Of the last 12 Champion Golfers of the Year, six entered the week of The Open Championship with odds of 40-1 or higher. Unlike the three prior majors where there is a shade of redundancy, The Open’s variability is heightened due to weather, conditions, tee time advantages and much more. All of that gives way to the possibility of an unorthodox winner at Royal Liverpool.
Despite the number of champions with long odds, not all longshots come out of thin air. Collin Morikawa closed at 40-1 two years ago at Royal St. George’s just a week after finish T71 at the Scottish Open and lamenting his irons were not properly interacting with the Scottish surface. Morikawa was already a major champion and had notched top-10 finishes in that year’s PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
Shane Lowry was nearly double the odds of Morikawa at 70-1 at Royal Portrush. The Irishman’s history in The Open was dreadful as he had missed his four prior cuts, but he had already won that calendar year and finished top 10 at the PGA Championship.
Louis Oosthuizen was as long as 250-1 the week of his runaway victory at St. Andrews in 2010, while veteran Darren Clarke was listed at 200-1 the following year at Royal St. George’s. Zach Johnson was north of 100-1 the next time The Open travelled to the Old Course and put a bow on a stretch of six Opens where three victors went off at triple-digit odds
Let’s take a look at five sleepers who could potentially follow in the footsteps of Morikawa, Lowry and others with their 2023 Open odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.
2023 Open picks: Sleepers
Who will win the Open Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected Open leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed nine golf majors, including this year’s Masters.