When Rory McIlroy won the Masters back in April, he made it so that 10 of the last 11 major championships were won by one of the game's top stars. Parity was not a word often uttered around major championship golf in recent years, but the stunning victory by Aaron Rai at the PGA Championship and Wyndham Clark popping up to win a second U.S. Open have made it so the 2026 Open Championship feels as wide open as ever.
Beyond the general state of the sport in 2026, where more players than ever feel like legitimate threats to win a major, The Open has lived up to its name and produced its fair share of surprise champions. Brian Harman is the most recent example with Todd Hamilton and Ben Curtis -- going back-to-back in the middle of Tiger Woods' heyday -- serving as the shining examples of how the door is always open for someone to have a magical week in the United Kingdom and change their life.
This week, the top stars in the game will be trying to snap this mini-run of surprise winners and restore some order to major championship golf, but with many of the sport's elite out of their best form at the moment, the opportunity is ripe for another player to emerge from the pack and snatch a major championship.
Tom Kim was on the prospective list last week before he won the Scottish Open and made it impossible to call him a sleeper after a win that shrunk his odds to 45-1. Despite that shakeup in plans, let's dig through the odds sheet to find five sleepers for this week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
2026 Open Championship sleeper picks
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
50-1
Sam Burns Burns has been consistently excellent since The Players, but he is still seeking that return to the winner's circle. There was a question whether he'd even be in the field this week after the birth of his daughter, but Burns has made the trek to England and will tee it up looking to tap into some newfound dad strength. Burns has a T7, T26 and 2nd place finish in the majors this season, and I didn't expect to even be able to put him on this list, but at 50-1, he's undervalued after taking a few weeks off to be with his family.70-1 
Alex Fitzpatrick What if we're all focused on the wrong Fitzpatrick this week? Matt is rightfully getting a ton of buzz, but Alex's performance in big events since getting his PGA Tour card has been nothing short of fantastic. Since winning alongside Matt at the Zurich, he's got four top 10s, two other top 25s and missed just one cut -- the Scottish Open last week, which is admittedly a touch concerning. Even with that blip in Scotland, the "other" Fitzpatrick is playing the best golf of his career, has loads of links experience and will likewise have tons of support in Southport this week. He's proven over and over that his presence on Tour isn't just from a fluke win with his brother, and when he's gotten in contention on the weekend, he's hung around.100-1 
Hideki Matsuyama There's nothing about Matsuyama's recent form that suggests he'll win his second major title, but this is an incredible buy-low spot on a player who could be a phenomenal course fit. For as poorly as he's felt he's played since nearly winning in Phoenix, he's still not missed a cut this season and has eight top 25s. A player of his caliber who can strike it as well as he can and has a phenomenal short game at an Open Championship at 100-1? That's a value play tough to resist.175-1 
Michael Thorbjornsen Let's be prisoners of the moment with our last two picks, shall we? It's been a solid year for Thorbjornsen, and he looked in great form last week with a T7 finish at the Scottish Open. We've seen the Scottish Open serve as a launching pad for success in The Open, and Thorbjornsen has so much talent that, if it starts clicking, he could rocket up the world rankings. At 175-1, he's a flyer worth taking, and if it all falls into place, you can say you saw it coming before anyone else.175-1 
Johnny Keefer All Johnny Keefer does is win. He went to the PGA Tour Americas and dominated after college. That moved him to the Korn Ferry Tour, where he did the same thing in his first year to earn a spot on the big tour. After a bit of a slow start acclimating to life on the PGA Tour, he's started to show the game that helped him climb through the ranks in short order. This past week at the Scottish Open, he produced his best week yet with a T3 finish, staring down a leaderboard with some of the game's top stars and never blinking. That should boost his confidence further heading into The Open, and if he finds himself in the mix on the weekend, he's not one to wilt under the spotlight. Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
