The 2019 Open Championship Odds, Preview & Picks

The Open Championship will take place outside Great Britain for just the second time in almost 160 editions, returning to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951, when Max Faulkner hoisted the claret jug as the winner. Thanks to the move of the PGA Championship, we now have the season’s final major in July. Francesco Molinari won the Open Championship in 2018 by two strokes, ahead of four golfers who tied for second. We have your Open Championship odds for the contenders, as well as thoughts about the course and suggestions for your wager cards for golf’s oldest championship.

The 2019 Open Championship Odds, Preview & Picks

Royal Portrush opened as a nine-hole course, known as The County Club, in 1888 and added a second nine in 1889. The course has since shifted a couple of times, moving into the sand hills and then taking its current layout in 1946, as the land that made up the first and eighteenth holes at the time eroded, and the course was redesigned with the addition of the current eighth and ninth holes.

One particularly challenging hole is No. 4, a 480-yard par 4, with Out of Bounds on the right and thick rough on the left, while No. 5 is a short par 4 with a green that sits right on the edge of a significant drop to the beach. No. 16 is called “Calamity” locally, a par 3 that runs uphill for 236 yards, going to a green with a deep ravine on the short side, to the right.

Contender Odds to Win the 2019 Open Championship

• Rory McIlroy 9/1
• Brooks Koepka 11/1
• Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm 16/1
• Tiger Woods 20/1
• Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose 22/1
• Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler 25/1
• Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Justin Thomas 28/1
• Francesco Molinari, Matt Kuchar, Tommy Fleetwood 30/1
• Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth 40/1
• Louis Oosthuizen, Matt Wallace 50/1
• Paul Casey 55/1
• Bernd Wiesberger, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Webb Simpson 65/1
• Gary Woodland, Marc Leishman, Matthew Fitzpatrick 70/1
• Eddie Pepperell, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Tony Finau 80/1
• Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton 90/1
• Erik Van Rooyen, Phil Mickelson 100/1

Brooks Koepka

Koepka has won four of the last nine majors and finished second in two that he didn’t win. His caddie, Ricky Elliott, grew up in Portrush and is very familiar with a course that most of the field does not know. Given his frustrations in recent majors, it’s hard to justify leaving him off your wager card.

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy is one of the few golfers in the field that has played this course before — and he shot a 61 to set the course record here, when he was just 16 years old. He has 11 top-10 finishes in 14 tournaments in 2019, tops in the Tour, including a pair of victories, so he is the favorite for good reason. With that said, he has not won a major in five years, and being the “home favorite” adds pressure to his game.

Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood is one of the best in striking the ball, which will come in handy on a windy course such as this one. However, majors have not been his friend this year. He did very well in the top tournaments in 2018, but his best finish in a major so far in 2018 was a T-36 way back at the Masters. At the Open Championship, he missed his first three cuts before finishing T-27 in 2017 and T-12 a year ago.

Francesco Molinari

Molinari held off Tiger Woods head to head a year ago at Carnoustie and gave himself a late lead to win his first major. He almost won his second earlier this year at the Masters, but other than that he has been largely quiet. He has dropped from second in tee-to-green on the PGA Tour in 2018 to 57th this year, not a great number given the winds that will swirl here.

Tiger Woods

Wooods returned to his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ major tournament wins record at the Masters and has won two of his last eight starts going back to the Tour Championship in 2018. That lack of play (only eight tournaments over that time period) is not promising, though, as it could show rust. He will not have played in any tournaments between the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. He has been requesting 1:00am wake-up calls to prepare for the time change, though.