The Open Championship
Preview for The Open Championship: The 151st edition is here for one of the world’s most prestigious and is THE planet’s oldest golf tournament. Willie Park Sr. won this event way back in 1860, and the tournament record is held by Cam Smith who won just last year at St. Andrews and Henrik Stenson also had a -20 in 2016 right here at Royal Troon. Winners of The Open Championship over the last five editions includes Cam Smith in 2022, Collin Morikawa in 2021, the event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Shane Lowry in 2019, Francesco Molinari in 2018, and Jordan Spieth in 2017.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $16.5M, the winner collects $3M and also earns 600 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Royal Liverpool in Scotland, is 7,383 yards in length, is a par 71, and the greens are bentgrass. The winning score at this tournament over the last five editions ranges from -8 to -20 but that was on five different courses. Expect the score this week to be anywhere from -14 to -20 depending on the weather and how the course is set up. Some key stats to focus on this week, in order, are strokes gained: around the green, driving distance, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: tee to green, and driving accuracy.
The 2023 Open Championship field: We again have a full 156-player field this week, and the top 70 players plus ties after round 2 will move on to play the weekend rounds 3 and 4. This is the last major of the year, and of course, we have a wealth of talent on hand including Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and most of the world’s top players are here. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A+.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for The Open Championship. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to The Open Championship this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, and Denny McCarthy.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, and Jordan Spieth.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 6 rounds) at this event since 2018? Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, and Jon Rahm.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $12.5K) – Scottie’s double-digit strokes gained in the ball-striking category continued last week at the Scottish Open to extend his top 5 streak to seven straight starts which is simply incredible! His worst finish in his last 19 starts was a T12 at The Genesis Invitational and if his putter ever wakes up again, it will be scary for all of his competition. He hasn’t won since THE PLAYERS Championship in March, so he’s well overdue. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21 and 2021 – T8.
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $11.9K) – Rory is coming off the win last week at the Scottish Open where he gained strokes across the board and was particularly dominant with his ball-striking gaining 11.16 strokes. That gives McIlroy six consecutive top 9’s and that streak should continue this week given he must be chomping at the bit to win his 2nd Open Championship and his first since 2014. Scheffler and McIlroy are the clear-cut front runners this week, and don’t like Rory’s win last week discourage you as his focus should be still completely fixated on this event – he has bigger fish to fry than the Scottish Open. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3, 2021 – T26, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – T2.
Cameron Smith (Salary: DraftKings – $10.7K) – The defending champ strides into this week with a 4th in his most recent PGA Tour start at the U.S. Open and he had a T9 at the PGA Championship the start before. If the putter is hot this week then anything is possible since he gained an absurd 11.28 strokes on the greens last year to take the cake. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won, 2021 – T33, 2019 – T20, and 2018 – T78.
Brooks Koepka (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – This year’s PGA Championship winner also finished T2 at the Masters, and was fine at the U.S. Open finishing T17. He’s a monster at majors and I’ll be on him this week since his ball-striking has been impressive in all three majors this year and he has gained another 17+ strokes with his short game in these key starts, so there’s lots working in Brooks favour these days. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T6, 2019 – T4, and 2018 – T39.
Tyrrell Hatton (Salary: DraftKings – $9.4K) – Two top 11’s at this event over the last two years and more impressively he has two top 6’s in his last three starts and has every part of his game is in fine form coming into this big week. If he can find a way to pop with his ball-striking this week as he did at THE PLAYERS gaining 10.42 strokes and finishing 2nd, then he will be in contention as his short game is rock-solid. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T11, 2021 – cut, 2019 – T6, and 2018 – T51.
Shane Lowry (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – The 2019 winner doesn’t have a top 10 since late February, but has five top 20’s in his last six starts and has finished no worse than T21 at this tournament since 2019. He gained an incredible 11.27 strokes with his short game last week to finish T12 at the Scottish Open, the bad news is he lost 5.09 strokes ball-striking, so it will be interesting to see what happens this week with Lowry’s play. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21, 2021 – T12, 2019 – Won, and 2018 – cut.
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – The most recent major winner is none other than Wyndham Clark, so he should be feeling confident heading in this week as he has two wins in his last six starts and continues to play well throughout his bag. The bomber seems like a fairly good fit for this track, but he will have to get his flat stick warmed up on Scottish greens as he lost 2.74 strokes putting last week. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T76.
Dustin Johnson (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – It was great to see DJ play well at the U.S. Open a month or so ago gaining 7.49 strokes ball-striking, 3.94 strokes around the green, and secured a top 10 finish as a result. Johnson has two top 8’s at the Open Championship over the last two years, had a T9 on this course in 2016, and could add another top 10 this week. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T6, 2021 – T8, 2019 – T51, and 2018 – cut.
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – If Harman was in the $8K range I likely wouldn’t bite on him, but can’t resist him at this price given he has three straight top 12’s including a T2 at the Travelers Championship. He surprisingly has also been good at this event over the last two years including a T6 last year. He has a fairly decent approach game and putts well, so that’s always a good recipe for success. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T6, 2021 – T19, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – cut.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – One of the world’s best putters has been cooking with the flat stick since early May, and it has led to four top 8’s over his last seven starts including a 2nd at the Memorial Tournament. The Open Championship rookie seems like a decent value, but we will see if his putter can figure out these Scottish greens or not. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: none.
Robert MacIntyre (Salary: DraftKings – $6.8K) – MacIntyre just missed out on the opportunity to battle Rory in a playoff last week at the Scottish Open, but still, a 2nd place finish in that fairly strong field is impressive. He has a very good track record at this tournament with two top 8’s since 2019 – don’t expect another this week, but he seems like a great scrubs player to use in multiple lineups. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T34, 2021 – T8, and 2019 – T6.
Tom Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $8.1K) – Kim was impressive again last week finishing T6 at the Scottish Open, and he had a T8 four starts ago at the U.S. Open where he was dynamite on approach and stout on the greens. Tom had a decent start to his Open Championship career last year, and should build on it considerably this week if his solid approach play continues. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T47.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – We haven’t seen much from Finau since winning the Mexico Open in late April, but he did have a T32 at the U.S. Open three starts ago. He’s mostly on my list since he just finds a way to play excellent golf at this event year in and year out as he has six top 28’s in as many starts, and his 3rd in 2019 was impressive because he gained an outstanding 10.52 strokes off the tee at Royal Portrush. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T28, 2021 – T15, 2019 – T3, and 2018 – T9.
Tommy Fleetwood (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – Fleetwood put in another admirable performance last week to finish T6 at the Scottish Open and has three top 6’s over his last four starts including a T5 at the U.S. Open and a playoff loss at the Canadian Open. The Englishman always seems to show up at The Open Championship with two top 4’s since 2019 and three top 12’s since 2018. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4, 2021 – T33, 2019 – 2nd, and 2018 – T12.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $10.0K) – He won four starts ago at the Memorial Tournament, had a T2 at the PGA Championship, and a T7 at the Masters, and you got to like that Hovland finished T4 at this tournament last year. His 12th-place finish in 2021 as an Open Championship rookie was quite impressive also, so pound for pound, he’s a contender this week. The Open Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4 and 2021 – T12.
