2026 The Open Championship Picks, Winner Predictions This Week: Rory McIlroy, More

Major championship season started with Rory McIlroy winning his second straight Green Jacket back in April at the Masters. It ends this weekend with The Open Championship, and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is looking to earn his second straight Claret Jug as the Champion Golfer of the Year. 

Royal Birkdale in Southport, England on the UK’s west coast hosts the season’s final chance at glory. The field contains the top 50 players in the world, as well as the top 30 from the 2025 DP World Tour standings, the top five from this year’s DP World Tour and 16 LIV players. 

Let's break down our top Open Championship picks this week, including picks for potential winners or top-10 or top-20 finishers in the event from PrizePicks Team Picks.

Make your Open Championship golf picks — including winners & Top 10s — on PrizePicks now!

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The Open Championship Picks, Predictions & Winner Payouts for PGA This Week

The British Open Championship will tee off at Royal Birkdale for the 11th time, a place where Jordan Spieth won his third major in 2017 and where Padraig Harrington won the first of his two majors in 2008.  

Golfers need driving accuracy to avoid penal rough, as well as knowledge of how to play in the wind off the Irish Sea. Being able to use a creative short game around the greens that are guarded by pot bunkers also helps.

2026 Open Championship Outright Winner Payouts

Here are the top 10 favorites to secure a victory in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, via PrizePicks Team Picks, including their payouts if you predict them to win the tournament. 

The British Open payouts listed below, like 4x, indicate real-money earnings if a prediction is correct; for example, 4x on a $100 entry pays out $400 on PrizePicks Team Picks.

The lower the payout multiplier, the higher the chance of the outcome occurring, according to user consensus picks. Payouts are live as of writing but are subject to change.

As far as the actual Open Championship purse is concerned, the winner earns $3.2M, with top-10 payouts descending and settling at $367K for 10th place.

The Open Championship Picks, Winner Predictions This Week

Here are four golfers to consider for The Open Championship picks on PrizePicks Team Picks.

Also listed are payouts for each golfer to win and finish in the top 10 or 20. 

Matt Fitzpatrick Open Championship Prediction

Matt Fitzpatrick Open Championship Winner Payout: Yes 12.5x | No 1.02x

Top 10 Payout: Yes 2.5x | No 1.49x

• Fitzpatrick is one of two players with three wins this season, including the RBC Heritage, a Signature Event. 
• He also has two runner-ups, with one coming at the Players Championship. The star finished fourth two weeks ago at the Travelers — another Signature Event — and was third this past week at the Scottish Open.
• The 2022 U.S. Open champ hasn't been squarely in the mix on Sunday at this year's majors, but he has finished in the top 25 in all three of them.  
• He leads the Tour in shots gained around the green, which is huge at the British Open. Additionally, he leads in shots gained approach and is third in shots gained total, third in hitting greens, and ninth in driving accuracy. The latter is another huge metric, as players need to avoid the aforementioned Royal Birkdale rough.
• He's known for a low ball flight, which is perfect for courses exposed to the wind, as Royal Birkdale is. We saw it with his win at Harbour Town this year, a coastal course with Scottish-style bunkers and coastal winds. 

Add Matt Fitzpatrick to your PrizePicks Lineup now.

Rory McIlroy Open Championship Prediction

Rory McIlroy Open Championship Winner Payout: Yes 9.09x | No 1.05x

Top 10 Payout: Yes 2.32x | No 1.56x

• McIlroy is taking the Tiger Woods approach: go all in for majors above everything else. We saw that before the Masters, when he missed the Arnold Palmer Invitational (a Signature Event honoring one of the game's greats) to go practice at Augusta. That turned out well, as Rory won his second green jacket. He skipped the last Signature Event of the season two weeks ago in Connecticut, opting to go over the pond early to get some links work in and not play the Travelers. Would anyone be surprised if he wins again?
• Rory already has one Claret Jug in his possession, winning up the road at Royal Liverpool in 2014. He also finished fourth here at Royal Birkdale in 2017, shooting in the 60s in each of the final three rounds. 
• Looking at his overall results at the Open, he has eight top 10 finishes, including three in the last four years.
• While taking that Tiger approach, Rory has only played in 10 events this year on Tour, but seven of them featured top-20 finishes. He's gained shots off the tee in all 12 worldwide events and can overpower the field from the tee box and put himself in a great position for his seventh major title.
• Even though he hasn't played a lot this year, he's first in shots gained off the tee, second in shots gained total, and third tee-to-green.

Add Rory McIlroy to your PrizePicks Lineup now.

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Chris Gotterup The Open Championship Prediction

Chris Gotterup Open Championship Winner Payout: Yes 22.22x | No 1.01x

Top 10 Payout: Yes 4.16x | No 1.2x

• Chris Gotterup joined Fitzpatrick as the only three-time winners this season with his triumph at the John Deere Classic two weeks ago. Last week, in defending his Scottish Open title, he finished tied for 11th. 
• After winning the Scottish Open title last year, he went to Royal Portrush and finished third. Add it together, and you have no worse than an 11th-place finish in the Scottish/Open Championships over the last two years, proving he is a force on the links-style courses.
• He's 10th in shots gained off the tee and ninth in shots gained total. 
• We already knew Gotterup could bomb it off the tee (seventh in distance), but what really has turned his season on fire is putting. He's gained shots against the field in that regard in each of his last 13 events.

Add Chris Gotterup to your PrizePicks Lineup now.

Harris English The Open Championship Prediction

Harris English Open Championship Winner Payout: Yes 33.33x 

Top 20 Payout: Yes 3.44x | No 1.28x

• Before 2025, Harris English wasn't showing up much on Open Championship cards, having only one finish higher than 45th (15th in 2013). However, the Georgia Bulldog almost pulled it off last year, sharing the first-round lead before finishing second behind Scheffler.
• There are a couple of U.S. courses that correlate to what we will see at Royal Birkdale, including the coastal Harbour Town (host of the RBC Heritage) and Sea Island (host of the RSM Classic). Both courses see coastal conditions and have small greens. English is 15th in shots gained over the past year on courses with small greens. 
• English finished fourth at Harbour Town this year and has multiple top finishes at the RSM Classic, which is where he lives. 
• He hasn't played as well this year as he did in 2025, which saw a win and five top fives, but he's a golfer who plays well in the conditions and is 12th on Tour in putting. 

Add Harris English to your PrizePicks Lineup now.

Make 2026 The Open Championship Picks on PrizePicks

Can world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler win back-to-back Open titles, or will Rory McIlroy bookend the championship season with his seventh major title?

You can make The Open Championship picks on PrizePicks and PrizePicks Team Picks to earn real money. Just pick players, predict More or Less on their projected stats, and cash in if you’re correct. 

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