The Open Championship payouts and points: Brian Harman wins first major championship

As the 151st Open Championship marched into the weekend with Brian Harman in complete control, everywhere you looked, the narratives were heavy on how he could lose and what it would mean. Of course, this is customary to prepare for the possibility and to retain an audience’s interest in the interim, but every bettor clutching a ticket with the lefty to win at +15000 at BetMGM wasn’t a consideration amongst those storylines. That, too, wasn’t surprising, but neither was the outcome that those investors expected.

Come Sunday, the finish proved to be the only one that everyone saw coming, most impactfully those who hopped aboard pre-tournament. It wasn’t even close as Harman prevailed by six.

The 36-year-old from Georgia made it look way too easy en route to his breakthrough victory in a major. In posting 13-under 271 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in weather that invoked the old saying about how only a duck could love it, Harman fit the bill with a calm and present exterior as he glided toward the claret jug and history. Whatever anxiety he was feeling below the surface was resolved with the best putting in the field. He banks 600 FedExCup points and $3 million of the record prize fund of $16.5 million.

With a series of strong performances in advance of the final major of the year, Harman wasn’t hiding, so to be as long as he was to take the title in England was respect for the enormity of the test on the biggest stage for a seasoned veteran who had never starred on it like this before. Still, it’s another exhibit of how betting on long shots in golf really isn’t betting on long shots at all. The depth of the talent and its capability blows away comparable considerations and the forces required to match in other sports.

Because of the margin of victory, the quartet of runners-up essentially are merely for the record, but Jon Rahm (+1200), Tom Kim (+4000), Jason Day (+9000) and Sepp Straka (+20000) at least can depart with some solace that they were beaten by only one other, no matter how handily and surgically.

Rahm was seeking a second major title in 2023 to go with the Masters. PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka (+3300) and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (+5000) placed T64 and T33, respectively. Defending champion Cameron Smith (+1600) also finished T33.

At +1000, Rory McIlroy, who was the last winner at Royal Liverpool (in 2014), was shortest on the board for the same result this week. He checked up in a two-way tie for sixth.

Scottie Scheffler was second-shortest at +1200. He didn’t factor and finished T23.

NOTE: Payouts and Points includes pre-tournament odds to win at BetMGM for all golfers who made the cut. For live odds, visit BetMGM.

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