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, Justin Rose and Aaron Rai are among the Brits looking to triumph at the British Open 2026.
Scheffler is the +700 favorite (risk $100 to win $700) in Open Championship 2026 odds to repeat after last year's victory. McIlroy (+850), Tommy Fleetwood (+1500), Matt Fitzpatrick (+1600) and Jon Rahm (+2200) round out the top five. Jordan Spieth, who won The Open the last time Royal Birkdale hosted in 2017, is a +8000 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 (+850) 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 (+700) 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)
Scottie Scheffler +700
Rory McIlroy +750
Tommy Fleetwood +1500
Matt Fitzpatrick +1500
Jon Rahm +2200
Xander Schauffele +2700
Wyndham Clark +3300
Viktor Hovland +3000
Chris Gotterup +3000
Collin Morikawa +3300
Cameron Young +3300
Ludvig Åberg +3300
Justin Rose +3300
Robert MacIntyre +3300
Tyrrell Hatton +3500
Shane Lowry +4500
Si Woo Kim +4000
Min Woo Lee +5000
Russell Henley +4500
Patrick Reed +5000
Tom Kim +4500
Patrick Cantlay +5500
Justin Thomas +5000
Sam Burns +5000
Bryson DeChambeau +6000
Aaron Rai +6500
Joaquin Niemann +6500
Brooks Koepka +8000
Alex Fitzpatrick +7000
JJ Spaun +7000
Jordan Spieth +8000
Ben Griffin +8000
Rickie Fowler +10000
Maverick McNealy +10000
Brian Harman +10000
Corey Conners +10000
Adam Scott +10000
Nicolai Højgaard +10000
Harris English +8000
Kurt Kitayama +10000
Ryan Gerard +10000
Keegan Bradley +10000
Akshay Bhatia +10000
Kristoffer Reitan +10000
Alex Noren +10000
Hideki Matsuyama +10000
Bud Cauley +12500
Matt Wallace +12500
Victor Perez +15000
Sepp Straka +15000
Eugenio Chacarra +15000
Max Homa +17500
Cameron Smith +15000
Ryan Fox +12500
J.T. Poston +15000
David Puig +17500
Jacob Bridgeman +17500
Alex Smalley +17500
Jake Knapp +17500
Marco Penge +17500
Jordan Smith +15000
Tom McKibbin +17500
Michael Kim +17500
Casey Jarvis +22500
Max Greyserman +17500
Nick Taylor +17500
Angel Ayora +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Jason Day +15000
Gary Woodland +17500
Johnny Keefer +17500
Michael Thorbjornsen +15000
Sungjae Im +25000
John Parry +25000
Haotong Li +22500
Sahith Theegala +25000
Rasmus Højgaard +25000
Harry Hall +17500
Eric Cole +22500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +22500
Aldrich Potgieter +22500
Sami Valimaki +25000
Jayden Schaper +25000
Pierceson Coody +22500
Sam Stevens +25000
Jackson Suber +25000
Lucas Herbert +25000
Laurie Canter +25000
Thomas Detry +25000
Michael Brennan +25000
Matt McCarty +25000
Ryo Hisatsune +25000
Daniel Hillier +50000
Andrew Novak +35000
Daniel Berger +25000
Bernd Wiesberger +35000
Nico Echavarria +35000
Matthew Jordan +35000
Stewart Cink +35000
Hennie du Plessis +50000
Jesper Svensson +50000
Billy Horschel +50000
Scott Vincent +50000
Keita Nakajima +50000
Daniel Brown +35000
Andy Sullivan +35000
Francesco Molinari +35000
Shaun Norris +100000
Kazuma Kobori +75000
Adrien Saddier +75000
Francesco Laporta +50000
Jose Luis Ballester +50000
Joe Dean +100000
Peter Uihlein +100000
Alejandro De Castro Piera +100000
Kota Kaneko +100000
Nevill Ruiter +100000
Matthew Southgate +100000
Baard Bjoernevik Skogen +100000
Travis Smyth +100000
Dan Bradbury +75000
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
Henrik Stenson +100000
Tim Wiedemeyer +100000
Jack McDonald +100000
Antoine Rozner +75000
Caleb Surratt +100000
Alistair Docherty +100000
Austen Truslow +100000
Tom Sloman +100000
