British Open Odds: Best Bets to Win 3rd Major of 2013

With 17 different winners having won the last 18 golfing majors, it is clear that picking a winner at one of these prestigious events is a total crap shoot. 

On top of that, the only repeat winner, Rory McIlroy, has been playing well below his standards this year and is a terrible bet at 25-1 odds, according to Bovada.com., to win the 2013 British Open.

Tiger Woods sits atop the odds leaders at Muirfield to win at 8-1, which is half of the 16-1 odds on the next lowest golfer, Phil Mickelson. 

While Woods remains a great pick in every tournament, he is not a great play at those odds. After all, he has been nursing an elbow injury and hasn't played since the U.S. Open.

Here are three golfers who offer up a much smarter play. 

*All odds according to Bovada on July 15.  

Phil Mickelson, 16-1

At 16-1, Mickelson does not offer the greatest value. However, I love the way he is playing right now. While heartbreaking, he was wonderful in his runner-up finish at the U.S. Open on a very difficult course. 

Then, he decided to do what the past two British Open champions, Daren Clarke and Ernie Els, have done and play the Scottish Open. 

Lefty not only played it, but he won it in dramatic fashion in a sudden-death playoff after his masterful wedge shot captured in this video by Kyle Porter of CBSSports.com.

His win at the Scottish Open, along with his second-place finish at the 2011 British Open, proves that Lefty has morphed from a high-lofted player who struggled on the links to one who can adapt to anything.

He has all the looks of a man on a mission, and he knows his time to capture a career grand slam is running out on him.

He is my unquestioned favorite heading into this event.

Brandt Snedeker, 40-1

Brandt Snedeker is on the cusp of winning a major, he just needs to learn how to close the door.

He has already blown two leads at the Masters, and last year he tied the lowest 36-hole total in British Open history to take a one-stroke lead into the third round.

He wound up tied for third with Woods, but he definitely proved he had the game to succeed on the links. He has the game to succeed anywhere.

Snedeker was the hottest player on the planet before a a rib injury forced him out of action. 

Since his return, he hasn't been playing at the level he was prior to his injury, but he has shown flashes and he is rounding into form. 

He was 17th at this year's U.S. Open and eighth at the AT&T National in his last two starts. 

I will be surprised if he is not on the leaderboard on Sunday. 

Matt Kuchar 40-1

The troubling little fact of Matt Kuchar's struggles tweeted by Golf Digest's Mike O'Malley has kept the buzz down on Kuchar heading into the British Open: 

This is in stark contrast to the days leading up to the U.S. Open when Kuchar was all the rage with prognosticators, and for good reason. In his two starts heading into the U.S Open, he had a second and then won the Memorial. 

However, there is more keeping Kuchar from that level of buzz than his track record at the British Open.

Kuchar finished 28th at this year's U.S. Open. In his only tourney since, he made a European stop at the Alstom Open de France and placed 49th. 

Nevertheless, over the last two years, Kuchar has become one of, if not the, most consistent players on tour.

That is what also leads me to not worrying about O'Malley's tweet. While Kuchar's track record here is brutal, he is a far more complete golfer than he was for the majority of those struggles.