Royal Troon in Scotland will host the 2024 Open Championship, marking the first time the course has hosted the British Open since 2016. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson won that year and Ludvig Aberg will now try to become the second Swede to win a major. The 24-year-old was runner-up at the Masters and led the standings after 36 holes at the U.S. Open as he is all but assured of the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year title. He will begin his quest for the 2024 Open Championship on Thursday at 4:47 a.m. ET in a group alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Tom Kim.
Aberg and DeChambeau are 9-1 in the 2024 Open Championship odds, which puts them just behind Scottie Scheffler (4-1) and Rory McIlroy (8-1). Aberg’s compatriot Stenson is 200-1 in the latest 2024 Open Championship odds, which puts him tied as the biggest underdog in the 2024 British Open field. Early tee times for the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club are at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday. Before you make any picks or bets on the 2024 Open Championship, you need to see golf insider Patrick McDonald’s predictions and best bets.
McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf reporter in 2022 after stints at NBC Sports and RyderCup.com. Covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still enjoys dipping his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and more. Featured weekly on the Early Wedge, he has already given numerous winners in 2024, including Jake Knapp (50-1) at the Mexican Open and Xander Schauffele (20-1) at the PGA Championship. Anyone who followed his lead is ahead.
McDonald has now turned his attention to the 2024 Open Championship field and selected his best bets, top players and favorites to avoid. You can only see them here.
Experts’ top picks for the 2024 Open Championship
McDonald surprised everyone: The expert eliminated Collin Morikawa (10-1), who is too lowly rated to back in such a deep and talented field. It’s hard to ignore Morikawa’s run of 10 consecutive top-25 finishes heading into the Open. However, none of those results resulted in a victory, as Morikawa often performed well early in tournaments only to struggle in the final round. His 70.77 fourth-round scoring average ranks him 128th on the PGA Tour, which is in the bottom 30 percent of golfers.
Putting remains Morikawa’s weak point, as he ranks among the top 12 golfers in strokes gained: total, SG: tee-to-green and SG: around the green, but is just 66th in SG: putting. McDonald also notes Morikawa’s recent struggles not only at this major, but on links courses as a whole, in his reasoning for fading the two-time major winner, saying: “The Open has been a struggle for Morikawa outside of his 2021 win. He missed the cut in 2022 and 2023 and the results haven’t been much better at the Scottish Open, where his best finish is T-71.” See who else has faded here.
On the other hand, McDonald appreciates the value of Brooks Koepka (25-1). He has proven himself as a major-event golfer, as his five major victories since 2017 are the most in the sport and even more than the next two golfers combined, as no one else has more than two. Even when he doesn’t win, he still finds his name near the top of the rankings, as his 11 top-five finishes in majors since 2017 are also the most. He missed playing at Royal Troon in 2016 due to an ankle injury, but he has four top-10s in his last seven Open Championship starts.
Koepka has been impressive this season, as he earned a 54-hole victory in Singapore in May between a pair of ninth-place finishes. He also has impressive stats on this tour, ranking in the top quartile of golfers in driving distance (309.9 yards) and GIR percentage (70.37 percent). Both marks would put him in the top 20 on the PGA Tour this season. The fact that Koepka only has the 10th-shortest odds for the 2024 Open seems incomprehensible, making him an underdog to back this week. Find out who else to back here.
How to Make Golf Picks for the 2024 Open Championship
McDonald has wrapped up his best bets for the 2024 Open Championship and also picked an epic underdog with odds close to 100-1. This golfer “continues to hit the ball as well as ever and has gained strokes in three straight tournaments for the first time this season.” You can only see the picks at SportsLine.
So which players should you target or avoid for the 2024 Open Championship, and which golfer could bring home a massive payday of nearly 100-to-1? Check out the 2024 Open Championship odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald’s top 2024 Open Championship picks, all from the expert who has already given numerous winners this year, including Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship.
2024 Open Championship Odds and Table
Check out all the 2024 Open Championship predictions, best bets and forecasts here.
Scottie Scheffler 4-1
Rory McIlroy 8-1
Bryson DeChambeau 9-1
Ludwig Aberg 9-1
Collin Morikawa 10-1
Alex Schauffele 13-1
Tommy Fleetwood 20-1
Jon Rahm 22-1
Viktor Hovland 22-1
Brooks Koepka 25-1
Tyrrell Hatton 25-1
Patrick Cantlay 28-1
Cameron Smith 30-1
Tom Kim 33-1
Wyndham Clark 33-1
Shane Lowry 35-1
Tony Finau 35-1
Matt Fitzpatrick 40-1
Hideki Maysuyama 40-1
Robert MacIntyre 40-1
Jordan Spieth 40-1
Justin Thomas 40-1
Joaquin Niemann 45-1
Sahith Theegala 45-1
Sungjae, I have 50-1
Max Homa 50-1
Min Woo Lee 55-1
Dustin Johnson 55-1
Cameron Young 55-1
Dean Burmester 60-1
Brian Harman 60-1
Sam Burns 60-1
Will Zalatoris 65-1
Corey Conners 65-1
Aaron Rai 65-1
Sepp Straka 70-1
Byeong Hun An 70-1
Akshay Bhatia 75-1
Adam Scott 75-1
Nicolai Hojgaard 80-1
Patrick Reed 85-1
Justin Rose 90-1
Louis Oosthuizen 90-1
Talor Gooch 100-1
Davis Thompson 100-1
Abraham Ancer 100-1
Russell Henley 125-1
Mattieu Pavon 125-1
Woo Kim 125-1
Rickie Fowler 125-1
Keegan Bradley 125-1
Sebastian Soderberg 125-1
Alex Noren 125-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 125-1
Rasmus Hojgaard 150-1
David Puig 150-1
Phil Mickelson 150-1
Adam Hadwin 150-1
Keith Mitchell 150-1
Tiger Woods 150-1
Jean Catlin 150-1
JT Poston 150-1
Tom McKibbin 150-1
Billy Horschel 175-1
Harris English 175-1
Denny McCarthy 175-1
Marc Leishman 175-1
Kurt Kitayama 175-1
Keita Nakajima 175-1
Lucas Glover 175-1
Adrien Meronk 175-1
Ryan Fox 175-1
Seamus Power 200-1
Tom Huge 200-1
Perez wins 200-1
Jordan Smith 200-1
Stephen Jaeger 200-1
Eric Cole 200-1
Aaron Wise 200-1
Davis Riley 200-1
Henrik Stenson 200-1
Thorbjörn Olsen 200-1
Daniel Berger 200-1
Yannik Paul 200-1
Sam Horsfield 200-1
Austin Eckroat 200-1