154th Open Championship
Course: Royal Birkdale (7,223 yards, par 70)
Purse: $17,000,000
Winner: $3,100,000 and 750 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
This week marks the final men's golf major championship of the year. While there are some other opportunities for players to make their mark on the season, the majors are really where legacies are built in this game. The Open Championship is the most historic of the four dating back to 1860. 156 players this week will be battling to be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year and receive the most iconic trophy in the game, the Claret Jug.
The 154th Open Championship will take place at Royal Birkdale for the 11th time. The Southport, England course is know as one of the most difficult venues in the Open rotation. Great names have won here over the years like Peter Thompson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Padraig Harrington and most recently Jordan Spieth in 2017. The course has undergone some significant changes in recent years and the visuals are much different that it was nine years ago. The most significant changes were adding a brand new par-3 on the 15th hole, making the 14th hole a risk-reward par-5, completely redesigning the driveable par-4 5th hole and shortening and rebuilding the green on the par-3 7th hole.
Scottie Scheffler will enter the week as the defending champion and is looking to end a long stretch of close calls with his fifth career major championship. Scheffler has not won anywhere since The American Express way back in January, but he has finished top 5 on eight occasions since then, including four runner-ups. Scheffler is coming off a missed cut at the Scottish Open last week, his first time not making it to the weekend since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. All would be forgiven if he is able to win the Claret Jug for a second time this week.
It will be a very tough task as there are so many top players in great form. Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup both have three PGA Tour victories this season, and both played very well at the Scottish Open last week. Rory McIlroy was also in the mix at The Renaissance Club and will be looking to bookend the major championship season in 2026 after he repeated at The Masters in April. McIlroy won the Open Championship back in 2014 at Royal Liverpool and has six top-7 finishes at this event since then. Tommy Fleetwood grew up not far away from Royal Birkdale and will have lots of support from the home crowd. Many have had this week circled as the time for Fleetwood to win his first major championship.
There are plenty of others like Wyndham Clark who has been on a heater of late and won the U.S. Open last month, Cameron Young who won THE PLAYERS and another Signature Event earlier this year, Si Woo Kim who is tied with Scheffler for the most top-10 finishes this season, Viktor Hovland coming off a recent win at the Travelers Championship and former Open Championship winners like Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa. High profile LIV Golf players like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau will be looking to finish the year strong with a good showing at the final major of the season. DeChambeau in particular will be one to watch after having missed the cut in each of the first three majors of 2026.
The big discussion around the Open Championship every year is the weather. These courses in this part of the country are all extremely exposed to the elements and the grasses are much different than we see on a week-to-week basis on the PGA Tour. The Scottish Open last week was a good test for many to get accustomed to the bouncy fairways and slower greens, but things will get even more ramped up at Royal Birkdale. At times we can see rain and heavy wind causing havoc at the Open Championship, but this year it appears we will get a different test. The weather is near perfect with daytime highs in the mid-70s and and very minimal threat of precipitation. The wind also not expected to be too extreme either. Predicting the rollout both off the tee and into the greens will be the biggest challenge for these players this week in the firm and fast conditions.
Recent Champions
2025 - Scottie Scheffler (-17) at Royal Portrush
2024 - Xander Schauffele (-9) at Royal Troon
2023 - Brian Harman (-13) at Royal Liverpool
2022 - Cameron Smith (-20) at St Andrews
2021 - Collin Morikawa (-15) at Royal St George's
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Shane Lowry (-15) at Royal Portrush
2018 - Francesco Molinari (-8) at Carnoustie
2017 - Jordan Spieth (-12) at Royal Birkdale
2016 - Henrik Stenson (-20) at Royal Troon
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- Bogey Avoidance/Proximity 150-200 Yards
Champion's Profile
Royal Birkdale is a challenging setup that requires elite shot making and precision. Large sand dunes define most of the holes at this course, and players will have to get comfortable with their start lines. With the conditions expected to be quite firm and fast this week, players will have to properly shape shots to be able to hold fairways and avoid the deep fairway bunkers, long fescue grasses and steep dunes. Club selection off of tees will be a big area of focus, as driver will be taken out of the hands of most players on a lot of holes. This is one of the best opportunities that short and accurate hitters will have to win a major championship.
Approach play is likely to be the primary separator once again at Royal Birkdale. These greens average just 5,500 square feet, which is certainly on the smaller end for Open Championship venues. Most of the greens feature a number of different falloffs into bunkers or short grass collection areas. With the wind not expected to gust to traditional Open Championship speeds, it could make things a little easier for players, but if it continue to trend towards firm and fast players might have to bounce some longer approaches short of greens to be able to get them to stop. With only two par-5s on the course and varying lengths of par-3s, the par-4s will likely be the biggest key. Certain holes will play a lot longer or shorter depending on the wind direction, but I'd look in the 150-200 yard range for being the key proximity bucket this week.
Short game has also been a very critical area in determining the Open Championship over the last several years. When players miss a green they will have a lot of different options on how to play the shot because it's blanketed in short grass for the most part. That always tends to favor the best short-game players. If Royal Birkdale continues to bake out that will make things only that much more exacting around the greens.
The one area where players will feel like they can attack is on the greens. These fescue blend putting surfaces are some of the easiest on the Open rota. Most of the time players will have a pretty flat putt they are able to be aggressive with, especially considering the greens over here are on the slower end to protect from balls moving on the greens during high winds. Driving the ball straight, hitting greens and being tidy in the short game department would all take precedent for me over putting skill this week.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($13,400)
Relative to the rest of the field this is the best value that Scheffler has found himself at all season. Some people might be willing to fade even at this price coming off his first missed cut since 2022. I'm not one of those people. Scheffler has gone T8-T21-T23-T7-1st in his career at the Open Championship. He is still very clearly the best player in the world, and given his profile of being one of the best total drivers on Tour, an elite iron player and having exceptional touch around the greens, he should be primed to have another great shot at winning the Claret Jug.
Tommy Fleetwood ($12,100)
It would be hard to draw up a much better fit at a major championship for Fleetwood's game than Royal Birkdale. He is very accurate off the tee, controls his distances and trajectories well with the irons and leads the PGA Tour in scrambling this season. Fleetwood has been close at the Open with five top-20 finishes over his last seven starts. He also comes into the week riding a five-event top-15 streak. What a story it would be in the 35-year-old from Southport, England could win his long awaited first major championship in front of the home crowd.
Matt Fitzpatrick ($11,600)
Fitzpatrick is the sixth option on FanDuel this week, but the No. 2 player in my model. He is coming off a near miss at the Scottish Open which would have been his fourth victory of 2026. Instead it was his seventh top-5 finish, and third in his last four starts. Fitzpatrick has been the best iron player in the field so far this season. He is also leading the PGA Tour in SG: Around-the-Green. Fitzpatrick has driven the ball much better over the last couple years and is No. 1 in the field in SG: Putting on slow greens over the last three years. He checks every box you area looking for and will look to build on a T4 finish at the Open last year.
Viktor Hovland ($10,600)
Hovland made the cut on the number last week at the Scottish Open, but used a strong weekend to propel himself to a T13 finish. That was his third top-15 in his last four starts, including that win in a playoff over Scheffler at the Travelers. The iron play continues to be extremely strong as he ranks top 15 in SG: Approach, proximity 150-175 yards and proximity 175-200 yards. Hovland has also gained strokes around the green in five of his last six starts. He has given up distance to prioritize accuracy, which should payoff at Birkdale. Hovland owns three top-15 finishes in five starts at the Open Championship.
The Middle Tier
Chris Gotterup ($10,300)
Gotterup might just be a links golf guru. Last year he won the Scottish Open and then finished solo third the next week at the Open Championship. Last week he was in the mix at the Scottish Open on the weekend before fading late to T11. The week before that he picked up his third win of the year at the John Deere Classic. There has been a lot of green recently on his profile off the tee, on approach and with the putter. At this price, it feels like a great spot to continue to ride the hot hand.
Wyndham Clark ($10,200)
This is a pretty comical price for Clark who is No. 1 in SG: Total over the last three months. During that time he has racked up six top-15 finishes, including a pair of victories, most notably his second U.S. Open title in four years last month at Shinnecock. Clark has a terrific history at the Scottish Open and finished T4 at the Open Championship last year. He can certainly play this style of golf very well. The putting and short game have been off the charts recently, and the iron play has take a giant leap forward this year. If Clark can throttle it back a little off the tee at times this week, there's zero reason why he can't make it two in a row to close the 2026 major season.
Russell Henley ($9,600)
Henley did not play the Scottish Open last week, but he has figured out links golf of late with a 5th place finish at the Open in 2024 and a T10 last year. Henley is a player who has been in the mix in majors for the last few years, but Birkdale offers a tremendous opportunity given the priority it places on finding fairways over outright distance. Henley is one of the best at scrambling and bogey avoidance on Tour, not only because his short game, particularly off of short grass, is strong, but also that he rarely finds himself in trouble. He is known to heat up with the putter as well at times like he did down the stretch at Colonial to take his sixth PGA Tour victory.
Harris English ($9,300)
English is a very sneaky play this week. The form of late isn't great, but he does have 12 top-30 finishes already this season. English is a grinder who plays his best at the toughest venues. He is one of the best putters in this field and excels scrambling from short grass. English is a consistent gainer off the tee as well and when the iron play is decent he typically finishes very high. Four top-20s in majors since the start of 2025, including two runner-ups, is no small feat.
The Long Shots
Tom Kim ($8,800)
Kim is easily the biggest bargain in this field by price. The only knock might be that he will likely carry sizable ownership. Nevertheless, this guy has gained more strokes per round on approach than anyone in this field over the last five months. That was culminated last week at the Scottish Open where he won for the first time on Tour since 2023 and gained over eight strokes on approach. That certainly makes Kim a tremendous fit for Birkdale where his lack of distance also won't be a huge factor. The putter has also really heated up of late, and he has always putted well on the slower greens on this side of the Atlantic.
Maverick McNealy ($8,600)
McNealy finds himself way down in the mid-$8,000 range but ranks 18th in this field in SG: Total over the last six months and 20th on DatGolf. That's pretty solid value we can exploit to potentially round out a lineup. McNealy has missed just one cut all season to go along with nine top-25 finishes. The short game and putting combination has been elite the last several months and he finds himself top 20 on Tour in both SG: Around and SG: Putting. After a tough start to his career in majors, McNealy has now made the cut in his last seven, including a T23 at the Open last year.
Ryo Hisatsune ($8,000)
Hisatsune is a young player that has a lot of experience playing on these type of courses in Europe. He is one of the safest plays in this range because of how consistent his ball striking is. Hisatsune has gained strokes off the tee in all but one start this season and has gained on approach in six of his last seven. He ranks 25th in total driving, 30th in SG: Off-the-Tee, eighth in GIR percentage and 17th in proximity. Hisatsune is also 23rd in par-4 scoring and is coming off his fifth top-10 of the season last time out at the John Deere Classic.
Keita Nakajima ($7,400)
The 26-year-old missed some time earlier this season with an injury, but since Nakajima has returned he has played quite well. He has made the cut in four of his last five starts with three top-20 finishes in that stretch, including a strong T3 showing last week at the Scottish Open. Nakajima gained strokes across the board at The Renaissance Club and was also T6 in GIR's and T3 in scrambling. Nakajima ranks in the top 25 percent of the PGA Tour in several key categories like total driving, SG: Approach, GIR percentage, SG: Putting and putting inside 10 feet.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
It feels like there is a lot that informed DFS players will be able to take advantage of this week from a pricing perspective. There are several players who appear much higher in models and season-long data than they do on the salary board on FanDuel this week. Others not mentioned above that fall into that category who I will be considering in lineups are Patrick Cantlay ($9,700), Patrick Reed ($9,600), Si Woo Kim ($9,400), Rickie Fowler ($8,600) and Nick Taylor ($7,500). The bunching together of many of the top options for the Open also gives DFS players a ton of different lineup construction options. Ludvig Aberg ($11,400) and Young ($11,100) would probably be the only highly priced players I'd stay away from given that both have been really struggling of late and there are so many stronger options around them.
Lastly, it does not appear like we will have to worry about any wave advantages, which is extremely uncommon at the Open. Forecasts can change fast in that part of the world, but the Thursday and Friday conditions look virtually identical. That's just one less element for us to concern ourselves with when trying to put together some lineups this week.
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