Will Scottie Scheffler win the British Open? Odds, best bets and picks for Open Championship 2024 | Sporting News

Few golfers in the history of the sport have enjoyed as fruitful a year as Scottie Scheffler in 2024. The world No. 1 has racked up six wins, including the Masters, the PLAYERS, the Arnold Palmer, and the Memorial. He also has a pair of T2s, a T3, T5, T6, and T8. Of his 15 tournament starts this year, he has finished outside the top 10 just twice.

Now Scheffler has his laser-sharp focus on the next mission: the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland. Only one golfer has ever brought six victories with him to the British Open: Arnold Palmer. Palmer’s seventh victory that year brought him the Claret Jug at none other than the Royal Troon (aren’t sports great!?). 

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Can the OWGR No. 1-ranked golfer stay in line with Palmer and history, winning his seventh tournament and second major championship of the year? What do Scheffler’s odds say? Who in the 158-man field can out-duel the most pressure-averse PGA pro since Tiger?

Let’s turn to BetMGM to check out Scheffler’s latest odds to win the Open Championship, discuss whether he makes a good bet versus the field, and highlight some of his props worth considering ahead of this Thursday afternoon’s tee time in Scotland.

Open Championship 2024 odds to win: Scheffler on top (again)

Odds (+10000 and shorter) courtesy of BetMGM. 

Will Scottie Scheffler win the 2024 Open Championship?

Usually, it would be deemed preposterous to ask this sort of question ahead of a major championship on a complex course with a 158-player field. But there’s nothing ‘usual’ about this torrid year by Scheffler, who has done things never even attained by peak Tiger Woods.

In years past, golf and betting analysts have said that when Scheffler gets his putting game going, he’s on a different stratosphere. Well, he ranks 28th on the TOUR with 28.4 putts per round this season, a fine statistical cherry on top of his mind-blowing 2024 sundae. Take a look at some of Scheffler’s gaudy PGA stats and rankings this season:

The list could go on for a while, but you get the gist. Betting a golfer +550 odds to win a major seems absurd at first — but after looking more closely at Scheffler’s streak of domination, it almost feels like anything at +500 or longer attached to his name yields value. He’s most certainly the best bet, topping the BetMGM odds board for a reason. 

Of course, as the Sporting News’ PGA pro Keith Stewart of Read the Line pointed out in his Open preview, Rory McIlroy makes for a fine bet at +800. This week marks the 10-year anniversary of McIlroy’s last major championship (what a storyline that would be!), and he has enjoyed success at Royal Troon with a T5 at the 2016 Open Championship. 

For bettors who feel Scheffler’s +550 odds don’t yield enough value, fret not. BetMGM has plenty other Scheffler bets that yield more value than his outright odds. Let’s peel back the layers of this weekend’s betting market, and uncover the best and highest-value Scheffler-related wagers.

Best Scottie Scheffler bets for Open Championship 2024

Scheffler to finish in the top 5 (+275 on BetMGM)

Even a player as hot as Scheffler is no lock to win a major championship over 157 other players on a complex course. He has only played two tournaments in the past month, and this will mark the first time all year that the world No. 1 ventures outside of the United States.

That said, there’s no reason to expect Scheffler to finish outside the top five. Over his past 10 tournaments, Scheffler has six victories and two T2s. His T8 finish at the PGA Championship came two days after being arrested outside the venue in Tennessee. He shot a second-round 66 hours after being released from jail, but a third-round 73 kept him from ultimately contending for the win. 

His T41 at the U.S. Open was his only finish outside the top 10 in nearly five months, and he bounced right back to win the Travelers a week later. Nobody has a more complete all-around game, a more measured strategy and preparedness, or a more focused approach under pressure. He’s the world’s greatest for a reason, and to give him plus odds to finish top five seems generous. 

Scheffler, McIlroy, and Ludvig Aberg to all make the cut (-225 on BetMGM)

You’re eating some juice if you bet this prop, but how great is the value here!? Scheffler hasn’t even come close to missing a cut all year, McIlroy finished T5 on this course at the 2016 Open, and Aberg has been one of the hottest golfers over the past two months. 

Aberg finished runner-up to Scheffler at the Masters, and he has barely slowed down since then. He also has a T5 at the Memorial, a T12 at the U.S. Open, and a T4 at last week’s Scottish Open. He led the field in Scotland in the second and third rounds, but faltered a bit in the final round as native Scot Robert MacIntyre took over the lead.

All three of these guys should be locked in this weekend, and it would be a shock if any of the three missed the cut line. Don’t focus on the juice — focus on the win probability. This is an easy bet, even if it doesn’t yield a massive payout. 

Scheffler in final group final round (+250 on BetMGM)

This seems like another gimme, as Scheffler has been in the final grouping over and over this season. Do you really expect this man to be left off the premier grouping in the final round!?

Besides one tough round at the PGA Championship under stressful and exhausted circumstances — plus a mulligan showing at the U.S. Open — he has been mostly flawless, and impeccably good at recovering quickly on the rare occasions in which he has faltered. This bet is just begging for some action.

Scheffler to finish as the top American (+275 on BetMGM)

This isn’t a layup by any means — Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tony Finau all lurk behind Scheffler on the odds board — but the world No. 1 certainly has a much better shot at finishing with the lowest score of any American in the field.

No matter the venue or the field around him, Scheffler always stays within his game and keeps his focus — his skill set and demeanor are as dependable and trustworthy as these +275 odds.

Scheffler and McIlroy to finish top two in either order (+2200 on BetMGM)

This is a pretty sweet exacta box to finish on, with the two odds-on favorites to win the Open yielding attractive +2200 odds to finish first and second in any order. Even if you put a lotto-ticket wager on this prop, you’re sitting pretty if these guys wind up the last men standing — a $5 winning bet would pay out $115.

And what a story you would have for years to come — about the time you hit the exacta on Scottie and Rory, the world’s No. 1 and No. 2, at the Open Championship at Royal Troon in Scotland. Priceless!