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 is the +700 favorite (risk $100 to win $700) in the latest 2026 Open Championship odds, followed by McIlroy at +850. Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick (+1500) and Tommy Fleetwood (+1800) are next on the PGA odds board for this event, with Tom Kim, who is coming off a win at the Scottish Open, a +5000 longshot. 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 set, 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 fourth favorite and the second-lowest English golfer on the board at +1800, 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 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. 

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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, 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 +1500
Tommy Fleetwood +1800
Jon Rahm +2200
Xander Schauffele +2500
Wyndham Clark +3000
Chris Gotterup +3000
Collin Morikawa +3000
Cameron Young +3000
Justin Rose +3000
Ludvig Åberg +3300
Robert MacIntyre +3300
Tyrrell Hatton +3500
Viktor Hovland +4000
Russell Henley +4500
Sam Burns +4500
Bryson DeChambeau +5000
Tom Kim +5000
Patrick Reed +5500
Shane Lowry +6000
Brooks Koepka +6000
Joaquin Niemann +6000
Justin Thomas +6000
Si Woo Kim +6000
Aaron Rai +6500
Min Woo Lee +6500
Alex Fitzpatrick +6500
Jordan Spieth +6500
Patrick Cantlay +7000
Rickie Fowler +10000
Maverick McNealy +10000
Brian Harman +10000
Corey Conners +10000
Adam Scott +10000
Nicolai Højgaard +10000
Harris English +10000
Kurt Kitayama +10000
Cameron Smith +10000
JJ Spaun +10000
Akshay Bhatia +10000
Kristoffer Reitan +10000
Ben Griffin +10000
Hideki Matsuyama +10000
Michael Thorbjornsen +10000
David Puig +12500
Sepp Straka +12500
Marco Penge +12500
Eugenio Chacarra +12500
Alex Noren +12500
Jason Day +12500
Victor Perez +12500
Jacob Bridgeman +15000
Bud Cauley +15000
Jake Knapp +15000
Jordan Smith +15000
Rasmus Højgaard +15000
Max Homa +15000
Ryan Gerard +15000
Ryan Fox +15000
Angel Ayora +15000
Johnny Keefer +15000
Sungjae Im +17500
Alex Smalley +17500
Jayden Schaper +17500
Haotong Li +17500
Sahith Theegala +17500
Tom McKibbin +17500
Matt Wallace +17500
Keegan Bradley +17500
Harry Hall +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Gary Woodland +17500
Ryo Hisatsune +17500
Eric Cole +17500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +17500
J.T. Poston +17500
Andrew Novak +22500
Lucas Herbert +22500
Thomas Detry +22500
Daniel Berger +22500
Casey Jarvis +22500
Max Greyserman +22500
Michael Brennan +22500
Louis Oosthuizen +25000
Pierceson Coody +25000
Billy Horschel +25000
Jackson Suber +25000
Michael Kim +25000
Matthew Jordan +25000
Matt McCarty +25000
John Parry +35000
Hennie du Plessis +35000
Jesper Svensson +35000
Daniel Hillier +35000
Sam Stevens +35000
Scott Vincent +35000
Keita Nakajima +35000
Nick Taylor +35000
Daniel Brown +35000
Bernd Wiesberger +35000
Michael Hollick +35000
Peter Uihlein +50000
Sami Valimaki +50000
Laurie Canter +50000
Nico Echavarria +50000
Francesco Laporta +50000
Kota Kaneko +75000
Matthew Southgate +75000
Joakim Lagergren +75000
Shaun Norris +75000
Frederic Lacroix +75000
Sam Bairstow +75000
Padraig Harrington +75000
Kazuma Kobori +75000
Andy Sullivan +75000
Francesco Molinari +75000
Adrien Saddier +75000
Antoine Rozner +75000
Caleb Surratt +75000
Jose Luis Ballester +75000
Alejandro De Castro Piera +100000
Nevill Ruiter +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
Stuart Grehan +100000
Matthew Baldwin +100000
Kazuki Higa +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
Stewart Cink +100000
Jack McDonald +100000
Alistair Docherty +100000
Austen Truslow +100000
Tom Sloman +100000