The Open Championship Odds & Picks: Scheffler Tops Rory In Odds| Odds Shark

Even for the oldest major championship in golf, there is still room for something unique and different. That certainly describes the setting for this week’s Open Championship, the Dunluce Links course at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, whose rolling contours and steep bluffs are hosting the tournament for just the third time ever.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler entered the week as the +450 odds favorite at FanDuel to hoist the Claret Jug, in an event where he’s finished top-10 in two of his four career starts. But the sentimental choice will surely be Northern Ireland native Rory McIlroy, a +700 wager whose lone Open Championship came over a decade ago, and who missed the cut the last time the tournament was contested at Royal Portrush in 2019.

That event was won by another Irishman, Shane Lowry, who shot 15-under to win by six strokes. The Royal Portrush that players experienced that year was a fickle one—Lowry took control of the tournament with a 63 carded in ideal conditions Saturday, and held on during a miserable, rainy Sunday where just 13 players broke par. Lowry entered the week as a +3000 wager to win again in 2025.

The Open Championship Betting Odds

Odds To Win The 2025 Open Championship
Golfer	Odds
Scottie Scheffler	+450
Rory McIlroy	+700
Jon Rahm	+1200
Bryson DeChambeau	+2000
Xander Schauffele	+2500
Tommy Fleetwood	+2600
Ludvig Aberg	+2800
Viktor Hovland	+3000
Collin Morikawa	+3300
Tyrrell Hatton	+3300
Shane Lowry	+3500
Robert MacIntyre	+4000
Matt Fitzpatrick	+5000
Sepp Straka	+5000
Joaquin Niemann	+5000
Justin Thomas	+5000
Patrick Cantlay	+5500
Jordan Spieth	+6000
Brooks Koepka	+6500

Why Scottie Scheffler is Favored to Win the Open Championship

Scheffler is the favorite to win every time he tees it up, and he’s rewarded bettors with three victories this season—the most recent at The Memorial in early June. He’s finished T8 or better in an amazing 10 consecutive starts dating back to late March, and he manages to stay in contention even when his game isn’t at his best. His consistency is amazing, and he’s always a threat, which is why Scheffler remained atop the odds board as Open Championship week began.

Is Rory McIlroy Overvalued in The Open Championship Odds?

Let’s be honest—it didn’t exactly inspire confidence seeing McIlroy outplayed by world No. 158 Chris Gotterup this last week in the Scottish Open. While McIlroy and Scheffler have each won three times this season, Rory has been all over the place in the process.

Will this be the McIlroy who won the Players and the Masters, or the one who went T47-MC-T19 at the PGA, Canadian, and U.S. Open? Add the hometown pressures of playing at Portrush—no small thing, as evidenced by his opening 79 in 2019—and McIlroy feels like a wild card at best.

Open Championship Picks

Robert McIntyre To Win (+3500) at FanDuel

Forecasters were predicting damp and breezy conditions for Portrush, potentially increasing the level of difficulty at a layout known for challenging pin placements and severe out-of-bounds. McIntyre excels in such settings, as he showed in his surge to the runner-up spot in the U.S. Open in June.

While the Scot wasn’t in contention during his home open last week, he’s enjoyed some excellent results in the U.S. this season, and his two career top-10s in the Open Championship include a T6 at Royal Portrush in 2019.

Tommy Fleetwood Top-10 Finish (+210) at FanDuel

Fleetwood’s painful collapse at the Travelers Championship in June has overshadowed what has otherwise been a very strong season for the Englishman—which includes four top-10s in PGA Tour Signature Events, among them his runner-up in Connecticut. And Fleetwood’s form in the Open Championship of late has been excellent, with a T12, T10, T4 and solo second among his last six starts. The runner-up appearance came at Royal Portrush, where he opened 68-67-66 in 2019 before finishing six shots behind the winner Lowry.

Scottie Scheffler Top American (+225) at FanDuel

If there’s a rub on Scheffler—and we’re nit-picking at this point, to be certain—it’s that he hasn’t yet been able to win in the two majors that traditionally present the most challenging layouts, the U.S. and British Opens. He’s certainly been in the running, but as at Royal Troon last year it often takes a round or two of looking absolutely lost before he finally flips the switch.

That makes us hedge a bit on taking Scheffler to win—and since no other tournament line offers a positive moneyline, we’ll take the superior value offered by the nationality prop.

Open Championship Betting Tips

According to GolfStats, Cameron Young owns the best career average finish at the Open Championship among players who have participated more than once—13.7, which includes a runner-up at St. Andrews in 2022 and a T8 the following year at Royal Liverpool. Young also showed some flashes of potential earlier this season, with back-to-back T4s at the Canadian and U.S. Opens in June.

Sergio Garcia owns the most career top 10s in the Open, 10 in 25 career appearances, although his most recent was nearly a decade ago in 2016. McIlroy is second on that list with seven career top-10s, six of which have come in his last nine starts. The LIV golfer with the best run of recent success in the Open is Jon Rahm, who’s been top 10 in three of his last four starts, including runner-up in 2023. Rahm has also been top-10 in his last two majors this season, T7 at the U.S. Open and T8 at the PGA.

Defending Open Championship winner Xander Schauffele had a slow start to his season while recovering from a rib injury, and his T8 in Scotland last week was his first top-10 since the Masters in April. Lowry, the winner the last time the Open visited Portrush, has twice finished second this season on the PGA Tour but has endured a miserable campaign in the majors—he missed the cut at both the U.S. Open and PGA., and finished T42 at Augusta after a final-round 81.

Who Are The Last 10 Open Winners?

British Open Winner History
Year	Golfer	Opening Odds
2024	Xander Schauffele	+1200
2023	Brian Harman	+15000
2022	Cameron Smith	+5000
2021	Collin Morikawa	+4000
2020	No Event	N/A
2019	Shane Lowry	+6000
2018	Francesco Molinari	+1600
2017	Jordan Spieth	+1400
2016	Henrik Stenson	+2800
2015	Zach Johnson	+8000
2014	Rory McIlroy	+1500

How To Read Open Championship Odds

Looking at odds can be complicated if you’re new to golf betting, so don’t worry if it’s a little overwhelming at first. To learn more about the various ways to wager on golf, check out our How to Bet on Golf page.

If bookmakers have Rory McIlroy as the +1000 favorite at Open Championship odds, that means a $100 bet on him to win the tournament would pay out $1,100 – your bet amount of $100 plus winnings of $1,000.

It’s incredibly tough to win a PGA major, so there is risk involved in pre-tournament winner bets given the significant amount of competition in the field. But McIlroy’s world-class talent and past performance in majors make him a lucrative option despite the shorter odds.

On the other side of the course, Sergio Garcia would be considered a long shot to emerge triumphant at the Open. According to the latest British Open odds, Sergio has +10000 odds to go all the way. A $100 bet on him to win outright would pay out $10,100 – your $100 is returned coupled with your winnings of $10,000.