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Players will have one last chance to win a major championship this year when they head to Royal Troon for the 2024 Open Championship, the final major of the season. The 1st round will begin on Thursday morning from Scotland as the world’s top golfers take on this historic links course.
Below, we search for the best value prop bets from BetMGM Sportsbook among the 2024 Open Championship odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is teeing it up for the 1st time since winning the Travelers Championship a month ago, opting to skip the Genesis Scottish Open last week. Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau are also among the favorites to win this week at Royal Troon. The defending champion, Brian Harman, is +6600 to retain the Claret Jug and win his 2nd straight Open Championship.
Royal Troon is a par 71 and 7,385 yards, coming with a traditional links layout that features holes along the coastline, pot bunkers in the fairway and thick fescue outlining the holes. Because it’s not terribly long, it’s not a course players can overpower with their length, making it more about positioning and accuracy.
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Open Championship – Top-5 picks
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 4:12 p.m. ET.
Rory McIlroy (+160)
McIlroy has come agonizingly close to winning another major and it’s more than likely going to happen at some point soon. This is a great week for him to finally break through and end his major-less drought, but another near-miss with a top-5 finish is also very much in the cards.
Collin Morikawa (+333)
Morikawa is a former Open Championship winner and one of the hottest players in the world right now with 6 top-10s in his last 9 individual events, including 5 top-5s. He’s accurate off the tee and putting the ball well. It’s just a matter of it all coming together in the same week.
Tony Finau (+650)
Betting Finau to win any major feels like a fool’s errand, but he’s had a number of finishes near the top of the leaderboard, particularly in the Open; he finished 3rd in 2019.
Open Championship – Top-10 picks
Xander Schauffele (+125)
Schauffele to finish in the top 10 at any major is close to an auto-bet, especially with the way he’s playing right now. Already with 1 major title this year, Schauffele is a good pick to finish in the top 10 after doing so in 5 of his last 7 major starts, including all 3 this year.
Viktor Hovland (+275)
In 3 career Open starts, he’s come in 12th, 4th and 13th. He’s not been completely forgotten since a stellar 2023 season, but he’s certainly not at the forefront anymore due to his early-season struggles. This is a good time to buy some stock in the Norweigan star.
Cameron Smith (+333)
Smith was the 2022 Open champion after edging McIlroy and Cameron Young and blitzing the field with back-to-back 64s on the weekend at St. Andrews. His driver might be a bit wild for Royal Troon, but if he can hit a driving iron or fairway wood off the tee to keep it in the fairway, it’ll give him a great chance to contend.
Other T10 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Brian Harman (+500)
- Cameron Young (+400)
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Open Championship – Top-20 picks
Tyrrell Hatton (+100)
Hatton is one of the better links players in the world, as evidenced by his 4 top-20 finishes in the Open since 2016. He also has 2 top 10s in that span, giving him a couple of close calls in pursuit of the Claret Jug.
Tom Kim (+150)
Kim shot 6-under at the Scottish Open on Sunday to sneak into the top 15, yet another impressive finish in that tournament. Last year, he finished tied for 2nd in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, and now he gets to play Royal Troon, which fits him even better.
Aaron Rai (+200)
Rai has finished in the top 20 in 5 consecutive starts this season, a streak he’ll try to keep alive this week. He finished 19th in the 2021 Open Championship and being from England, he has experience playing links-style courses where weather is often a factor.
Alex Noren (+250)
Noren fired a 5-under on Sunday in the Scottish Open to finish T-10, another impressive showing from the Swede. Very quietly, he’s finished 23rd or better in 4 of his last 5 Open starts, and you could argue he’s currently playing the best golf of his career.
Other T20 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Dean Burmester (+350)
- Louis Oosthuizen (+225)
Open Championship – Matchups
Suggested play is golfer in bold.
Rory McIlroy (+115) vs. Scottie Scheffler (-145)
It’s not usually a great idea to fade Scheffler, but I’ll take McIlroy at plus money against the world No. 1, who skipped the Genesis Scottish Open and hasn’t played since the Travelers last month. Scheffler can win anywhere, but McIlroy is poised for a great week, potentially even a win.
Jordan Spieth (-105) vs. Justin Thomas (-120)
Thomas spoke last week about his love for links golf, but you wouldn’t get that impression from his Open record: 3 missed cuts, 3 finishes 40th or worse and one T-11 since 2016. Spieth, on the other hand, has won the Open before and could flip a switch at any moment, even if he’s played poorly this year.
Open Championship – Top American
Collin Morikawa (+750)
Scheffler is the obvious favorite in this market but Morikawa has good odds at +750. This bet eliminates contenders such as McIlroy and Aberg from the mix, making it a safer play to buy stock in Morikawa at Troon.
Open Championship – Top Dane
Nicolai Hojgaard (+150)
Hojgaard has contend with his brother, Rasmus Hojgaard (+175), as well as Thorbjorn Oleson (+333) and Jacob Skov Oleson (+750) in this category. Nicolai is a sleeper pick this week because of his links experience and recent form, including a pair of 66s at the Scottish Open to open last week before fading on the weekend.
Open Championship – First-round leader
Collin Morikawa (+2800)
Thanks to his recent run, Morikawa now ranks 2nd on tour in 1st-round scoring average this season. He’s come out firing in events this summer and it’s easy to believe he’ll put up another low number on Thursday to get his week started the right way.
Aaron Rai (+6600)
Rai ranks 8th on tour in Round 1 scoring average and as previously mentioned, he’s posted 5 consecutive top-20 finishes coming into the week.
More expert prop bet predictions
Group D winner: Tom Kim (+275)
This group consists of Kim, Hideki Matsuyama (+333), Patrick Cantlay (+333), Sahith Theegala (+400) and Cameron Young (+450). These are all very volatile players with high variance in an event like this, but Kim is the best combination of links experience and current form.
Any LIV player to win the tournament (+350)
This bet cashed at the U.S. Open with DeChambeau winning at Pinehurst and it’s worth running back again this week. It gives you exposure to not only DeChambeau, Smith and Brooks Koepka, but also Hatton and Jon Rahm, who are both legitimate contenders to win. Even Joaquin Niemann could be a threat on Sunday.
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