The 2026 Open Championship tees off on Thursday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England and a familiar face is the favorite heading into the week. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world and defending champion, is the +750 favorite to the tournament at BetMGM.
It is the 16th consecutive major that Scheffler will enter the tournament as either the outright favorite or co-favorite. He was a +550 favorite — and the only golfer with single-digit odds — at last year’s event. Scheffler won the 2025 Open
Scheffler has only one won once this year, but has had nine Top-10 finishes, including finished second in the Masters and T4 at the U.S. Open last month.
This year, Rory McIlroy (+900) joins Scheffler as the only other golfer with odds better than 10-1. McIlroy went viral last week for proclaiming, “I’m so bad at golf!”, but still ended up finishing tied for 7th place at the Genesis Scottish Open. McIlroy won this year’s Masters and finished T7 at the PGA Championship.
Matt Fitzpatrick (16-1) and Tommy Fleetwood (16-1) have the next-best odds to win, followed by Jon Rahm (22-1). Chris Gotterup and Ludvig Aberg are among five players with 28-1 odds.
Jordan Spieth, who won the Open Championship the last time it was held at Royal Birkdale in 2017, has 66-1 odds. That major is the last one that Spieth has won.
Tom Kim, who won the Genesis Open last week for his first PGA Tour win since 2023, has 45-1 odds.
Other notable players include Cam Young (33-1), Bryson DeChambeau (66-1), Rickie Fowler (100-1) and Max Homa (150-1).
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