The 155th Open Championship heads back to the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 15-18, 2027, and it will be hard to top what happened a year earlier. Ryan Fox of New Zealand went from a 2,000-to-1 longshot to champion golfer of the year at Royal Birkdale in 2026, firing a third-round 62 and birdieing the 72nd hole to beat Cameron Young by a single shot.
Early 2027 futures are already on the board at select golf betting sites, with Scottie Scheffler opening as the favorite. Below, LegalSportsReport breaks down the opening odds, what to know about the Old Course, a full recap of the 2026 Open and the key history and records bettors should have handy.
2027 British Open odds
Hard Rock Bet posted the first 2027 Open Championship prices two days after the 2026 event wrapped up. These are opening numbers, and they will move as the 2027 season unfolds and the field takes shape. Most US sportsbooks roll out full outright and prop menus in the weeks leading up to the tournament.
| Golfer | Opening 2027 Open odds (Hard Rock Bet) |
|---|---|
| Scottie Scheffler | +550 |
| Rory McIlroy | +800 |
| Jon Rahm | +1600 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2000 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +2250 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | +2250 |
Fox’s 2026 win is a reminder of how wide open this major can be. Links golf brings wind, firm turf and bounces that no one can fully plan for, which is why outright longshots and each-way style placement bets get so much attention every July.
Favorites to win the 2027 British Open
The top of the early board leans on proven major winners with strong links résumés.
- Scottie Scheffler: He claimed the claret jug at Royal Portrush in 2025, winning by four shots, and followed with a tie for fourth at Royal Birkdale. He entered 2026 as the betting favorite and should hold that spot into St Andrews.
- Rory McIlroy: The 2014 Open champion finished third at the Old Course in 2022 and has the length to overpower its wide fairways. His 2026 week was a letdown, a tie for 40th, which helps explain the gap between his price and Scheffler’s.
- Jon Rahm: A major winner at both the Masters and US Open, Rahm remains a fixture near the top of major championship boards, and his creativity around the greens suits a course where many approach shots run along the ground.
- Xander Schauffele: The 2024 champion at Royal Troon posted a tie for 18th in 2026 and has shown he can handle the conditions a British links throws at the field.
- Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick: Fleetwood, the 2019 runner-up, tied for fourth in 2026 and remains one of the best links players without an Open title. Fitzpatrick rounds out the top tier as an Englishman with a sharp short game.
Two names worth watching beyond the favorites: Cameron Young, who has now finished second at the Open twice, including at St Andrews in 2022, and Sam Burns, who led after 54 holes at Birkdale before settling for third.
2027 Open Championship at a glance
Here are the key details for the 155th Open Championship.
- Dates: July 15-18, 2027
- Course: The Old Course at St Andrews
- Location: St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
- Par and length: Par 72, about 7,300 yards in its 2022 Open setup
- Defending champion: Ryan Fox
- Purse: To be announced; the 2026 purse was a record $17.75 million
- US broadcast: NBC Sports has carried the Open on NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock in recent years
The R&A rotates the Open among a set of links courses, and St Andrews returns roughly every five years. The 2027 event will be the Old Course’s first Open since the milestone 150th edition in 2022.
2026 British Open recap: Ryan Fox’s improbable win
Few majors in recent memory have produced a bigger betting shock. Fox opened with a 2-over 72 at par-70 Royal Birkdale and was available at 2,000-to-1 during the first round. One DraftKings customer reportedly turned a $55 bet into a $110,000 profit when he came through.
The turnaround started Saturday. Fox shot a 62, matching the lowest round in men’s major history, and Birkdale became the first course to see four rounds of 62 in a major after Sam Burns and Lucas Herbert both posted the number on Friday. Fox closed with a 68, finished at 10-under 270 and birdied the final hole to edge Young, whose closing 64 left him one shot short at 9 under.
- Winner: Ryan Fox, -10 (72-68-62-68)
- Runner-up: Cameron Young, -9
- Third: Sam Burns, -8
- Tied for fourth: Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood, -7
- Winner’s share: $3.2 million, a record for the Open
The title was the first major and third PGA Tour win of Fox’s career. It also continued a run of variety at the Open, with a different champion in each of the last 10 editions.
St Andrews Open history for bettors
No course has hosted the Open more often than the Old Course, which first staged the championship in 1873 and held its 30th Open in 2022. Its massive double greens, hidden pot bunkers and exposure to coastal wind reward players who control their trajectory and lag putt well. When the wind stays calm, scoring can get very low, as the last two winning totals show.
| Year | St Andrews winner | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Cameron Smith | -20 |
| 2015 | Zach Johnson | -15 (won playoff) |
| 2010 | Louis Oosthuizen | -16 |
| 2005 | Tiger Woods | -14 |
| 2000 | Tiger Woods | -19 |
Every Old Course champion in this stretch finished at 14 under or better, so bettors eyeing winning score or top-finish markets should expect birdies to be plentiful unless the weather turns.
British Open betting markets
Outright winner bets get the headlines, but sportsbooks offer plenty of other angles once the field is set.
- Top finish markets: Back a golfer to place in the top five, 10 or 20, a lower-variance alternative to picking the winner.
- Round leader: Bet on who leads after the first, second or third round, which can be swayed by tee times and changing weather.
- Cut markets: Wager on whether a player survives to the weekend or goes home early.
- Matchups: Head-to-head and three-ball bets pit golfers against each other, regardless of where they finish overall.
- Nationality and group markets: Pick the top American, top European or best player from a select group.
- Props: Options such as winning score, hole-in-one and playoff markets often appear during tournament week.
Prices can differ meaningfully from book to book on golf, so it pays to compare the odds at multiple sportsbooks before you lock in a bet. Our guide to online betting covers where you can legally wager.
British Open winners since 2016
The last 10 Opens have produced 10 different champions, a stat that supports spreading outright bets across several golfers rather than loading up on one.
| Year | Course | Winner | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Royal Birkdale | Ryan Fox, -10 | Cameron Young, -9 |
| 2025 | Royal Portrush | Scottie Scheffler, -17 | Harris English, -13 |
| 2024 | Royal Troon | Xander Schauffele, -9 | Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, -7 |
| 2023 | Royal Liverpool | Brian Harman, -13 | Jason Day, Tom Kim, Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, -7 |
| 2022 | St Andrews | Cameron Smith, -20 | Cameron Young, -19 |
| 2021 | Royal St George’s | Collin Morikawa, -15 | Jordan Spieth, -13 |
| 2020 | Not held | Canceled | N/A |
| 2019 | Royal Portrush | Shane Lowry, -15 | Tommy Fleetwood, -9 |
| 2018 | Carnoustie | Francesco Molinari, -8 | Kevin Kisner, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, -6 |
| 2017 | Royal Birkdale | Jordan Spieth, -12 | Matt Kuchar, -9 |
| 2016 | Royal Troon | Henrik Stenson, -20 | Phil Mickelson, -17 |
Young’s two runner-up finishes in five years stand out, as does the Open’s habit of rewarding first-time major winners: Fox, Harman, Smith, Lowry and Molinari all captured their first major title at this event.
How the British Open field is set
The Open field is usually set at 156 players. Most earn a spot through exemptions, and the rest come through qualifying events. The main routes in include:
- Past Open champions aged 60 or younger in the championship year
- Anyone who placed in the top 10, ties included, at the prior year’s Open
- Recent champions of golf’s other three men’s majors, along with recent winners of the Players and the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship
- Leading names in the Official World Golf Ranking, the FedEx Cup standings and the Race to Dubai
- Top performers from other professional tours, including Japan, Australasia and South Africa
- Winners of major amateur titles who keep their amateur status
- Players who earn a place through the Open Qualifying Series or Final Qualifying
If the field falls short of its full size, the R&A fills remaining spots from the world ranking. Full exemption criteria for 2027 will be published by the R&A ahead of the championship.
The Open Championship history and records
First played in 1860 at Prestwick in Scotland, the Open is the oldest of golf’s four men’s majors. It was originally called simply “The Championship” before adopting its current name, and most Americans still know it as the British Open to separate it from the US Open. Today it rotates among a group of links courses in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
- Most wins: Harry Vardon, six (1896-1914)
- Most second-place finishes: Jack Nicklaus, seven
- Lowest 72-hole total: 264, set by Henrik Stenson (2016)
- Lowest score to par: 20 under, shared by Stenson (2016) and Cameron Smith (2022)
- Lowest round: 62, first shot by Branden Grace in 2017 and matched by Burns, Herbert and Fox in 2026
- Largest winning margin: Old Tom Morris, who won by 13 in 1862
Every one of those 62s came at Royal Birkdale, which says as much about the course in calm conditions as it does about the players.
British Open FAQ
The 155th Open Championship is scheduled for July 15-18, 2027, at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland.
Ryan Fox won at Royal Birkdale with a score of 10 under, one stroke ahead of Cameron Young. It was his first major title.
Scottie Scheffler opened as the favorite at +550 at Hard Rock Bet in July 2026, followed by Rory McIlroy at +800.
The 2027 purse has not been announced. The 2026 Open paid a record $17.75 million in total, with $3.2 million going to Fox.
Woods, a three-time Open champion who won twice at St Andrews, remains exempt as a past winner. Whether he tees it up depends on his health and schedule, and he has not announced plans for 2027.
No single sportsbook consistently offers the best price on every golfer. Checking several books before betting is the most reliable way to get the most value from your wager.
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We’ll update this page with fresh 2027 Open Championship odds and analysis as the tournament draws closer.