Scottie Scheffler opened as the betting favorite for the 2026 British Open at +550, and Rory McIlroy was right behind him at +650, a much narrower gap than the one between them on the board for the other majors. With less than a month left before the tournament at Royal Birkdale, the market has set up a tight top tier for golf’s final major of 2026.
The numbers matter because Scheffler is not just the favorite; he is also the defending British Open champion. McIlroy, though, is the player keeping the race from looking lopsided. He has not won the tournament since 2014, but he has posted nine Top 10s since then, including a T4 the last time the event was held at Royal Birkdale in 2017, when Jordan Spieth won.
The gap is especially notable because Scheffler was +550 at the U.S. Open, while McIlroy was listed at +1000 there. Here, McIlroy is much closer, and that makes the British Open board read differently from the earlier majors. It also gives the event a two-man front line before the rest of the field even gets a chance to separate itself.
That chasing group is spread out behind them. Tommy Fleetwood is next at +1400, Xander Schauffele and John Rahm are both at +1800, Matt Fitzpatrick is +1900, and Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, Cameron Young and Justin Rose are all at +2200. Jordan Spieth is down at +3500 despite having won the 2017 British Open, while everyone in that listed group outside Schauffele is still chasing a first British Open title.
The broader picture is that this market still leaves room for the kind of longshot swings golf delivers in major season. Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship as a +17500 longshot, and Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open after starting the week at +3500. But the opening British Open prices suggest a simpler read for now: Scheffler remains the man to beat, and McIlroy is close enough to make Royal Birkdale feel like more than a defense.
