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

Jordan Spieth enters the 2024 Open Championship having never missed the cut in 10 starts. However, Spieth missed the cut last week at the Scottish Open and has failed to make the weekend six times this season. Furthermore, Spieth enters the Open Championship 2024 with 11 straight tournament finishes outside the top 10. The three-time major winner is in a grouping with two-time major champion Scottie Scheffler, as well as Cameron Young at 10:10 a.m. ET on Thursday at Royal Troon.

Spieth is a 40-1 longshot, with Scheffler the 4-1 favorite in the 2024 Open Championship field. Others high up in the 2024 Open Championship odds include Rory McIlroy at 8-1 and Bryson DeChambeau at 9-1. The first 2024 Open Championship tee times at Royal Troon Golf Club are at 1:35 a.m. ET on Thursday. 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 Collin Morikawa (10-1), who is priced too short to back in such a deep and talented field. It's hard to ignore the run Morikawa is on with 10 straight top 25s entering The Open. However, none of those actually resulted in victories as Morikawa has often performed well early in tournaments only to struggle in the final round. His Round 4 scoring average of 70.77 ranks 128th on the PGA Tour, which puts him among the bottom 30% of golfers.

The putter remains Morikawa's weakness as he ranks among the top 12 golfers in strokes gained: total, SG: tee-to-green and SG: around-the-green, however he's just 66th in SG: putting. McDonald also notes Morikawa's recent struggles in not only this major, but on links courses as a whole in his reasoning to fade the two-time major winner, saying, "The Open has been a struggle for Morikawa outside his victory in 2021. He missed the cut in both 2022 and 2023 and the results haven't been much better at the Scottish Open, where his best finish is T-71." See who else to fade here .

On the other hand, McDonald loves the value on Brooks Koepka (25-1). Arguably the closest stateside course comparison to Royal Troon is Pebble Beach, and Koepka was runner-up there at the 2019 U.S. Open and had another top-10 in his only other start at the course. He remains an elite ball-striker, ranking among the top quartile on his tour in both driving distance and GIR percentage, and he picked up his 20th professional victory on that 54-hole tour in May.

Add in his tendency to elevate his play in majors -- where his five wins since 2017 are more than twice as many as anyone else -- and Koepka is a steal at his current 2024 Open Championship odds. 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 an epic longshot who's priced at nearly 100-1. 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 could bring a huge payday of almost 100-1? Check out the 2024 Open Championship 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, including Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship .

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