The first 2021 Open Championship tee times are at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday at Royal St. George's Golf Club. Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson were runner-ups the last time the British Open was played at Royal St. George's, and both have won a major in the last 12 months. Can Johnson overcome a run of poor play, and can Mickelson be a factor in the 2021 Open Championship field after becoming the oldest major champion in history earlier this year?
Johnson is listed at 15-1 in the latest 2021 Open Championship odds from William Hill Sportsbook, while Mickelson is a 70-1 long shot. Jon Rahm is coming off his first major win at the 2021 U.S. Open and is the 7-1 favorite in the Open Championship odds 2021, while Bryson DeChambeau is next on the board at 14-1. Before locking in your 2021 Open Championship picks, be sure to see the latest golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed last June. In fact, it's up over $9,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.
At the 2021 U.S. Open, McClure's model was all over Jon Rahm's first career major championship victory at 10-1 from the start. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner at that point. The result: Rahm birdied the 17th and 18th holes in dramatic fashion to send his backers straight to the pay window. At the 2021 Masters, McClure nailed Rahm's (+250) top-five finish in his best bets, as well as Corey Conners' (+550) top-10 showing. McClure's best bets netted over $450 at the Masters.
In addition, McClure was all over Daniel Berger's win at +1400 in his best bets at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. McClure also nailed Viktor Hovland's (+2500) victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December. That was one of many huge calls he's made in the past several months.
This same model has also nailed a whopping seven majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the 2021 Open Championship field is taking shape, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected 2021 Open Championship leaderboard and Open Championship 2021 expert picks.
The model's top 2021 Open Championship predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the Open Championship 2021: Bryson DeChambeau, a major champion and one of the top favorites, struggles mightily doesn't even crack the top 10. DeChambeau has been one of the hottest players on tour this season, finishing on top of the leaderboard at the 2020 U.S. Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The eight-time PGA Tour champion continues to crush the ball off the tee, averaging over 320 yards per drive, which ranks first on tour. DeChambeau's length off the tee also has him ranked in the top 15 in birdie average, scoring average and strokes gained tee-to-green.
However, DeChambeau is hitting fewer than 55 percent of fairways off the tee this season, which can cause plenty of trouble at a major championship. His inability to find the fairway off the tee has resulted in DeChambeau finishing outside the top 25 in five of his last seven starts. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in the 2021 Open Championship field.
Another surprise: Louis Oosthuizen, a 30-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. He was the runner-up to Jon Rahm in the U.S. Open last month and finished third in the same tournament last October. Since April, he's finished 26th at the Masters, eighth at the Valspar Championship, second at the PGA Championship, and 18th at the Memorial.
Oosthuizen is fourth on the PGA Tour in scoring average at 69.842 and No. 1 in strokes gained putting at 1.062. He's also tops in total putting, giving him a major leg up on the competition at the storied Royal St. George's Golf Club.
How to make 2021 Open Championship picks
The model is also targeting five other golfers with 2021 Open Championship odds of 20-1 or higher make a surprising run, including include two massive long shots higher than 35-1 that would net any bettor an epic payday. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who will win the Open Championship 2021? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2021 Open Championship leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed seven golf majors, including Jon Rahm's epic U.S. Open victory.
2021 Open Championship odds
Jon Rahm 7-1
Bryson DeChambeau 14-1
Dustin Johnson 15-1
Rory McIlroy 16-1
Xander Schauffele 16-1
Brooks Koepka 16-1
Justin Thomas 20-1
Jordan Spieth 20-1
Louis Oosthuizen 30-1
Shane Lowry 33-1
Tommy Fleetwood 33-1
Patrick Cantlay 33-1
Matthew Fitzpatrick 33-1
Patrick Reed 33-1
Tyrrell Hatton 33-1
Paul Casey 35-1
Lee Westwood 35-1
Viktor Hovland 40-1
Scottie Scheffler 40-1
Webb Simpson 40-1
Collin Morikawa 40-1
Tony Finau 45-1
Justin Rose 45-1
Daniel Berger 50-1
Cameron Smith 55-1
Sergio Garcia 55-1
Marc Leishman 55-1
Branden Grace 55-1
Joaquin Niemann 60-1
Ian Poulter 60-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 66-1
Adam Scott 66-1
Abraham Ancer 66-1
Garrick Higgo 66-1
Will Zalatoris 66-1
Rickie Fowler 66-1
Robert MacIntyre 66-1
Lucas Herbert 70-1
Phil Mickelson 70-1
Harris English 70-1
Jason Day 70-1
Ryan Palmer 90-1
Jason Kokrak 90-1
Sam Burns 100-1
Alex Noren 100-1
Corey Conners 100-1
Thomas Detry 100-1
Matt Wallace 100-1
Francesco Molinari 100-1
Martin Kaymer 100-1
Brian Harman 125-1
Victor Perez 125-1
Guido Migliozzi 125-1
Danny Willett 125-1
Min Woo Lee 125-1
Stewart Cink 125-1
Max Homa 125-1
Gary Woodland 125-1
Bernd Wiesberger 125-1
Russell Henley 125-1
Padraig Harrington 125-1
Billy Horschel 150-1
Matt Kuchar 150-1
Charley Hoffman 150-1
Harold Varner 150-1
Keegan Bradley 150-1
Kevin Streelman 150-1
Kevin Kisner 150-1
Richard Bland 150-1
Andy Sullivan 175-1
Emiliano Grillo 200-1
Jason Scrivener 200-1
Brendon Todd 200-1
Carlos Ortiz 200-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 200-1
Lucas Glover 200-1
Henrik Stenson 200-1
Cameron Tringale 200-1
Sebastian Munoz 200-1
Antoine Rozner 200-1
Erik Van Rooyen 200-1
Matt Jones 200-1
John Catlin 200-1
Chez Reavie 250-1
Aaron Rai 250-1
Matthias Schwab 250-1
Troy Merritt 250-1
Johannes Veerman 250-1
Brandt Snedeker 250-1
Dean Burmester 250-1
Joel Dahmen 250-1
Ryan Fox 250-1
Dylan Frittelli 250-1
Justin Harding 250-1
Chris Kirk 250-1
Mackenzie Hughes 300-1
Kurt Kitayama 300-1
Brendan Steele 300-1
Takumi Kanaya 300-1
Adam Hadwin 300-1
Lanto Griffin 300-1
Joost Luiten 300-1
Talor Gooch 300-1
Jack Senior 300-1
Romain Langasque 300-1
C.T. Pan 350-1
Jazz Janewattananond 350-1
Marcus Armitage 350-1
Mike Lorenzo-Vera 400-1
Marcel Siem 400-1
Daniel Van Tonder 400-1
Jimmy Walker 400-1
Rikard Karlberg 400-1
Paul Waring 400-1
Benjamin Hebert 400-1
Jorge Campillo 400-1
Keith Mitchell 400-1
Shaun Norris 400-1
Adam Long 400-1
Hao-Tong Li 400-1
Rikuya Hoshino 400-1
Byeong-Hun An 400-1
Marcus Kinhult 400-1
Chan Kim 500-1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 500-1
Marcel Schneider 500-1
Richard Mansell 500-1
Yuki Inamori 500-1
J.C. Ritchie 500-1
Ernie Els 500-1
Cole Hammer 500-1
Darren Clarke 500-1
Yuxin Lin 500-1
Ryosuke Kinoshita 500-1
Matthias Schmid 500-1
Daniel Hillier 750-1
Brad Kennedy 750-1
Ryutaro Nagano 750-1
Poom Saksansin 750-1
Jaco Ahlers 750-1
Christoffer Bring 1000-1
Richard T. Lee 1000-1
Nicholas Poppleton 1000-1
Deyen Lawson 1000-1
Jonathan Thomson 1000-1
Sam Bairstow 1000-1
Aaron Pike 1000-1
Laird Shepherd 1000-1
Ben Hutchinson 1000-1
Joe Long 1500-1
Sam Forgan 1500-1
Ricardo Celia 1500-1
Abel Gallegos 1500-1
Daniel Croft 2000-1
Connor Wordsdall 2000-1
