EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsScottie Scheffler, the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year, will head into the Open Championship as the favorite to retain the Claret Jug.But between missing a cut for the first time in nearly four years at last week's Scottish Open and facing stiff competition from homegrown players across Europe, the four-time major winner is not as favored as usual.Scheffler is the +680 favorite to win the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, according to DraftKings lines as of Wednesday afternoon. It's his longest odds to win a major since the 2023 Open, when he was a +700 co-favorite with Rory McIlroy, according to data from SportsOddsHistory.McIlroy shows the second-best odds going into the 2026 tournament at +830, with Matt Fitzpatrick (+1750), Tommy Fleetwood (+1750) and Jon Rahm (+1950) rounding out the top five.DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN that his team made adjustments on Scheffler after his unusual missed cut in Scotland, but he and other bookmakers are also chalking up the longer odds to good form and, perhaps more importantly, significant action on several European players.Leading that list across the sportsbook marketplace is Fitzpatrick, who is the largest liability at BetMGM and carries at least some hazard at several other books, including Caesars, where he's attracted the most tickets and has shortened down to 10-1."Initially we adjusted for him on each and every tournament," Avello saod. "Sometimes money comes in on guys, we feel it's a fair price and we just keep it there. So you won't see a lot of adjustment on his odds for this particular tournament from what we opened up at [this week], but it is a big adjustment from where he was a year ago because now he seems to be one of the top contenders in every tournament that he plays in for certainly the last two, three months."Matt's brother, Alex Fitzpatrick, has also been in solid form this year and has garnered some attention from bettors, but is still a relative longshot at 66-1. Other liabilities from across Europe include McIlroy, Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland (34-1), Robert MacIntyre (35-1), Tyrrell Hatton (38-1), and Justin Rose (41-1).One other name to watch is Tom Kim, who broke out in a big way by winning the Scottish Open on Sunday after finishing third in the U.S. Open. The 24-year-old opened at 150-1 to win the 2026 Open Championship and has shortened all the way to 55-1, per DraftKings odds, receiving a big vote of confidence from bettors during and after his win in Scotland.One bettor at DraftKings won over $4 million dollars by placing a $47,700 wager on Kim at 84-1 odds to win the Scottish last weekend."He's an absolute TGL sensation, he gets the crowd all jazzed up," Caesars golf lead Anthony Salleroli told ESPN. "He's very much live. People look at the Scottish Open as a tune up, so if you win the Scottish Open as a tune up prior to coming into the British Open, you're in outstanding form and ready to take on a links course."Bookmakers are being very wary of the conditions at Royal Birkdale, which are expected to be abnormally fast, firm and dry. Salleroli said his team is taking a very "wait-and-see" approach to how the weather will hold up, as well as how much manual watering the maintenance crew at the course will employ."The fast and firm Royal Birkdale will provide a spectacular golf tournament and ask questions that these players rarely face," BetMGM senior trader Matt Wall said in a release.
