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 +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
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