2024 Open Championship picks, field, top predictions, odds: Golf expert loves Brooks Koepka at Royal Troon

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will aim for his seventh PGA Tour win of the season at the 2024 Open Championship, which is the final major of the year. He has the shortest odds (4-1) to win the tournament since Tiger Woods was +250 in 2009. Scheffler struggled at the U.S. Open last month though, finishing over par in all four rounds for the first time in his PGA Tour career. How should you approach Sheffler with your 2024 Open Championship bets?

Rory McIlroy has gone a decade without a major victory, but he is second in the 2024 Open Championship odds at 8-1. Some of the other Open Championship contenders include U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (9-1), Ludvig Aberg (9-1) and Collin Morikawa (10-1) heading into Thursday's first round. Before making any 2024 Open Championship picks or bets, you need to see the Open Championship 2024 predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald .

McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in 2022 after stops at NBC Sports and RyderCup.com. Covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and more. Featured weekly on the Early Wedge, he has given out numerous winners already in 2024, including Jake Knapp (50-1) at the Mexico Open and Xander Schauffele (20-1) at the PGA Championship. Anyone who has followed his lead is way up.

Now, McDonald has focused his attention on the 2024 Open Championship field and has locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. You can only see them here .

Top 2024 Open Championship expert picks

One shocker from McDonald: The expert is fading Morikawa (10-1), who is priced too short to back in such a deep and talented field. Morikawa has made the cut in 14 of 16 events played this season, but he has not won any of those tournaments. In fact, he has only won one tournament on the PGA Tour since his 2021 Open Championship victory, which was his second major win.

Morikawa has not been able to get across the finish line at majors since then, despite posting five top-10s in his last 10 majors. He has missed the cut in back-to-back Open Championship appearances following that win, and he ranks outside the top 100 on the PGA Tour in driving distance and GIR percentage. McDonald does not think there is any value to be had at Morikawa's current price, so he is going in a different direction with his Open Championship bets. See who else to fade here .

On the other hand, McDonald loves the value on Brooks Koepka at 25-1. There has not been a more impressive golfer at major championships over the past seven years than Koepka, who has five major victories since 2017. No other golfer has more than two major wins during that stretch, giving him an advantage against the Open Championship field.

Koepka has nine career top-two finishes at majors, but his best finish at the Open Championship was T4 in 2019. He finished T2 at the 2023 Masters and won the 2023 PGA Championship before failing to crack the top 10 in his next five majors. Koepka is primed for a bounce-back performance this weekend, especially given his history of success at the biggest events of the season. See who else to back here .

How to make 2024 Open Championship golf picks

McDonald has locked in his best bets for the Open Championship 2024 and also has selected a longshot who's priced well over 25-1. This golfer "continues to drive the ball as well as ever and has gained strokes in three straight tournaments for the first time all season." You can only see the picks at SportsLine .

So which players should you target or avoid for the 2024 Open Championship, and which golfer in the Open Championship 2024 field could bring a huge payday of more than 25-1? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald's top picks for Open Championship 2024, all from the expert who has given out numerous winners already this year .

2024 Open Championship odds, field

See full the Open Championship 2024 picks, best bets and predictions here .

Scottie Scheffler 4-1
Rory McIlroy 8-1
Bryson DeChambeau 9-1
Ludvig Aberg 9-1
Collin Morikawa 10-1
Xander Schauffele 13-1
Tommy Fleetwood 20-1
Jon Rahm 22-1
Viktor Hovland 22-1
Brooks Koepka 25-1
Tyrrell Hatton 25-1
Patrick Cantlay 28-1
Cameron Smith 30-1
Tom Kim 33-1
Wyndham Clark 33-1
Shane Lowry 35-1
Tony Finau 35-1
Matt Fitzpatrick 40-1
Hideki Maysuyama 40-1
Robert MacIntyre 40-1
Jordan Spieth 40-1
Justin Thomas 40-1
Joaquin Niemann 45-1
Sahith Theegala 45-1
Sungjae Im 50-1
Max Homa 50-1
Min Woo Lee 55-1
Dustin Johnson 55-1
Cameron Young 55-1
Dean Burmester 60-1
Brian Harman 60-1
Sam Burns 60-1
Will Zalatoris 65-1
Corey Conners 65-1
Aaron Rai 65-1
Sepp Straka 70-1
Byeong Hun An 70-1
Akshay Bhatia 75-1
Adam Scott 75-1
Nicolai Hojgaard 80-1
Patrick Reed 85-1
Justin Rose 90-1
Louis Oosthuizen 90-1
Talor Gooch 100-1
Davis Thompson 100-1
Abraham Ancer 100-1
Russell Henley 125-1
Mattieu Pavon 125-1
Si Woo Kim 125-1
Rickie Fowler 125-1
Keegan Bradley 125-1
Sebastian Soderberg 125-1
Alex Noren 125-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 125-1
Rasmus Højgaard 150-1
David Puig 150-1
Phil Mickelson 150-1
Adam Hadwin 150-1
Keith Mitchell 150-1
Tiger Woods 150-1
John Catlin 150-1
J.T. Poston 150-1
Tom McKibbin 150-1
Billy Horschel 175-1
Harris English 175-1
Denny McCarthy 175-1
Marc Leishman 175-1
Kurt Kitayama 175-1
Keita Nakajima 175-1
Lucas Glover 175-1
Adrian Meronk 175-1
Ryan Fox 175-1
Seamus Power 200-1
Tom Huge 200-1
Victory Perez 200-1
Jordan Smith 200-1
Stephen Jaeger 200-1
Eric Cole 200-1
Aaron Wise 200-1
Davis Riley 200-1
Henrik Stenson 200-1
Thorbjorn Olsen 200-1
Daniel Berger 200-1
Yannik Paul 200-1
Sam Horsfield 200-1
Austin Eckroat 200-1