The 2026 Open Championship tees off on Thursday, July 16, at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Rory McIlroy (Masters), Aaron Rai (PGA Championship) and Wyndham Clark (U.S. Open) were the year's first three major winners, and they're all in the 2026 Open Championship field. Scottie Scheffler is the defending Open Championship winner, while Jordan Spieth won this event the last time it was at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
Scheffler and McIlroy are +750 co-favorites (risk $100 to win $750) in the latest 2026 Open Championship odds. Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood (+1800) and Matt Fitzpatrick (+2000) are next on the PGA odds board for this event, with Jon Rahm also at +2000. Before locking in any 2026 Open Championship picks, be sure to see the 2026 British Open predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
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SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, simulated every PGA Tour event 10,000 times and reveals golf betting picks that have a history of being extremely profitable.
This same model has also nailed a whopping 17 majors entering the weekend, including the 2026 Masters -- its fifth Masters in a row -- as well as last year's PGA Championship and Open Championship. Anyone who has followed its sports betting picks could have seen massive returns on betting sites.
Now that the 2026 Open Championship field is finalizing, the model simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.
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2026 Open Championship predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the Open Championship 2026: Fleetwood, the third favorite and the lowest English golfer on the board at +1800, stumbles and barely finishes inside top 5. He's a golfer to fade in Open Championship best bets. Fleetwood has a pair of top-5 finishes at the Open Championship, but also missed the cut in 2024 and finished outside the top 10 last year. He finished 27th the last time this event was at the Royal Birkdale. With no finishes better than T11 in any major this year, the model has found better values on the board. See who else to fade here.
Another surprise: Ludvig Aberg is a top-3 contender on the projected leaderboard despite never having won a major and having longer odds at +3000. This will be just his third British Open appearance, but he finished in the top 25 in this event last year. He's also been steady at the majors this year, which was highlighted by a T4 finish at the PGA Championship. He's one of the best drivers in both distance and accuracy on tour right now, and that quality alone makes him a top contender at Royal Birkdale. See who else to pick here.
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How to make 2026 Open Championship picks
The model is also targeting several longshots, including one shocking pick who is going off around 35-1. You can only see the model's picks here.
Who will win the 2026 Open Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Check out the 2026 Open Championship odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed 17 golf majors, including three in 2025.
2026 Open Championship odds, favorites
Get full 2026 Open Championship picks, best bets and predictions here.
(odds via FanDuel and subject to change)
Rory McIlroy +750
Scottie Scheffler +750
Tommy Fleetwood +1800
Matt Fitzpatrick +2000
Jon Rahm +2000
Xander Schauffele +2200
Chris Gotterup +3000
Collin Morikawa +3000
Ludvig Åberg +3000
Wyndham Clark +3300
Cameron Young +3300
Tyrrell Hatton +3300
Justin Rose +3300
Robert MacIntyre +3300
Viktor Hovland +3500
Bryson DeChambeau +4500
Sam Burns +4500
Patrick Reed +5000
Shane Lowry +5500
Brooks Koepka +5500
Russell Henley +5500
Justin Thomas +5500
Jordan Spieth +6000
Joaquin Niemann +6000
Patrick Cantlay +6000
Aaron Rai +6500
Tom Kim +6500
Si Woo Kim +7000
Min Woo Lee +8000
Nicolai Højgaard +8000
Hideki Matsuyama +8000
David Puig +10000
Rickie Fowler +10000
Maverick McNealy +10000
Brian Harman +10000
Marco Penge +10000
Alex Fitzpatrick +10000
Corey Conners +10000
Adam Scott +10000
Harris English +10000
Kurt Kitayama +10000
Cameron Smith +10000
JJ Spaun +10000
Akshay Bhatia +10000
Kristoffer Reitan +10000
Ben Griffin +10000
Sepp Straka +12500
Bud Cauley +12500
Jake Knapp +12500
Jordan Smith +12500
Rasmus Højgaard +12500
Max Homa +12500
Ryan Gerard +12500
Ryan Fox +12500
Alex Noren +12500
Jason Day +12500
Sungjae Im +15000
Tom McKibbin +15000
Eugenio Chacarra +15000
Keegan Bradley +15000
Angel Ayora +15000
Harry Hall +15000
Keith Mitchell +15000
Gary Woodland +15000
Jacob Bridgeman +17500
Alex Smalley +17500
Jayden Schaper +17500
Pierceson Coody +17500
Haotong Li +17500
Sahith Theegala +17500
Jackson Suber +17500
Matt Wallace +17500
Lucas Herbert +17500
Thomas Detry +17500
Daniel Berger +17500
Max Greyserman +17500
Michael Brennan +17500
Ryo Hisatsune +17500
Eric Cole +17500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +17500
J.T. Poston +17500
Daniel Hillier +22500
Billy Horschel +22500
Andrew Novak +22500
Casey Jarvis +22500
Nick Taylor +22500
Bernd Wiesberger +22500
Sami Valimaki +25000
Louis Oosthuizen +25000
John Parry +25000
Michael Kim +25000
Daniel Brown +25000
Matthew Jordan +25000
Matt McCarty +25000
Hennie du Plessis +35000
Jesper Svensson +35000
Sam Stevens +35000
Scott Vincent +35000
Laurie Canter +35000
Michael Hollick +35000
Jose Luis Ballester +35000
Peter Uihlein +50000
Martin Couvra +50000
Frederic Lacroix +50000
Keita Nakajima +50000
Padraig Harrington +50000
Nico Echavarria +50000
Kazuma Kobori +50000
Andy Sullivan +50000
Francesco Molinari +50000
Francesco Laporta +50000
Antoine Rozner +50000
Alejandro De Castro Piera +75000
Kota Kaneko +75000
Matthew Southgate +75000
Dan Bradbury +75000
MJ Daffue +75000
Joakim Lagergren +75000
Shaun Norris +75000
Stewart Cink +75000
Adrien Saddier +75000
Caleb Surratt +75000
Nevill Ruiter +100000
Baard Bjoernevik Skogen +100000
Travis Smyth +100000
Naoyuki Kataoka +100000
Marcus Plunkett +100000
Cameron John +100000
Tiger Christensen +100000
Ryutaro Nagano +100000
Jeong Woo Ham +100000
Lev Grinberg +100000
Jack Buchanan +100000
Stuart Grehan +100000
Matthew Baldwin +100000
Kazuki Higa +100000
Sam Bairstow +100000
Darren Clarke +100000
Fifa Laopakdee +100000
David Duval +100000
Mason Howell +100000
Ren Yonezawa +100000
Jiho Yang +100000
James Nicholas +100000
David Howard +100000
Mateo Pulcini +100000
Henrik Stenson +100000
Tim Wiedemeyer +100000
Jack McDonald +100000
Alistair Docherty +100000
Austen Truslow +100000
Tom Sloman +100000
