The Open Championship 2022 Odds: Rory McIlroy heads the betting for St Andrews

The final golf major of the year takes place on Thursday from the home of golf, The Old Course at St Andrews. This will be the 150th running of The Open Championship and we have a stellar field taking part. The sport is still undergoing massive repercussions from the new LIV golf tour and several 'rebels' will be playing here this week as the R&A have stated that this has always been an open competition and no qualifying player will be banned. 

We will also have Tiger Woods teeing it up as he continues his recovery from surgery after his car crash. 

The course is absolutely iconic and needs little description to any golf fan, with its 112 bunkers and endless humps and hollows, many of which have their own names and history. The scoring will depend very much on the Fife weather, if as forecast, the weather is sunny and calm then we could have some very low scoring. However, if the wind blows, we could have a very different tournament altogether. 

Leading Contenders

The head of the betting is led by Rory McIlroy who is as short as 11/1 to win his first Major since the 2014 USPGA. Rory also won the Open for the only time in the same year and will likely have seen this as his best chance of the year to win another this calendar year. The world number two is in fine form, having won twice this year as well as coming 2nd, 8th and 5th in the three Majors this season.

Flying into 14/1 after his Scottish Open victory this weekend is Xander Schauffele. Schauffele has won three times in 2022 at the Zurich Classic and Travelers Championship and won again at the JP McManus Pro-Am just last week. Xander has a decent Open record with four straight made cuts and a best of T2nd in 2018 at Carnoustie. The 28-year-old will be a real favourite to lift the Claret Jug this year. 

Next in the betting is world number three Jon Rahm, who has had an average year by his standards, winning just once at the Mexico Open, and with a best placed T12th in the Majors this year, at the US Open. The 27-year-old Spaniard finished T3rd at this event last year so can play links golf well. He's best priced 14/1 to win this week. 

The man at the head of the world golf rankings is American Scottie Scheffler who can also be backed at 14/1. The 26-year-old has had an incredible season, winning the Masters and finishing T2nd at the US Open as well as other big victories on the tour. He has only played one Open Championship but fared well, finishing T8th at Royal Sandwich. 

USPGA champ Justin Thomas is next in the betting at 16/1 and has had an extremely solid year on tour, with seven top 5's and nine top 10 finishes. Thomas has played The Open five times with two missed cuts and a best finish of T11th back in 2019 at Royal Portrush.

The US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick has beefed up, added yards to his long game and taken him golf to a new level this year. He has picked up four top 5's and eight top 10 finishes so has been incredibly consistent. The Yorkshireman has a mixed Open record with a best finish of T20th in 2019. He didn't play at St Andrews back in 2015 but is 20/1 to win here. 

At 22/1 are the American pair of Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa. Spieth has had a strong year, returning back to form with a win at the RBC Heritage as well as four other top 10s. He also has superb form at the Open, winning back in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, as well as three other top 10 finishes, including a T4th back at St Andrews in 2015.

Morikawa, on the other hand has had an up and down year. After a superb start to the year with five consecutive top ten finishes, he has been mainly disappointing - other than the Majors. He finished 5th at Augusta and then T5th at Brookline so clearly raises his game for the big events. As the reigning Champion he will be desperate for a good week in Scotland. 

The 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry is around the 25/1 mark and it's easy to see why. He has had a superbly consistent year with a run of nine straight made cuts and a worst placed finish of 32nd. He's finished 2nd and T3rd twice so has been knocking on the door of his first win of 2022. Could it come at the home of golf? He looked in great nick finishing T9th at the Irish Open just two weeks ago. 

Alongside Lowry at 25s is the American Will Zalatoris and Australian Cameron Smith who are both hot this year. 

Zalatoris has had his breakthrough year in 2022 with seven top 10 finishes, including 6th at the Masters, and 2nd at both the USPGA and US Open. This will be his first ever Open Championship. 

Smith is upto sixth in the world golf rankings and that is reward for a magnificent few years on tour. His game has gone to new hieghts in 2022 with a coupe of victories at the Sentry and the 'fifth' Major, The Players Championship. Smith finished T3rd at the Masters and T13th at the USPGA but missed the cut at Brookline. He has a fairly poor record at the Open with a best placed finish of T20th. 

Also worth mentioning is Tiger Woods who will be playing his first Open since 2019. He missed the US Open through injury, to concentrate on making the 150th Open at The Old Course. Woods has only played the two Majors this year, so we have no real idea of his form but at 60/1 could be worth a punt each-way, on a course he has won two of his three claret jugs at. 

The LIV Rebels

Leading the LIV Golf rebels is Dustin Johnson at 33/1. DJ has had a poor couple of years and has fallen to 17th in the world. His best finish this year is a T9th at The Players. He has a fairly solid Open record with four top 10 finishes. He finished 14th in 2010 and 49th in 2015 in his two previous outings at St Andrews. 

Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen can be backed at 40/1 and both are extremely good links golfers. Koepka honed his skills on the European Tour and has a very strong Open record with four top tens and only one missed cut out of seven. The South African Oosthuizen won his sole Major back in 2010 at this very course so he has extremely fond memories of playing here. He also finished T2nd here back in 2015. 

Further down in the betting are Bryson DeChambeau at 66/1 , Patrick Reed at 100/1 and Phil Mickelson way down at 200/1.

Best Of Britain & Ireland

Other than McIlroy, Fitzpatrick and Lowry, the leading contenders for a home grown winner are :

Tyrrell Hatton at 35/1 has an extremely mixed Open record, with six missed cuts out of nine attempts. However, he has a T5th and T6th on the occasions he's made it through to the weekend.

Tommy Fleetwood has come in from 45/1 to 33/1 after his 4th placed finish at the Scottish Open. Other than that, he's had a poor year and slipped down the OGWR's. He's had no wins since 2019 and missed the cut back in 2015 when it was last held here. His best result at the Open was when he finished 2nd in 2019 behind Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush.

Justin Rose at 60/1 has a mixed record in the Open. The US Open and Olympic champion has missed five cuts in 19 attempts and his best result was a T2nd back in 2018.