schauffele holding an edge in the categories mentioned above (links play, scoring averages, Open history and OWGR), it’s important to remember anything can happen during one round of golf and that favorites do lose. Please gamble responsibly.

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