Americans have won each of the last three British Opens, with Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Brian Harman prevailing. Not since 2003-06 have U.S.-born golfers won this major four straight times, a drought that many will try to end at The Open 2026. In addition to the aforementioned, the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Young and Wyndham Clark are contenders to claim the 2026 Open Championship. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick are among the Brits looking to triumph at the British Open 2026.
Scheffler is the +750 co-favorite in Open Championship 2026 odds to repeat after last year's victory alongside McIlroy. Tommy Fleetwood (+1800), Matt Fitzpatrick (+2000) and Jon Rahm (+2000) round out the top five. Jordan Spieth, who won The Open the last time Royal Birkdale hosted in 2017, is a +6000 golf longshot to utilize in 2026 British Open bets. Before locking in any 2026 Open Championship picks, be sure to see the 2026 Open Championship predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
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SportsLine's proprietary golf betting model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, simulates every PGA Tour event 10,000 times. 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.
Now that the 2026 British Open field is locked in, the model simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.
2026 Open Championship predictions for Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark
One pick from the model for The Open 2026: Wyndham Clark (+3300), the latest major champion after winning the U.S. Open for the second time, stumbles big time and barely cracks the top 25. While Clark has seemingly figured out the courses utilized for the U.S. Open, the same can't be said for all other majors. He has 13 combined starts at the other three majors and just one top 20 finish. He has nearly as many missed cuts (six) as made cuts (seven) across those 13.
Royal Birkdale is one of the 10 shortest courses in use during the 2026 PGA Tour schedule, so driving distance isn't much of a factor. However, the course has over 100 bunkers, so precision is paramount. Clark is just 83rd in driving accuracy percentage and only 65th in greens in regulation percentage. One shouldn't expect another run up the leaderboard for Clark at this major as he's one to fade with Open Championship bets.
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The model has also examined McIlroy's (+750) chances of becoming a two-time Open champion, after winning the event 12 years ago in 2014. He remains the last Brit to win the British Open and aims to become the 12th golfer with seven major championships. McIlroy has been all over the leaderboard at recent editions of this major, with three top 10s and three finishes 46th or worse over his last six Open starts. He does have promising course history at Royal Birkdale, placing fourth when the course hosted the 2017 Open Championship. If he can utilize momentum from that showing and make his way to the top of the leaderboard, then McIlroy's seventh major title would tie him with Harry Vardon for the most by any British golfer.
The model has also locked in its projection for Scheffler (+750) who, with a victory at Royal Birkdale, would become the first back-to-back Open champion since Tiger Woods in 2005-06. Scheffler has never had a bad performance at this major, notching top 25s in all five of his Open starts. While his top 5 and top 10 finishes are on pace with what he did the last two years, the victories have not kept up. He won his first tournament of 2026 but has come up short in his ensuing 13 events.
The difference this year could be Scheffler's opening round struggles as he led the tour in Round 1 scoring each of the last three seasons. However, he ranks 34th this year and is often digging himself into a hole that he hasn't been able to quite climb out of. Even with that, his metrics are unparalleled on the PGA Tour as Scheffler leads it in strokes gained: total, scoring average and birdie average. See the full Open Championship projections from the model here.
How to make 2026 Open Championship picks
The model is also targeting several longshots, including one who is going off around 35-1. You can only see the model's picks here.
Who will win the 2026 British Open, which longshots will stun the golfing world, and where will Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy finish? 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, and five straight Masters.
2026 Open Championship odds, favorites
Get full 2026 Open Championship picks, best bets and predictions here.
Odds via FanDuel (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
