Thursday July 18 Best Sports Betting Picks For US Open, NBA Summer League Predictions

The Open Championship started while you were sleeping and Royal Troon in Scotland hit snooze on low scores Thursday.

With WNBA, MLS and MLB all idle on Thursday, we’re scanning bunkers and bogeys to come up with the best bets on today’s card.

152nd Open Championship

Collin Morikawa tees off at 9:48 a.m. ET in a group with Sam Burns and Si Woo Kim, one group behind Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

Morikawa’s steadiness would be the talk of the Tour if not for the incredible run of success from Scottie Scheffler. Morikawa, 27, has seven top-10 finishes in 2024. In 17 events, he’s had 13 top 25 finishes and rolls into the Open Championship with eight consecutive rounds under 70.

He tied for fourth at the Scottish Open last week and was T3 at the Masters and T4 in the PGA Championship. At the US Open, Morikawa tied for 14th.  He’s ready for the breakthrough and first victory of 2024.

Collin Morikawa first-round leader +2000 (FanDuel)

Speaking of Scheffler, he leads the Tour in birdie average and par breakers with birdie or eagle on 28.6 percent of his 1,062 holes played. No. 6 on that list is Schauffele, at 24.96 percent, and both are strong scorers in the first round.

Scheffler is going for his second major victory of the year and is all about strong starts. That’s not a new trend. In 2023, he started with a 68 at the Masters, 67 at the PGA Championship, 67 at the US Open and 70 at The Open Championship.

Schauffele, No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings behind Scheffler, has been even better in the first round this season. The PGA Championship winner has first-round scores of 65-64-62-68-70-65-69 since the Zurich Classic in April.

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele first-round 68 or lower, +1100

NBA Summer League: Timberwolves vs. Rockets

If you haven’t checked in on Minnesota’s draft class of Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr., pull up a chair for the final NBA Summer League game of the night featuring the Timberwolves and Houston Rockets, a team that has lived in the lottery for a few years.

The loaded rosters make for a fast-paced game and highlight shot-making.

Houston shut down second-year guard Cam Whitmore for the remainder of the exhibition season which means even more of rookie Reed Sheppard, who had 23 points against the Lakers and followed it up with 22 against the Wizards.

Rockets-Timberwolves over 178.5, -110 (FanDuel)