Open Championship Matchup Picks

The best players in the world are in England this week for the last major of the season, the Open Championship. Rory McIlroy is listed as the favorite at BetRivers. McIlroy won last week’s event in Scotland so he comes into this event in excellent form, but it won’t be easy for Rory this week, as rarely does anyone on the PGA Tour win in back-to-back weeks. I am coming off a 3-2 week with the Genesis Scottish Open and I am 8-3 with the matchups in the last two weeks. Let’s look at Open Championship matchup picks.

Defending Champion: Cameron Smith

Tournament Notes: This week’s event at Royal Liverpool will be all about the weather, but it is next to impossible to predict the weather from day to day in England. The wind will be a huge factor and whoever handles it the best will have a good chance to win this tournament. The last three holes at Royal Liverpool will look different, especially the 17^th which is brand new hole that should provide some excitement.

Open Championship Matchups

Scheffler, Scottie -120 vs. McIlroy, Rory

Smith, Cameron -120 vs. Koepka, Brooks

Rahm, Jon -159 vs. Hovland, Viktor

Cantlay, Patrick -114 vs. Schauffele, Xander

Fleetwood, Tommy -114 vs. Hatton, Tyrrell

Fowler, Rickie -125 vs. Morikawa, Collin

Lowry, Shane -114 vs. Spieth, Jordan

Johnson, Dustin -120 vs. DeChambeau, Bryson

Homa, Max -125 vs. Kim, Tom

Clark, Wyndham -114 vs. Finau, Tony

Min Woo Lee -137 vs. MacIntyre, Robert

Gooch, Talor -114 vs. Reed, Patrick

Burns, Sam -120 vs. Thomas, Justin

Fitzpatrick, Matthew -120 vs. Rose, Justin

Young, Cameron -114 vs. Matsuyama, Hideki

Conners, Corey -137 vs. Harman, Brian

Henley, Russell -114 vs. McCarthy, Denny

Woodland, Gary -129 vs. Theegala, Sahith

Fox, Ryan -143 vs. Hojgaard, Nicolai

Smith, Jordan -137 vs. Björk, Alexander

Oosthuizen, Louis -114 vs. Grace, Branden

Meronk, Adrian -120 vs. Pieters, Thomas

Bradley, Keegan -114 vs. Si Woo Kim

Kirk, Chris -129 vs. Moore, Taylor

Schenk, Adam -120 vs. Putnam, Andrew

Golf Picks

Morikawa, Collin -105 vs. Fowler, Rickie

I know that Fowler is playing well and I had him when he won in Detroit, but I went against him in a matchup last week and won and I am going against him again here. Morikawa is one of the players I looked at in the odds article and I think he has a good chance to contend. I’ll take him in this matchup against Fowler.

Lowry, Shane -114 vs. Spieth, Jordan

Lowry is definitely familiar with this type of course and he has proven he can win this tournament, as he won the Open Championship in 2019. He has played well in majors this year with three top 20 finishes. Spieth has played well in Opens in the past, but his current form simply isn’t very good, as he has missed the cut in four of his last six events. This course isn’t going to be forgiving for Spieth’s wayward drives and I think he struggles. I’ll take Lowry in this matchup.

Johnson, Dustin -120 vs. DeChambeau, Bryson

Johnson is still playing well and we know he can contend in majors. DeChambeau has really not been in contention in a long time with his best Open finish coming at St. Andrews when he tied for 8^th. That is his only top 30 finish in this event. DeChambeau tries to overpower courses and he can’t do that at Royal Liverpool. I’ll take Johnson in this matchup.

Smith, Jordan -137 vs. Bjork, Alexander

Smith looked good last week and he has nine top 25 finishes worldwide in his last 13 events. He will be making his third Open appearance. Bjork finished last week in a tie for 35^th and he has seven to 20 finishes in his last nine events. The problem for Bjork is that he simply doesn’t hit the ball far enough to have success on a course like this. I’ll take Smith in this matchup.

Clark, Wyndham -114 vs. Finau, Tony

Clark is playing well this season and he ranks highly in a number of categories. He is an excellent driver of the golf ball and his iron play is solid. He ranked 7^th last week in Scotland in strokes gained: approach. I think he can have success this week. Finau hasn’t played well of late and it is hard to see him having any success in this event.

Check out the latest Open Championship odds at BetRivers