The 2026 Open Championship tees off on Thursday, July 16, at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. The first tee times come at 1:35 a.m. ET. Scottie Scheffler, who tees off at 4:58 a.m. ET, is the defending Open Championship winner, while Jordan Spieth won this event the last time it was at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Scheffler is the +750 favorite (risk $100 to win $750) in the latest 2026 Open Championship odds. McIlroy is next on the PGA odds board this week at +850.
Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick (+1300) and Tommy Fleetwood (+1500), Jon Rahm (+2000) and Xander Schauffele (+2500) are among the other top Open Championship 2026 contenders. 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.
Paramount+ Premium is now included with every SportsLine membership! Watch the NFL on CBS, UFC, select PGA events, Champions League and more than 40,000 episodes and movies. Join right here to get both for one low price.
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 set, the model simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.
Visit our DraftKings promo code review to see their latest offers and get started.
2026 Open Championship predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the Open Championship 2026: Fleetwood, who is tied for the fourth-lowest odds on the board at +1500, stumbles and doesn't finish in the 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 +3300. 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.
New to sports trading? Visit our Kalshi promo code review to see their latest offers and get started.
How to make 2026 Open Championship picks
The model is also targeting several longshots, including one shocking pick who is going off around 50-1. 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, field
Get full 2026 Open Championship picks, best bets and predictions here. (odds via FanDuel and subject to change)
Scottie Scheffler +700 Rory McIlroy +850 Matt Fitzpatrick +1300 Tommy Fleetwood +1500 Jon Rahm +2000 Xander Schauffele +2500 Chris Gotterup +2700 Viktor Hovland +2700 Robert MacIntyre +2700 Collin Morikawa +3000 Wyndham Clark +3300 Ludvig Åberg +3300 Justin Rose +3300 Cameron Young +3500 Tyrrell Hatton +3500 Si Woo Kim +4000 Shane Lowry +4500 Sam Burns +4500 Russell Henley +5000 Min Woo Lee +5500 Justin Thomas +5500 Tom Kim +5500 Patrick Cantlay +6000 Patrick Reed +6000 Aaron Rai +6500 Alex Fitzpatrick +6500 Joaquin Niemann +6500 Bryson DeChambeau +6500 Hideki Matsuyama +7000 Brooks Koepka +8000 Jordan Spieth +8000 Harris English +8000 JJ Spaun +8000 Rickie Fowler +10000 Maverick McNealy +10000 Brian Harman +10000 Adam Scott +10000 Nicolai Højgaard +10000 Kurt Kitayama +10000 Akshay Bhatia +10000 Kristoffer Reitan +10000 Ben Griffin +10000 Corey Conners +12500 Eugenio Chacarra +12500 Matt Wallace +12500 Ryan Gerard +12500 Keegan Bradley +12500 Alex Noren +12500 Victor Perez +12500 Alex Smalley +15000 Jordan Smith +15000 Tom McKibbin +15000 Cameron Smith +15000 Sepp Straka +17500 Jacob Bridgeman +17500 Bud Cauley +17500 Haotong Li +17500 Marco Penge +17500 Max Homa +17500 Ryan Fox +17500 Casey Jarvis +17500 Nick Taylor +17500 Harry Hall +17500 Keith Mitchell +17500 Jason Day +17500 Eric Cole +17500 J.T. Poston +17500 Johnny Keefer +17500 Michael Thorbjornsen +17500 David Puig +22500 Jake Knapp +22500 Sahith Theegala +22500 Rasmus Højgaard +22500 Andrew Novak +22500 Thomas Detry +22500 Michael Kim +22500 Max Greyserman +22500 Angel Ayora +22500 Gary Woodland +22500 Sungjae Im +25000 Jayden Schaper +25000 John Parry +25000 Pierceson Coody +25000 Sam Stevens +25000 Laurie Canter +25000 Michael Brennan +25000 Matthew Jordan +25000 Ryo Hisatsune +25000 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +25000 Sami Valimaki +35000 Hennie du Plessis +35000 Daniel Hillier +35000 Jackson Suber +35000 Scott Vincent +35000 Lucas Herbert +35000 Daniel Berger +35000 Bernd Wiesberger +35000 Nico Echavarria +35000 Matt Mccarty +35000 Stewart Cink +35000 Aldrich Potgieter +35000 Billy Horschel +50000 Shaun Norris +50000 Keita Nakajima +50000 Daniel Brown +50000 Francesco Molinari +50000 Kota Kaneko +75000 Jesper Svensson +75000 Andy Sullivan +75000 Francesco Laporta +75000 Antoine Rozner +75000 Peter Uihlein +100000 Alejandro De Castro Piera +100000 Nevill Ruiter +100000 Matthew Southgate +100000 Baard Bjoernevik Skogen +100000 Travis Smyth +100000 Dan Bradbury +100000 Naoyuki Kataoka +100000 MJ Daffue +100000 Marcus Plunkett +100000 Cameron John +100000 Tiger Christensen +100000 Ryutaro Nagano +100000 Jeong Woo Ham +100000 Lev Grinberg +100000 Martin Couvra +100000 Jack Buchanan +100000 Joakim Lagergren +100000 Frederic Lacroix +100000 Stuart Grehan +100000 Matthew Baldwin +100000 Kazuki Higa +100000 Sam Bairstow +100000 Darren Clarke +100000 Fifa Laopakdee +100000 David Duval +100000 Padraig Harrington +100000 Mason Howell +100000 Ren Yonezawa +100000 Jiho Yang +100000 James Nicholas +100000 Michael Hollick +100000 David Howard +100000 Mateo Pulcini +100000 Kazuma Kobori +100000 Henrik Stenson +100000 Tim Wiedemeyer +100000 Jack McDonald +100000 Adrien Saddier +100000 Caleb Surratt +100000 Alistair Docherty +100000 Jose Luis Ballester +100000 Austen Truslow +100000 Tom Sloman +100000 Joe Dean +100000
Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments
