Rory McIlroy has been blunt about how much it would mean to him to win the 148th Open Championship ay Royal Portrush in his home country of Northern Ireland.
The world’s No. 3-ranked player built his summer schedule around piquing for this week’s highly-anticipated final major of 2019. McIlroy, who has 11 top-10s in 14 starts this year, has not competed in the United States since a T9 at the U.S. Open.
He traveled to Europe for last week’s Scottish Open, where he finished T34, but has remain undeterred in his confidence of being a huge factor at Royal Portrush. McIlroy has far more experience at the undulating links course than any of the other marquee players.
That history – and his strong play throughout 2019 – is why McIlroy is either the favorite or co-favorite by most sportsbooks entering the week. While PointsBet lists McIlroy and Brooks Koepka at +800 on Monday, FanDuel (+900 McIlroy, +1000 Koepka) and William Hill (+800, +900) give a slight edge to McIlroy.
It’s heady stuff for the 30-year-old who hasn’t won a major in five years and who will have enormous pressure on his shoulders this week.
Koepka has won four majors during that span and enters as the No. 1 player in the world. No. 2 Dustin Johnson has finished second at each the past two majors. He is +1400 by PointsBet, +1500 by William Hill and +1600 by FanDuel.
PointsBet actually has Jordan Spieth (+1200) as the third betting favorite, despite the Texan entering the week at No. 38 and having taken time off since missing the cut at the Travelers Championship last month. The illustrate the varying analysis of the state of Spieth’s game, FanDuel lists Spieth at a modest -280 to even make the cut and the 10th betting favorite to be the top finisher from the United States (+1900).
Jon Rahm, coming off a win at the Irish Open two weeks ago, is the third betting favorite by William Hill (+1500) and FanDuel (+1600). Tiger Woods, who arrived at Royal Portrush over the weekend, is +1400 by PointsBet, +1600 by William Hill and +1800 by FanDuel.
FanDuel is also offering a wide range of Prop Bets, from finishing position to individual matchups.
–Top 5 Finish: McIlroy +900, Koepka +1000, Rahm +1600, Johnson +1700, Woods +1800, –Top 10 Finish: McIlroy +105, Koepka +115, Johnson +150, Rahm +160, Justin Rose +175, Woods +220 –Match Betting: McIlroy -128 vs. Koepka +104; Rose -122 vs. Woods +100; Xander Schauffele (-118) vs. –Francesco Molinari -106) –Top USA Player: Koepka +470, Johnson +650, Woods +850, Schauffele +1000, Patrick Cantlay +1300 –Make Cut: McIlroy -1050, Koepka -900, Johnson -750, Rahm -750, Woods -430 –Make Cut (Highest Odds): David Duval +240
Rory McIlroy: +800 Brooks Koepka: +800 Jordan Spieth: +1200 Dustin Johnson: +1400 Tiger Woods: +1400 Jon Rahm: +1400 Justin Rose: +1600 Francesco Molinari: +1800 Xander Schauffele: +2000 Tommy Fleetwood: +2200 Rickie Fowler: +2500 Justin Thomas: +2500 Adam Scott: +2500 Jason Day: +2800 Henrik Stenson: +2800 Bryson DeChambeau: +2800 Patrick Cantlay: +3000 Sergio Garcia: +3300 Hideki Matsuyama: +3500 Alex Noren: +4000 Paul Casey: +4000 Phil Mickelson: +4000 Matt Kuchar: +4000 Patrick Reed: +5000 Louis Oosthuizen: +5000 Tony Finau: +5000 Marc Leishman: +5000 Zach Johnson: +5000 Matt Wallace: +5000 Graeme McDowell: +5000 Gary Woodland: +5500 Matthew Fitzpatrick: +6000 Ian Poulter: +6000 Tyrrell Hatton: +6600 Bubba Watson: +6600 Shane Lowry: +6600 Bernd Wiesberger: +6600 Eddie Pepperell: +7500 Branden Grace: +8000 Webb Simpson: +8000 Paul Dunne: +8000 Brandt Snedeker: +8000 Danny Willett: +8000 Russell Knox: +8000 Rafael Cabrera Bello: +8000 Thomas Pieters: +8000 Chris Wood: +10000 Jimmy Walker: +10000 Kevin Chappell: +10000 Thorbjorn Olesen: +10000 Ryan Fox: +10000 Kevin Kisner: +10000 Haotong Li: +10000 Cameron Smith: +10000 Byeong Hun An: +12500 Emiliano Grillo: +12500 Ryan Moore: +12500 Brian Harman: +12500 Luke List: +12500 Kiradech Aphibarnrat: +12500 Beau Hossler: +12500 Daniel Berger: +15000 Charl Schwartzel: +15000 Kevin Na: +15000 Jason Dufner: +15000 Keegan Bradley: +15000 Padraig Harrington: +15000 Joost Luiten: +15000 Alexander Levy: +15000 Peter Uihlein: +15000 Dylan Frittelli: +15000 Si Woo Kim: +15000 Kyle Stanley: +15000 Charley Hoffman: +15000 Alexander Bjork: +17500 Hudson Swafford: +17500 Austin Cook: +20000 Ross Fisher: +20000 Russell Henley: +20000 Jorge Campillo: +20000 Charles Howell: +20000 Ernie Els: +20000 Jeunghun Wang: +20000 Danny Lee: +20000 Grayson Murray: +20000 Satoshi Kodaira: +25000 Stewart Cink: +25000 Mikko Korhonen: +25000 Paul Lawrie: +25000 Shubhankar Sharma: +25000 Todd Hamilton: +50000 Darren Clarke: +50000 Mark Calcavecchia: +50000 David Duval: +50000 Tom Lehman: +50000
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
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