Zalatoris should make some noise at The Open Championship

There's plenty to consider on a daily basis during this "dead period" of sports betting. The first is of course consistent MLB action, and there's also NBA Summer League, WNBA, tennis and motorsports. For today, we'd like to get ahead of the curve with all of you and get in our preparations for The Open Championship, set to begin Thursday morning.

Prior to the U.S. Open, one reason we liked Matthew Fitzpatrick to win at +3000 was his history with the tournament's course. Finding golfers who have had past success at the weekend's location can help us find some betting value. This year's Open Championship is being held at the Old Course in Scotland, affectionately known as the Old Lady, widely believed to be the oldest golf course in the world.

The Open has been held at the Old Course four times since 2000. Tiger Woods won in both 2000 and 2005, while Louis Oosthuizen took home the win in 2010. The most recent Open winner at this St. Andrews course was Zach Johnson in 2015. If we go off course history, Woods at +6000 and Oosthuizen at +4000 catch the eye. Oosthuizen was the runner-up in 2015 after winning in 2010.

While we like the above approach and will sprinkle a bit of our own money at those odds, our favorite choice has to be Will Zalatoris. At some point, Zalatoris has got to get over the hump at a major. Few have had the sustained success the 25-year-old from San Francisco has had the past two years. In the last eight majors he's been a part of, Zalatoris has finished in the top 10 six times. This year alone, his results in the three majors: T-6, 2, T-2. He has been right on the doorstep time and time again, and we're betting on this weekend being his time. We will gladly take the +3000 on Zalatoris hoisting the Claret Jug on Sunday.

In other news ...

Djokovic wins the men's Wimbledon final as the pre-tournament betting favorite — He was the favorite for a reason, and those who trusted in Novak Djokovic's past success at Wimbledon were rewarded on Sunday. After dropping the initial set to Nick Kyrgios, Djovokic won the following three sets to secure his seventh Wimbledon title. Due to a Rafael Nadal injury, Kyrgios advanced right to the final but proved his worth. The next big tournament in tennis is the U.S. Open. As of now, the vaccination mandate has not yet been lifted, and with Djovokic unvaccinated, he is set to skip the event despite being the current +150 favorite. Daniil Medvedev won the 2021 tournament and is +225 to win this year.
 
Elena Rybakina delivers a women's Wimbledon championship at 100-1 odds — Those who backed the 23rd-ranked woman on tour prior to Wimbledon cashed themselves a big ticket on Saturday with Rybakina winning her first major. Rybakina took down Ons Jabeur in three sets to win the tournament final.
 
Danilo Gallinari signs 2-year deal with Boston Celtics — Gallinari is the latest addition to the Eastern Conference champion Celtics. In case you were on the beach last week, the Celtics also traded for guard Malcolm Brogdon, adding some much-needed juice to their roster. The Celtics are gearing up for another run through the East and feel like a good bet to do so in 2023. They're the current favorites to win the NBA Finals at +550, a bet we're happy to sit on now.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll