This is the 146th British Open and it returns to Royal Birkdale for the first time since 2008 when Padraig Harrington was the winner. Of the current group of top players, only Henrik Stenson, who finished third then, Paul Casey, Chris Wood and Adam Scott are likely to mount any challenge this year, so looking for players who play well here is a little pointless. That said, I do think that Adam Scott has a real chance this year and Casey and Wood are both playing well this year, unlike Stenson who on the US tour up to and including the US Open he has missed five cuts from six tournaments and cannot be considered.

I think this year’s winner will need to be in excellent recent form and those with experience of links play who fall into that category will probably come to the fore. A lot will depend on the weather and that is something we cannot predict until nearer the time. In the nine previous Opens at the course, there has not been a British winner with just Harrington the sole European winner. Australia have won three times and the US on five occasions. With those stats against the home players we will concentrate on players from the rest of the world. If you fancy Tommy Fleetwood or Tyrrell Hatton I couldn’t put you off as both are likely to go well but on balance I will stick with the following five.

18/1 Sergio Garcia: How can you ignore a player who has had ten top ten finishes in this competition and finished second twice? Add in his new found status of major winner and he has to be included in any betting portfolio. He has played consistently well all year and made the cut on all 11 PGA tour events he has started.

33/1 Adam Scott: Aussies can win here and Scott has four top ten finishes in the last five British Opens which has to put him on your radar. The downside is that he missed the cut in the US Open but he did perform well in The Masters and The Players and has been in generally decent form. If he gets the putter going he will go close.

66/1 Patrick Reed: A bit of an enigma so far in his career, touches of brilliance matched by moments of madness where he can implode at the slightest thing. I think if he is to win a major, this is the one that will suit him best. He has played the event three times with two top twenty finishes and has played well in the Ryder Cup where he thrived on the pressure. Has come back to form in recent tournaments and has a decent chance at a big price.

50/1 Justin Thomas: Finished 53^rd on his only attempt but is growing in stature week by week. He will have learnt a huge amount from his final round at this year’s US Open and whilst it will have been a disappointment to drop away on the last day he is the sort of guy who will use that to his advantage. He will win a major in the next few years, maybe it will be at Birkdale.

66/1 Marc Leishman: Often flatters to deceive but the big Aussie is talented enough to win a major, it is just whether he truly believes it between his ears. He has played six times and has two top five finishes, his best was when second to Zach Johnson in 2015. Consistent the last few weeks he finished fifth at the Quicken Loans and will be high on confidence.