Scottie Scheffler favored to win Open, but bettors like Europeans - ESPN

Scottie 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 DK Sports lines as of Wednesday afternoon. They are 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.

DK Sports 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 has attracted the most tickets and has shortened down to 10-1.

«Initially we adjusted for him on each and every tournament,» Avello said. «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