British Open 2024: American golfers have a chance to do something in majors for the first time in more than four decades

It’s been an incredible year for American golfers at the men’s major championships thus far. Well, three Americans in particular, that is.

Scottie Scheffler added a second green jacket in April, Xander Schauffele won a maiden major in May, and Bryson DeChambeau captured a second U.S. Open in June. Now a win by any of them—or any of their fellow U.S. golfer—in the year’s final major this week would accomplish something that hasn’t been done by the red, white, and blue in more than four decades.

Thanks to stats guru Justin Ray for pulling up the somewhat surprising nugget that American golfers haven’t swept the four majors in a year since 1982. Which is more than a decade before either Scheffler, Schauffele or DeChambeau were even born.

That’s a pretty crazy stat. And as Ray noted after, history might be on the Americans’ side considering Tom Watson’s win at the Open Championship that year came at Royal Troon, the site of this week’s tournament.

However, it should be noted that the Open wasn’t the final major on the calendar back then. Raymond Floyed actually completed that year’s U.S. sweep by winning the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

That made it six consecutive majors won by U.S. golfers at the time, a streak that was ended the following year when Seve Ballesteros won the Masters. The current American streak of six straight wins started after another Spaniard, Jon Rahm, won the Masters last year.

The Americans certainly have a good shot to keep the streak going this week. Scheffler, the World No. 1, is the solid betting favorite entering this week. And the Americans have four (2021 Open winner Collin Morikawa in addition to Scheffler, Schauffele and DeChambeau) of the top six favorites, according to DraftKings. Before the tournament gets underway, make sure to check out Golf Digest’s 13 best British Open bets, our full-field power ranking, and our expert picks.

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