Golf betting tips: Warm up for the majors at the Hero Indian Open and Houston Open

We are inching closer to major season with just a few golf tournaments to take place before the Masters hits our screens. 

This week's schedule includes the Hero Indian Open, and the Houston Open with players looking to book their spots in the big events.

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The latest winners on the circuit include a resurgent Victor Hovland who was victorious at the Valspar Championship, while Richard Mansell came up trumps for FIRST, booking his maiden DP World Tour win at the Singapore Classic. 

Carlos Ortiz, Patrick Reed and Jason Kokrak secured their Open Championship spots via the International Series Macau on the Asian Tour.

Indian Open: Green to infiltrate market favourites

The Gary Player-designed DLF Golf and Country Club is a point-to-point golf course where accuracy is rewarded, and trouble (with potential big numbers) lurks at every turn. 

For this reason, the Indian Open is a wide-open event; strong 'total driving' and pinpoint iron play is required on the par 72, 7,416-yard layout. Understanding the course configuration could be a big factor for successful betting this week too. 

$2.25m (£1.74m) is in the Indian Open kitty and 3,500 Race to Dubai points will be divvied up. 

One of the strongest Indian Open fields in history will assemble, with over 15 DP World Tour winners since the beginning of the 2024 season teeing it up. This includes last week’s winner Richard Mansell (40/1 Spreadex).

Leading the Indian Open betting odds is Keita Nakajima (14/1 Betway), last year’s winner by four strokes. Nakajima spent 87 weeks atop the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was the top men’s amateur golfer in both 2021 and 2022. 

Nakajima is a justified favourite after narrowly missing out on a Singapore Classic playoff by just one stroke. 

The other standout at the top of the market is arguably Jorge Campillo (33/1 BetMGM) who has finished third and fourth in his last two Indian Open appearances at DLF. But, on such a volatile track, there are no real outstanding market frontrunners.

Read: The six key strategies to nailing your golf betting picks

For this reason, I’m happy to scroll all the way down the Indian Open betting odds until I find Gavin Green who is simmering nicely with t25, t57, and t20 finishes in his last three appearances. 

It’s Green’s course form that I like most with the course management key around here. The Malaysian has a stroke average of 71.25 across five visits to the tough DLF Golf and Country Club. In these five Indian Open tournaments, Green has finished 16th, 8th, 5th and 2nd.

Callum Shinkwin is a player I’ve always liked, and he’s suffered a lot with injury problems. Shinkwin returned at the Singapore Classic following another layoff and he recorded a top 30. 

He owns a sixth-place and a 21st-place finish in two appearances on the DLF track. Shinkwin thrives in the ‘total driving’ and ‘greens in regulation’ department when he is in form.

Martin Couvra is still not really on the bookmaker's radar. The young Frenchman already owns a short string of top finishes on the DP World Tour including a t5 in Qatar and a t4 in Bahrain, and he finished t14 last week in Singapore with three rounds sub-70. 

Couvra won the Challenge de Espana on the Challenge Tour in 2023. He ranks 19th in strokes gained tee-to-green and I’m happy to go with outsiders in the Indian Open betting.

FIRST’s top tips for the Hero Indian Open 

Gavin Green is edging back into good form and has shown a liking for DLF Golf and Country Club and good course management here in the past. 

Back him each way (six places) at 50/1 with BetMGM.

Callum Shinkwin is returning from an injury layoff and has a good course history and course fit at DLF. Back him each way (seven places) at 60/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes.

Martin Couvra is an underrated Frenchman who has already been in the mix a few times this year. Back him at 70/1 (seven places) with Coral and Ladbrokes.

Pick: Gavin Green - each way (six places) at 50/1 with BetMGM

Houston Open: McIlroy and Scheffler headline a strong field at Memorial Park 

There is $9.5m (£7.36m) up for grabs in the Houston Open prize fund and 500 FedEx Cup points will go to the winner in Texas. 

Leading the Houston Open betting is Scottie Scheffler (10/3 BetMGM) and Rory McIlroy (13/2 Spreadex), with the duo taking up 35% of the Houston Open book.

Memorial Park golf course is a lengthy track playing more than 7,470 yards to a par of just 70. Greens are perched and the test here requires imagination and creativity around these surfaces. 

There's a strong fade bias off the tee with left-to-right-shaped players often coming to the fore. 

Carlos Ortiz was superb when winning here in 2021 using his low trajectory baby fade fairway finder from the markers. Rough is Rye grass at Memorial Park, and greens are a strain of Bermuda. 

Speaking of faders who are strong around the greens, Tony Finau backs up the course fit theory. Finau won the Houston Open at Memorial Park in 2022 shooting a tournament course record of 264. 

He finished runner-up to Stephan Jaeger (45/1 Spreadex) here last year. Finau might not be in top form now, but he finished top five at the Genesis and t13 at the Pebble Beach Pro-am. A return to a place he likes might kick-start his season. 

Next up is arguably the in-form player on the PGA Tour right now in Michael Kim. Kim ranks 13th in ‘strokes gained total’, 11th in ‘strokes gained around the green’ and fourth in ‘scrambling’. 

Kim was on a run of five top 13 finishes before a missed cut at the Players Championship (despite shooting 69 in the second round) but the American bounced back with a top 30 at the Valspar.

Davis Riley banked us some nice profit aswell last week finishing solo seventh at Valspar and he is trending nicely in the right direction with two top-seven finishes in his last four events. 

He is also showing progressive form at the Memorial Part venue with finishes of 29-27-14 in the last three Houston Open tournaments.

Finally, I’ll add in a speculative play on Matteo Manassero who has a great course fit profile for Memorial Park and has been playing nicely on his foray onto the PGA Tour with a healthy number of low rounds recorded. 

Manassero ranks sixth in ‘strokes gained around the green’ and averages 22nd in approaches from 125-200 yards. 

Interestingly, he ranks first in ‘right rough tendency’ which indicates a strong fade bias off the tee, Carlos Ortiz style!

FIRST’s top tips for the Houston Open 

Finau has a very strong course fit for Memorial Park. Back the former Houston Open champion at 28/1 each way (seven places) with Betway.

Kim is in the best form of his life on the PGA Tour. Back him each way (10 places) at 33/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes.

Meanwhile, Davis Riley has both current form and course history on his side. Back Riley (six places) each way at 75/1 with Spreadex.

Matteo Manassero has all the tools to start fast at the Houston Open. Back the Italian in the first-round leader market at 150/1 (six places) with BetMGM, and to win outright (10 places) each way at 250/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes.

Pick: Tony Finau - each way (10 places) 33/1 with Betway

Odds correct at the time of writing.