Odds Outlook: Highest odds since 2024 for Scottie Scheffler ahead of British Open title defense

The 154th Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale Golf Club for the first time since 2017 to conclude the major championship portion of the 2026 season. World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is joined by the 2014 champion Rory McIlroy at the top of the list of favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook on the English coast in Southport.

Scheffler (+750), who ended his streak of consecutive cuts made at 78 events last week at the Genesis Scottish Open, enters his defense of the claret jug with his highest outright odds since the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In 2025 at Royal Portrush, he became the third consecutive American and fourth in the last five to win The Open. Royal Birkdale, playing to par 70 (34-36) at 7,223 yards, crowned six American winners from 10 previous editions of The Open, including Jordan Spieth (+6500) in 2017. Scheffler will attempt to join Padraig Harrington (2007-08), the 2008 winner at Royal Birkdale, and Tiger Woods (2005-06) as the only repeat champions this century. The Texan, who has publicly lamented his lack of links experience, has never missed the weekend in five starts. Over the last five years, he earned three top-10 results and nothing worse than T23. The winner at The American Express in January, his only victory of the season, has earned nine top-10 paydays, tied with Si Woo Kim (+6000), for the most on TOUR.

Closing with 64 to earn a share of seventh place at the Genesis Scottish Open last week, Rory McIlroy (+800) arrives at Royal Birkdale aiming to become just the fifth golfer to win the Masters and The Open in the same season. Making his 17th start in golf’s oldest major, he has graced the top 10 eight times, including three of the last four events and seven out of 10. The Northern Irishman went close in 2017 with three rounds in the 60s to tie for fourth place. Nobody on TOUR gains more shots off the tee, and Scheffler is the only player with a better scoring average. With a win this week, he would earn his seventh major championship and would be three-quarters of the way to a second career Grand Slam.

Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick (+1500) checks in as the third choice, matching the number of victories he has earned in the 2026 season. The Sheffield, England, native leads the PGA TOUR in both Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and Around-the-Green and has an affinity for playing in British weather. Only Scheffler and McIlroy have gained more strokes on the field this season, and only Scheffler has more top-five paydays (nine) than the Englishman (seven). The 2022 U.S. Open champion at The Country Club, Fitzpatrick, would become the 17th man to win both events with a win this week. Highlighted by a T4 in the 2025 edition, his only top-10 payday from 10 starts, he has made the cut in his last six appearances at The Open.

On the links located just minutes from where Tommy Fleetwood (+1800) grew up, the second of two Englishmen in the top four choices will have the vociferous backing of the home crowd all week. Toss in the possibility of England’s Three Lions playing in the World Cup Final later that evening, and the party could be on Sunday! Now 34, the 2025 FedExCup champion has the scar tissue and experience to break through on home soil. The 2019 runner-up to Shane Lowry (+6000) at Royal Portrush, Fleetwood, is on a run of T33 or better in seven of his last eight starts at The Open, with five results earning him T16 or better. His recent major championship record includes only one top-10 result, T3 at the 2024 Masters, in his last 11 starts. He arrives in solid form with T14 or better in his last five starts after missing the cut at the PGA Championship in May. The native son ranks sixth in Driving Accuracy and third in SG: Around-the-Green. Not many have played more golf in this part of the world.

Making his 10th start at The Open, Jon Rahm (+2200) will attempt to join countryman Seve Ballesteros as the only players from Spain to lift the claret jug. The two-time major champion shared third place in 2021 and earned T2 in 2023, both four shots adrift of the winners. Rahm has made the cut in his last six visits to the British Isles and has cashed in eight of his nine visits in his career. Last week in Scotland, he cashed T36 as he ranked second in SG: Off-the-Tee, but his irons and short game let him down. Before that, he missed the cut at the U.S. Open after posting rounds of 68-78. His other major championship finishes this season included T2 at the PGA Championship, three shots behind winner Aaron Rai (+6500), and T38 at the Masters.

Xander Schauffele, the 2024 champion golfer of the year at Royal Troon, also completed the PGA Championship-The Open double as Scheffler did last year. That could be a great omen for Rai, or just a statistical anomaly. The two-time major champion owns an incredible record of earning paychecks of T25 or better in 29 of 34 weekend appearances in the biggest of events. The 10-time winner on TOUR missed the cut last week at The Renaissance Club and earned T51 at the Travelers Championship before that. His results in major championships in 2026, though, fit the bill. He cashed T9 at the Masters, T7 at the PGA Championship, and T11 at the U.S. Open. The Californian has never missed the cut at The Open in eight appearances. A 2018 runner-up at Carnoustie to Francesco Molinari, he earned T20 at Royal Birkdale in his first start at The Open in 2017, his first of seven T26 or better results.

Red-hot Tom Kim (+4500), the winner of the Genesis Scottish Open last week by two shots, shared second place 30 miles down the coast at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) in 2023.

Odds of other past champions playing (not listed above):

• 2023: Brian Harman (+10000)
• 2022: Cameron Smith (+10000)
• 2021: Collin Morikawa (+3000)
• 2016: Henrik Stenson (+100000)
• 2011: Darren Clarke (+100000)
• 2010: Louis Oosthuizen (+25000)
• 2009: Stewart Cink (+100000)
• 2001: David Duval (+100000)

Here's a look at the odds for other notable players, with odds via FanDuel:

• +3000: Chris Gotterup, Wyndham Clark, Justin Rose, Cameron Young
• +3300: Ludvig Åberg, Robert MacIntyre
• +3500: Tyrrell Hatton
• +4000: Viktor Hovland
• +4500: Russell Henley, Sam Burns
• +5000: Bryson DeChambeau
• +5500: Patrick Reed
• +6000: Shane Lowry, Joaquin Niemann, Brooks Koepka, Si Woo Kim
• +6500: Min Woo Lee, Alex Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas
• +7000: Patrick Cantlay

For resources to overcome a gambling problem, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET today.