The 2024 Open Championship marks the fourth and final golf major of the year, and it begins Thursday with the first round at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.
Scottie Scheffler (+500) is the favorite, followed by Rory McIlroy (+800), Xander Schauffele (+1300), Ludvig Åberg (+1400), Collin Morikawa (+1500) and Bryson DeChambeau (+1600).
So where is the betting value? Will the favorites prevail? ESPN's golf and betting experts break down everything thing you need to know to bet the 2024 Open Championship.
Expert picks
Mark Schlabach: Collin Morikawa. The two-time major champion hits it straighter than most off the tee, which is going to be a priority at Royal Troon. It's been a wet summer on Scotland's west coast, and the native areas are thick and nasty. Morikawa ranks second on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy (72%) and is 12th in strokes gained: around the green (.386). His putter has been more reliable this year than in the past. Morikawa tied for third at the Masters, fourth at the PGA Championship and 14th at the U.S. Open. It's time for him to add a second Claret Jug.
Tory Barron: Brian Harman. Harman was built for this. The conditions at Royal Troon aren't expected to be great, which means Harman -- who ran away from the field for a six-shot victory at Royal Liverpool in England last year -- will thrive like the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots in a snow game. Weird analogy for a Georgia guy, I know, but just go with it.
Elizabeth Baugh: Tony Finau. Where he be now? T-18 or better in his past five starts is where. He's performed well in six of his past seven Open Championships and his short game is a good fit for Troon. It's his time.
Michael Collins: Ludvig Åberg. He's ready to take the next big step toward superstardom. Other than the missed cut at the PGA Championship, Ludvig's consistency is an indication of how his golf translates to different courses in varying conditions. Embracing the pressure of big moments is why he's ready to win his first career major.
Peter Lawrence-Riddell: Rory McIlroy. Why not? Only McIlroy really knows where he is following his gut-wrenching finish at the U.S. Open, but a T-4 finish at the Scottish Open last week was a good sign. Maybe it's too soon after the disappointment at Pinehurst, but a Rory win at Royal Troon would put a nice exclamation point on the year.
Paolo Uggetti: Tommy Fleetwood. Under the radar and feeling comfortable on a links golf course, one of the sport's best ball strikers arrives at Troon with good form and in search of his long-overdue first major victory. Fleetwood has come close several times before, including at last year's Open where he finished tied for 10th -- his eighth top-10 major finish of his career and his fifth in the past three years. In other words, it's time.
Andy North: Adam Scott. I've picked Scottie every major. I'm picking a Scottie again, but this time, it's Adam Scott. He finished runner-up last week at the Scottish Open. It would be a great story -- and birthday gift -- for Scott, who turned 44 on Tuesday.
Curtis Strange: Scheffler. Royal Troon is a precision course and with inclement weather, even more so. Scheffler is the best ball striker in the world.
The best bets
Who is your bet to win?
Tyler Fulghum: Ludvig Åberg (+1400). I will continue to bet on Aberg at majors without hesitation. I know he's had some fourth-round struggles and that can be scary, but the talent and pedigree is too good. I trust he'll conquer those sooner rather than later. Instead, I'll lean into the fact that Aberg had a second-place finish in his debut at The Masters, and entered the weekend at Pinehurst No. 2 with the lead in his first ever U.S. Open. That's wildly impressive. Aberg also performed very well at last week's Scottish Open -- until the final round -- finishing 4th.
David Gordon: Collin Morikawa (+1500). I think the 2021 Open champion comes in with something to prove after missing the cut at The Open in each of the past two years, albeit by just a single stroke both times. As for his present form, he's rattled off six straight top-15 finishes on Tour, placing inside the top five on four of those occasions. He's second in driving accuracy this season and he's actually gained strokes putting in five straight starts, tied for the longest streak of his career. That combination will lead itself to contending quite often.
Anita Marks: Xander Schauffele (+1300). He was the winner at the PGA Championship and followed with four top 15s in four starts. He has made the cut in six straight Open starts, and was T-2 in 2018. He can stand toe to toe with Scheffler in regard to ball striking. The most important metric this week is scrambling, and Schauffele ranks 1st overall on Tour this season.
Who is your favorite bet to finish top 10?
Fulghum: Tony Finau: (+360). Finau is in tremendous form with top-10 finishes in his past three starts: Travelers Championship (fifth), US Open (third) and The Memorial (eighth). He's also a talented links style player due to his ability to flight the ball in the wind. In fact, Finau has gained 1.96 total strokes per round on links style courses dating back to 2014 (46 measured rounds). Only Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim in this Open Championship field have gained more, though for Kim that covers just 20 rounds (h/t Ron Klos, @PGASplits101 on X).
Gordon: Cameron Young: (+500). He has five top-10 finishes in his past 10 major appearances, including both starts he's made at The Open. Young is in better form entering this week than he was at this time last year, when he finished tied for eighth. In the 10 events leading into last year's Open, Young had three top-10 finishes, while in the 10 events leading into this year's Open, he has four top-10 finishes (and two straight). The point: he's capable, has proved it, and is playing well.
Marks: Brian Harman (+500). He finished 12th in last year's Open Championship and has been Mr. Consistent since winning that Claret Jug, missing only two cuts. His putting has been exceptional as of late, and he's a great player in the expected weather conditions.
The favorite Tiger Woods bet: To make the cut (+200)
Fulghum: I will continue to bet Woods will make cuts at plus-money value when he is playing at Augusta National and in Open Championships. At Augusta, his course knowledge allows him an advantage to compensate for his declining physical ability. At an Open Championship, the flat, unimposing makeup of the courses makes his physical decline less noticeable compared to the field. Tiger still has all the shots in the bag necessary to account for the unique style of golf required to compete at an Open.
Gordon: We're back at the made cut well. It's important to note The Open has a more lenient cut than the U.S. Open, as the top 70 scores and ties will survive to the weekend, while only the top 60 scores and ties advanced at Pinehurst. Woods missed the cut by only two strokes at the U.S. Open, a much better showing than when he missed by eight at the PGA Championship. With 12 amateurs in the field this week and several former champions who are unlikely to contend, this is where my Tiger money goes (again).
Long shots to win
Fulghum: Jordan Spieth to win (70-1). It's wild to see Spieth at these odds to win in a major, but here we are. He is far from the most consistent golfer in the field round-to-round, or even hole-to-hole, but Jordan's game is obviously well suited for an Open Championship. As I mentioned earlier, no player in the field has gained more total strokes per round on links-style courses over the past decade than Spieth's 2.05. I still believe he's a major-champion-quality golfer when he plays his best, and links-style golf seems to bring the best out of him.
Gordon: Davis Thompson to win (110-1). The former No. 1 amateur in the world is now 25 years old and has a victory plus two runner-up finishes this season. Since the start of May, Thompson is second in strokes gained: tee to green behind only Rory McIlroy and ahead of Scottie Scheffler over that span. Just last year, Wyndham Clark claimed his first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo and then won the U.S. Open three starts later at 100-1. A top-10 finish (+800) might be the finer play, but Thompson can win it.
Are there any other bets that stand out?
Gordon: Corey Conners to finish as the top Canadian (+130). Conners has to beat Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor. Conners has finished as the top Canadian in four straight majors -- at which there were even larger Canadian presences -- as well as five times in his past six major appearances. He's played the weekend in each of his past three Open Championship appearances and he's coming off a very casual T-10 finish at last week's Genesis Scottish Open.