The final golf major of the 2025 campaign gets underway on Thursday morning when the Open Championship returns to Royal Portrush. Scottie Scheffler (5/1) and Rory McIlroy (13/2) are duelling for favouritism in the race for the Claret Jug, with John Rahm next in at 12/1.
Brilliant as the pair are, they are worth taking on at prohibitively short odds and we’re back with three more key-stats satisfying each-way plays after 55/1 shot Sam Burns agonising US Open near miss (T7 having been leader until seven holes into the final round).
Above all Royal Portrush, with its slender fairways, small, elevated greens and thick rough punctuated with troublesome heather, demands accuracy both off the tee and into the green.
As a result we’re upweighting Driving Accuracy %, Shots Gained Tee-To-Green and Proximity To The Hole, which ranks players by shortest average distance of approach shot to the cup.
Sepp Straka to win (each-way)
@ 40/1
Russell Henley to win (each-way)
@ 50/1
E/W terms 1/5, eight places. Bet on the latest golf odds at Betzone
Open Championship: Austrian can leave miserable 2025 major record behind him at Portrush
Sepp Straka’s missed cuts in the first three majors of the year have been the only real blights on an otherwise rock solid PGA Tour campaign which has yielded two wins and six top-10 finishes from 19 outings.
The Viennese world number eight comes into this off a seventh in the Scottish Open and catches the eye with a strong showing on our selected stats: ranking 17th on tour for Driving Accuracy, fourth for SG: Tee-To-Green and 19th on Proximity To The Hole.
Straka has also proven himself well suited to the demands of Open Championship tests in recent years, most notably with a T2 finish at Hoylake in 2023, which he followed up with a solid T22 at Troon 12 months ago.
Sepp Straka to win (each-way)
@ 40/1
Open Championship: Henley in form to repeat or improve on 2024 Claret Jug contention
Like Straka, Russell Henley (five) is firmly ensconced inside the top 10 of the Official Golf World Rankings. Despite LIV Golf performances not counting towards ranking points this is a positive Open omen considering the last dozen winners were all inside the top 40 going into the week.
Henley also sits 14th in the PGA driving accuracy standings for the season, 15th for SG: Tee-To-Green and numero uno for Proximity To The Hole – a real rubber stamp for the consistent accuracy all through the approach to the green that will be required at Portrush.
The Georgia native has been in fine form this term, winning the Truist Championship, with the T2 finish he carded at the Travellers’ Championship last time out one of eight top 10 finishes from 14 PGA Tour tournaments contested.
Strong showings at majors are becoming more common for the 36-year-old – who has now finished T7 and T10 in the last two US Opens and his solo fifth at Royal Troon last year suggests he has the tool box to challenge for the Claret Jug again.
Russell Henley to win (each-way)
@ 50/1
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