Australasian pair Minjee Lee and Lydia Ko are the best bets for the upcoming AIG Women’s Open, according to the Racing Post’s golf tipster Steve Palmer. 

Palmer joined host Warren Ashurst on the Sweet Spot to preview the final major of the women’s golf season which gets underway at the Old Course at St Andrews tomorrow (August 22).

Palmer explained that “accuracy and grit” will be needed to win the tournament due to the forecasted bad weather at the course, which is why he has picked out Lee as his one to watch.

He said: “The Open is going to be a serious test of tee-to-green control. A windswept St Andrews is full of danger and Minjee Lee can handle it better than most.

“She grew up in Perth which is one of the windiest cities in Australia. Minjee, and her brother Min Woo Lee, became masters of controlling their ball in a breeze from growing up in Perth. That skill could be crucial this week in seeing Minjee win her first Open title.”

Lee has performed well in her previous Open starts, finishing top 10 in five of her nine appearances at the tournament, with three of those coming in her last four Open attempts.

She also performed well in last week’s Scottish Open, a warm-up event for the women’s Open, as she contended throughout before falling away and finishing 12th. 

Lee is currently 28/1 to win the tournament with the show’s partner, AK Bets. 

Palmer’s second favourite, Lydia Ko, also competed at the Scottish Open, finishing ninth at five under par for the week. 

Ko has been in good form in recent weeks and according to Palmer “will be riding the crest of a wave” after winning gold for New Zealand at the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

He added: “She was low amateur in the 2013 Open at St Andrews. She likes links golf and she’s got the right attitude for rough weather. She’s such a positive character and she won’t let the wind and rain bother her. It was the same in Scotland last week in the Scottish Open and she stayed nice and cool while others were getting ruffled.”

Ko also has the added pressure of this being her last chance to win the Open Championship. 

The two-time major winner and 20-time winner on the LPGA tour has hinted that she is considering retirement, and Palmer said that it would be “a lovely story” if she could end her career with an Open win.

Ko is currently 33/1 to win the AIG Women’s Open with AK Bets.

In June, Palmer also shared his predictions for the men’s Open Championship and correctly picked out Xander Schauffele at 16/1 who went on to win the tournament by two shots. 

All eyes on the PGA Tour finals

Elsewhere in the golf world, the PGA Tour is heading into the second leg of its FedEx Cup playoffs at the BMW Championship.  Held at the Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, only the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings have made it into this tournament.

Among the contenders, Palmer has picked out Patrick Cantlay (22/1), Colin Morikawa (16/1), Wyndham Clark (33/1) and Tom Hoge (125/1) as his best bets for the event. 

Cantlay has twice won the BMW Championship, albeit at different venues, while Morikawa and Clark are both previous major champions and multiple-time PGA Tour winners. 

Long-shot Hoge has had just one PGA Tour triumph, the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, however, he has one of the best approach games on the tour and Palmer explained that distance control will be the key to success at the Castle Pines course.