Expert Picks: The 152nd Open Championship

With a new season comes a new evolution for PGA TOUR Expert Picks. Fans of PGA TOUR betting can now see tips and picks for specific markets that the Golfbet team will be riding with each week. The traditional format for lineups and rosters will remain with Experts looking to come out on top in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf.

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments.

Aside from the experts below, Golfbet Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at The 152nd Open Championship in this week's edition of Power Rankings.

Betting picks

Odds were sourced on Tuesday, July 16. For live odds, visit BetMGM.

WILL GRAY (Lead, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Tony Finau (+4500) – Is this his week? Open champions are often older than the other three majors, and Finau’s game fits the bill. A versatile ball striker who hasn’t finished worse than T18 since early May.
• Top 10: Akshay Bhatia (+650) – Time to swing for the fences with the southpaw, who continues to ascend in 2024. A winner at Valero, he added a pair of top-5s after his T16 showing at Pinehurst.
• Longshot: Wyndham Clark (+8000) – Remember when Clark was second on the betting boards behind Scottie Scheffler earlier this year? He may have made it through his mini-swoon, with a T10 finish last week in Scotland showing that he knows his way around links courses.
• H2H: Xander Schauffele (-135) over Ludvig Åberg – The Swede is still working through some weekend woes, while Schauffele continues to be a mainstay on major championship leaderboards.

BEN EVERILL (Senior writer, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Collin Morikawa (+1600) – A T3 at the Masters, T4 at the PGA, T14 at the U.S. Open are among 10 straight top-25 finishes this season as he trends towards a second Open championship. I said for two months I’d pick him here, and I’ve learned my lesson not to change despite history suggesting a non-major winner will triumph.
• Top 10: Tony Finau (+333) – A player I feel many are sleeping on given his ball-striking prowess and recent form. Finau has a previous couple of Open Championship top-10s and he’s also in recent form with three straight top-10s and five straight top-20s, including a T3 at the U.S. Open. Most importantly, Finau is third on TOUR in SG: Approach and sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green.
• Longshot: Adam Scott (+6600) – No player in my time fit the “should’ve won” label more than Scott at The Open. From his 2012 collapse where he had one and a half hands around the jug with a four-shot lead with four to play, to further legitimate chances in 2013, 2014 and 2015… Scott’s career will always have many what-ifs. His form last week gives hope he can perhaps right the past wrongs with a little magic.
• Head-to-Head: Ludvig Åberg (+110) over Xander Schauffele – Go hard or go home they say and I honestly think Åberg is a huge chance to win the Open outright and would be my pick if better odds. But in plus money to beat one guy, I’ll take the risk. Ranks eighth SG: Approach, 11th SG: T2G.

CHRIS BREECE (Senior content manager, Golfbet)

• Winner: Collin Morikawa (+1600) – The knock on Morikawa is that his good play in 2024 should have already produced a win, and the fact that it hasn’t is a red flag. Since the Masters, I count five times that he’s been in serious contention on a Sunday. We know he can win in big moments. I can’t keep ignoring those facts. I won’t let the 2024 letdowns stand in the way of a great player who’s been in great overall form. Persistence pays off eventually, right?
• Top 10: Patrick Cantlay (+350) – Our Golfbet “Key Stats” model says the top of the leaderboard will be filled with players who have been in good recent form and sneakily in contention at a recent major. Cantlay fits that narrative perfectly. His T3 at the U.S. Open was one of three Top 5 finishes in his last six starts.
• Longshot: Sepp Straka (+10000) – He’s a player who’s had a solid 2024, who you’ve probably forgotten about recently. His best finish in the last month is T23 but rattled off three Top 5s in the six events prior.
• H2H: Ludvig Åberg (+110) over Xander Schauffele – Just about everything points to Åberg being in contention this week. This hasn’t been considered Xander’s strong major lately (no Top 10s since 2019). Aberg being plus money helps, too.

MATT DELVECCHIO (Social content manager, Fantasy & Betting)

• Winner: Collin Morikawa (+1600) – In the world of betting outrights where you're taking one player to win out of 158, you really just want a player who will be in the mix and have a chance on Sunday. That's Morikawa in a nutshell this season. No reason to think he won’t have a chance this week on Sunday (except MC last two trips at The Open, but won his first appearance out of three career trips).
• Top 10: Akshay Bhatia (+650) – I said it at the Rocket Mortgage, but the books continue to insult Akshay. The number is priced this way because Akshay on a windy, links-style golf course across the pond is still relatively unknown. I think he's going to thrive in this environment and has the SG: Tee to green/SG: Approach play to contend.
• Longshot: Matt Fitzpatrick (+6600) – A player that can thrive on a long windy golf course abroad? Matt Fitzpatrick to a tee. Worth a shot at +6600.
• H2H: Patrick Cantlay (+105) over Tom Kim – I trust Cantlay on a links course over Tom Kim. Cantlay has shown that even though he’s not having the season he wanted, he’s still a top-tier talent on TOUR and can pop up in big events (T3 at The U.S. Open).

THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts.

Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the "LEAGUES" tab. Then click on "FEATURED," and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates.

*Brett Jungles joined the Expert Picks league at the beginning of Segment 1 and did not accumulate any points from the FedExCup Fall.

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