Brooks Koepka will be looking to earn his fifth win in his last 10 major tournament appearances this week as he travels to Northern Ireland in a battle with Rory McIlroy atop the British Open odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Koepka has dominated golf’s biggest stages over the past two years, including a victory at this year’s PGA Championship, which solidified his perch as the world’s top-ranked golfer going into first-round action at the 148th edition of the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
In addition to his PGA Championship win at +2000 odds at online betting sites Koepka was also a threat this season at both the Masters and the US Open. The 29-year-old finished just one stroke back of Tiger Woods to claim second place at Augusta, also as a +2000 wager, and he ended up three strokes back of Gary Woodland while vying for a third straight victory at the US Open while sporting +750 odds.
However, Koepka has struggled since the US Open, claiming a share of 57th place at the Travelers Championship and finishing a distant 65th two weeks ago at the 3M Open while set as +700 chalk. The reigning PGA Player of the Year has also produced mixed results at previous editions of the British Open, coming in 39th last year after posting consecutive top-10 finishes.
Northern Ireland’s own McIlroy is listed as Koepka’s top competitor on the golf odds for this week, with Woods, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and Justin Rose the other major contenders.
McIlroy has finished amongst the top five in each of his past four British Open appearances, including his lone career victory at this event in 2014. The 30-year-old has failed to claim a major tournament win since his victory at the 2014 PGA Championship, but has remained consistently in contention of late, finishing in the top 10 in four of his past five outings, including his second win of the season at last month’s RBC Canadian Open.
Woods has been idle since producing a disappointing 21st-place finish at the US Open while sporting +1200 odds, but has three career British Open wins to his credit, most recently in 2006. Johnson, meanwhile, has finished better than 49th place just once in his past four Open Championship appearances.
Further down the odds to win the British Open, 2018 winner Francesco Molinari joins the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, and Jordan Spieth in the second tier of tournament contenders. The 36-year-old Italian has struggled to duplicate his success since last year’s win. Molinari has posted just one win this year, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and has failed to crack the top 10 in five appearances since finishing fifth at Augusta as a +2200 bet.
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