2026 British Open Odds: Rory McIlroy Nipping at Scottie Scheffler’s Heels

The final major of the 2026 golf season is less than a month away, the British Open at Royal Birkdale. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has been within striking distance at all three majors so far this year, but much like his PGA Tour season, he’s come up short in all three. Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, claimed his second straight Masters and is right there with Scheffler in the odds to win another.

As he has been in all three majors thus far, Scheffler is the betting favorite to win the British, given +550 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook. Unlike the other majors where he was a sizeable favorite over the field, McIlroy is nipping at Scheffler’s heels on the oddsboard for the British, given +650 odds at FanDuel.

For context, Scheffler was +550 at the U.S. Open to McIlroy’s +1000.

Scheffler is the defending British Open champion. McIlroy hasn’t won the tournament since 2014, but he has nine Top 10s in this event since, including a couple of runner-ups. He was T4 when the British was last here in 2017.

Jordan Spieth won that event. It’s his most recent win in a major. He barely cracks the Top 20 of this oddsboard, however, sitting with +3500 odds.

Behind Scheffler and McIlroy are Tommy Fleetwood at +1400, Xander Schauffele at +1800, and John Rahm at +1800. Matt Fitzpatrick is +1900, followed by Bryson DeChambeau (+2200), Tyrrell Hatton (+2200), Cameron Young (+2200) and Justin Rose (+2200). Everyone in this group outside Schauffele is chasing their first British Open.

Two surprise winners emerged victorious after McIlroy’s win at Augusta, where he was the second betting favorite behind Scheffler at +1000 odds on FD. Aaron Rai cashed as a +17500 longshot at the PGA Championship, and Wyndham Clark went wire-to-wire at the U.S. Open after starting the week with +3500 odds.

The British tends to create some surprise winners. Scheffler was the betting favorite last year, and Schauffele was in the Top 10 in 2024, but Brian Harman cashed at over 100/1 odds in 2023, and both Shane Lowry and Francesco Molinari were longshots when they won in 2019 and 2018, respectively. A hot putter tends to be key in this one.

The British Open is just 25 days from now at Royal Birkdale from July 16-19. It’s hosted 10 Opens in the past, and all but one of the winning players have won multiple majors in their careers: Peter Thompson twice, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Mark O’Meara, Padraig Harrington and Spieth. Ian Baker-Finch is the only player to win there as their only major.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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