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 +700 co-favorites (risk $100 to win $700) in the latest 2026 Open Championship odds. Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood (+1400) and Matt Fitzpatrick (+1500) are next on the PGA odds board for this event. 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 +1400, 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 slightly longer odds at +2200. 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 +700 Scottie Scheffler +700 Tommy Fleetwood +1400 Matt Fitzpatrick +1500 Xander Schauffele +2000 Jon Rahm +2000 Ludvig Aberg +2200 Collin Morikawa +2700 Wyndham Clark +2700 Justin Rose +2700 Tyrrell Hatton +3000 Viktor Hovland +3000 Cameron Young +3000 Chris Gotterup +3300 Robert MacIntyre +3500 Bryson DeChambeau +4000 Brooks Koepka +4000 Sam Burns +4000 Russell Henley +4500 Patrick Reed +4500 Joaquin Niemann +4500 Justin Thomas +4500 Shane Lowry +5000 Alex Fitzpatrick +5000 Patrick Cantlay +5500 Aaron Rai +5500 Jordan Spieth +5500 Tom Kim +5500 Marco Penge +6500 Si Woo Kim +7500 Akshay Bhatia +8000 Harris English +8000 Keegan Bradley +8000 Brian Harman +8000 Tony Finau +8000 Cameron Smith +8000 Jason Day +8000 Minwoo Lee +8000 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +8000 Jacob Bridgeman +8000 Jake Knapp +8000 Eugenio Chacarra +8000 Ben Griffin +8000 Rickie Fowler +10000 Denny McCarthy +10000 Will Zalatoris +10000 Sungjae Im +10000 Rasmus Hojgaard +10000 Adam Scott +10000 Nicolai Hojgaard +10000 Dustin Johnson +10000 Corey Conners +10000 David Puig +10000 Hideki Matsuyama +10000 J.J. Spaun +10000 Maverick McNealy +10000 Kristoffer Reitan +10000 Haotong Li +10000 Kurt Kitayama +10000 Harry Hall +10000 Sahith Theegala +12500 Sepp Straka +12500 Taylor Pendrith +12500 J.T. Poston +12500 Ryan Fox +12500 Gary Woodland +12500 Davis Thompson +12500 Daniel Berger +12500 Alex Noren +12500 Padraig Harrington +12500 Jayden Schaper +12500 Ryan Gerard +12500 Jackson Koivun +12500 Thomas Detry +15000 Andrew Novak +15000 Dean Burmester +15000 Byeong Hun An +15000 Stephan Jaeger +15000 Mackenzie Hughes +15000 Thorbjorn Olesen +15000 Matt Wallace +15000 Angel Ayora +15000
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