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.

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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, 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. 

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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 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