Rory McIlroy was favored over Xander Schauffele at St. Andrews

Odds for the 2022 Open Championship

Odds via BetMGM as of 10:00am ET on Monday.

Amid what has been a pretty incredible heatwave, Rory McIlroy is the consensus betting favorite for the 150th edition of the Open Championship this week.

McIlroy missed the Scottish Open but it’s not as if he needed it to enter the Open in better form than he already was. In Northern Ireland’s last seven stroke play starts he has one win (the RBC Canadian Open) and five top 10 finishes and a worst finish of T19. Nobody in the world is playing better than McIlroy right now.

Just behind McIlroy is Travelers and Scottish Open winner Xander Schauffele, who has finished in the top 20 in each of his last six starts. Winning consecutive starts is incredible, but three seems unrealistic… right?

Following that pair is Jordan Spieth, who performed strongly at the Scottish Open, 16-1, followed by Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler, all 18-1.

Scheffler’s missed cut at the Scottish Open is certainly not encouraging, but his results this summer have been. After winning four tournaments in the first 3 1/2 months of 2022, Scheffler has five top 10 finishes in his last six starts, including a T2 at the US Open. This will be his second appearance at The Open, having finished T8 last year. His major championship record is pretty incredible, missing a cut in his last nine starts and finishing in the top 10 six times.

Next up is Justin Thomas at 20-1. It’s rare to see Thomas with such a large number next to his name, but he’s missed two of his last four cuts, including a stunning 10-over MC at the Scottish Open, while Spieth has four top-10s in his last eight Placements has started.

Will Zalatoris and reigning Claret Jug winner Collin Morikawa led the next group 25-1.

Zlatoris, like Thomas, has also missed two of his last four cuts, but his Major record this year is staggering. The 25-year-old was T6 at the Masters, runner-up at the PGA Championship and T2 at the US Open. This will be his first Open Championship appearance after being forced to retire last year.

Morikawa, the reigning champion, also missed the cut at the Scottish Open. Morikawa won his first-ever links golf tournament at Royal St. George’s last year, so imagine what he could do with some experience under his belt.

Past Winners

Four Open Championships have been held at St Andrews since the turn of the century.

The first two were won by Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2005, and he won them by a total of 13 strokes. Then it was Louis Oosthuizen who rode to a seven-stroke win in 2010. Five years later, Zach Johnson defeated Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a four-hole playoff (the standard length at The Open) for victory.

Since Woods last won the Open in 2006, a British or Irish player has won this event five times, with Padraig Harrington making back-to-back appearances in 2007 and 2008, Darren Clarke winning 11 and McIlroy 14 at Royal Liverpool and then Shane Lowry 19 at Royal Portrush .

Last year Oosthuizen was in position for the rare Major win from wire to wire, but ultimately on Sunday he showed the form that has kept him as a Majors bridesmaid for so long. It’s not that he was bad with a 1-over-71, but Morikawa delivered a 5-under tag to finish four ahead of the South African and two ahead of Jordan Spieth, who won his Claret Jug in 2017.

Of course

The most famous Open Championship Course, St Andrews is iconic. There’s a reason Tiger did everything to ensure he would play this year.

St Andrews has had many refurbishments over the past 15 years, but it hasn’t really helped add large distances. The course is now exactly 7,300 yards as a par 72 and should look pretty much the same as it did in 2015.

This is a typical links course with pot bunkers that don’t seem to be having any fun at all and a rough that is, well, more like really tall grass.

The biggest challenge for players this week will come in the form of potentially inclement weather. Zach Johnson won here in 2015 by 15-under, with two of his rounds occurring in the 70’s.