Open Championship Betting Tips Guide

Open Championship Betting Preview

When is the 2025 Open Championship ?

The 2025 and 153rd Open Championship commences Thursday 17th July and concludes on Sunday 20th July.

Where is the 2025 Open Championship ?

The 2025 and 153rd Open Championship takes place at Royal Portrush in Country Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Who are the favourites to win the 2025 Open Championship ?

Unsurprisingly the US PGA Championship winner Scottie Scheffler heads the ante post Open betting having also won multiple events since May. Masters Winner Rory McIlroy is well fancied on home soil in Northern Ireland as is the defending Open Champion Xander Schauffele who broke his major maiden tag in 2024 with victory in the USPGA Championship and then swiftly followed up with success in the Open Championship at Royal Troon.

Open Championship 20 Jul @ 18:30 - Win Tournament
Scottie Scheffler	5.50
Rory McIlroy	8.50
Jon Rahm	13.00
Bryson DeChambeau	19.00
Tyrrell Hatton	23.00
Shane Lowry	23.00
Xander Schauffele	23.00
Tommy Fleetwood	23.00
Viktor Hovland	26.00
Robert MacIntyre	26.00

Before deciding on your Open Championship selections, don't forget to check the Open Championship golf tips from OLBG's best performing golf tipsters over on the Best Golf Tipsters page.

Open Championship Venue

Similar to the US Open and US PGA Championship, the Open Championship is hosted annually at a different venue. The current roster includes ten links golf courses in the UK which are used in rotation, the only course to stage an Open Championship outside of England and Scotland is Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland which is the venue for the second time in 2025.

Compatriot Shane Lowry lifted the Claret Jug in his own country when the venue hosted it's first Open Championship back in 2019.

Royal Portrush

Dunluce Course

Distance: 7381 yards

Par: 71

Front 9, 3711 yards, Par: 36

• Hole 1: 420 yards, par 4
• Hole 2: 575 yards, par 5
• Hole 3: 176 yards, Par 3
• Hole 4: 502 yards, par 4
• Hole 5: 372 yards, par 4
• Hole 6: 193 yards, par 3
• Hole 7: 607 yards, par 5
• Hole 8: 434 yards, par 4
• Hole 9: 432 yards, par 4

Back 9, 3670 yards, Par: 35

• Hole 10: 450 yards, par 4
• Hole 11: 475 yards, par 4
• Hole 12: 532 yards, par 5
• Hole 13: 199 yards, par 3
• Hole 14: 466 yards, par 4
• Hole 15: 429 yards, par 4
• Hole 16: 236 yards, par 3
• Hole 17: 409 yards, par 4
• Hole 18: 474 yards, par 4

Check out the hole by hole Royal Portrush course guide on the official Open Championship website.

Royal Portrush, Best Open Championship Score 

• 269 (-15) Shane Lowry (2019)

2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush (Top Ten)

The Open Championship Last Ten Winners

As already mentioned the Open Championship is annually hosted by a roster of ten links golf courses so the tournament travels around the United Kingdom meaning recent previous course form may be sparse. However, it is still worth noting the previous winners roll of honour as this highlights players who generally perform well on links courses and are proven major winners.

Here is a table showing the last ten Open Championship winners, their nationality and world ranking at the time of winning:

*2020 There was no Open Championship staged due to the covid pandemic.

The Open Championship Trends

Nationality

Europe

• Scotland have been the most successful European nation with 41 wins however it's only two since 1920 (Sandy Lyle 1985 & Paul Lawrie 1999).
• 82 of the 152 Open Championships have been won by a European golfer, that's a 54% success rate.

USA 

• The winning most single nation, also providing five of the last ten Open Championship winners.
• 47/152 (31%) have been won by a player from the USA.

Rest of The World

• South Africa have provided ten wins in this category.
• 23/152 (15%) have been won by a player from a continent excluding North America and Europe.

World Ranking

• 10/10 were ranked in the world's top 35 heading into the Open
• 8/10 were ranked inside the world's top 25
• 6/10 were ranked inside the world's top 10

Current Form

• All ten winners had a top 5 finish within their last 7 tour events, 8 of the last 10 winners had a top 5 within their last 3 events.
• Eight of the last ten winners had won a tour event earlier in the year, the two exceptions were Zach Johnson (2015) and Brian Harman (2023).
• Six of the last ten winners finished in the top 8 at the US PGA Championship, the 2nd, 3rd & T4 in 2022 finished in the Top 8 at the PGA Champ. Five of the top ten in 2024 finished in the top 8 at the PGA Championship.
• Five winners since 2000 have won the US PGA Championship in the same season (Woods x 2, McIlroy & Harrington), the latest being Xander Schauffele in 2024. The 2021 Open Championship winner Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship in 2020.

2025 US PGA Championship Result

Here are the top 7 finishers (nine players tied for 8th) and scores including ties at the 2025 PGA Championship which took place in May. The number in brackets after the player is their world ranking prior to the PGA Championship:

Major Record

• Eight of the last ten winners had all finished in the top 9 at a previous Open Championship, the exceptions being Cameron Smith in 2022 and the 2021 winner Collin Morikawa was making his Open debut.
• Four of the six winners since 2018 were winning their first major, Colin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele being the exceptions.
• No defending champion has won since Padraig Harrington (2008)

Head over to the official Open Championship website for more historical stats on the Open Championship.

Official World Golf Rankings - Top 30

Nine of the last ten Open Championship winners were ranked inside the world's top 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings and the 2019 winner Shane Lowry was just outside at number 33. 

Here are the top 30 players in the OWGR (correct at 4th July 2025):

1. Scottie Scheffler

• Major Titles: 3

2. Rory McIlroy

• Major Titles: 5

3. Xander Schauffele

• Major Titles: 2

4. Justin Thomas

• Major Titles: 2

5. Collin Morikawa

• Major Titles: 2

6. Russell Henley

• Major Titles: 0

7. Keegan Bradley

• Major Titles: 1

8. J J Spaun

• Major Titles: 1

9. Sepp Straka

• Major Titles: 0

10. Ludvig Aberg

• Major Titles: 0

11. Hideki Matsuyama

• Major Titles: 1

12. Viktor Hovland

• Major Titles: 0

13. Tommy Fleetwood

• Major Titles: 0

14. Robert MacIntyre

• Major Titles: 0

15. Bryson DeChambeau

• Major Titles: 2

16. Maverick McNealy

• Major Titles: 0

17. Ben Griffin

• Major Titles: 0

18. Shane Lowry

• Major Titles: 1

19. Harris English

• Major Titles: 0

20. Patrick Cantlay

• Major Titles: 0

21. Sam Burns

• Major Titles: 0

22. Tyrrell Hatton

• Major Titles: 0

23. Justin Rose

• Major Titles: 1

24. Corey Conners

• Major Titles: 0

25. Sungjae Im

• Major Titles: 0

26. Brian Harman

• Major Titles: 1

27. Billy Horschel

• Major Titles: 0

28. Jason Day

• Major Titles: 1

29. Ryan Fox

• Major Titles: 0

30. Wyndham Clark

• Major Titles: 1

Author Information

James Banting writes the words and maintains the data for this Open Championship Betting Tips Guide. As Tipster Competition assistant James works closely with our Golf Tipsters, settling bets and ensuring accuracy in all results which are also utilised in the updates for all the Golf Previews on OLBG

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James is a knowledgeable sports betting specialist with over 20 years of experience in the sports betting industry. Today James focuses on producing informative betting content on the major sporting events throughout the year in Horse Racing and Tennis, as well as contributing to our Cricket and Golf Content.

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