Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2025 Open Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2025 Open Championship

2025 Open Championship Fantasy Preview

In some respects, Chris Gotterup beating Rory McIlroy over what was effectively 18 holes of matchplay on Sunday at the Scottish Open was a sporting upset for the ages.

The pair were locked on -11 with a round to play at the Renaissance Club, with most expecting the career grand slam winning Irishman to add yet another trophy to his collection.

Gotterup made a bogey at the first and was immediately written off by some, but three birdies on the rest of the front nine – and another three on the back – got him back into the picture.

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McIlroy, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going, with his putter turning ice cold on the homeward stretch. So Gotterup, despite hitting just one fairway on the back nine, was able to complete the most surprising of two-shot victories.

It was his second PGA TOUR title, but without doubt his most important – Gotterup’s tears during his interview afterwards evidence of that.

He will make his debut in the British Open Championship this week. Who will get their hands on the Claret Jug in the final major of the year?

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Last week’s shining star was Ludvig Aberg (T8) on our main picks and Nicolai Højgaard (T4) from our Tuesday Sleeper Report. 

Overall, 10 of our 12 players made the cut in Scotland in the week leading up to the final Major of the year.

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The 2025 Open Championship Field

Pretty much every player inside the OWGR top 50 will be heading to Royal Portrush this week, with two former British Open winners – McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele – leading the way alongside a man that would love to add this title to his haul, Scottie Scheffler.

Shane Lowry, an emotional home champion the last time the British Open headed to Royal Portrush, returns, while the likes of Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, and Keegan Bradley add further depth to the field.

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Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, and Robert MacIntyre will also add their weight to the European charge, while the LIV Golf contingent of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, and former event winner Cam Smith will all have Claret Jug ambitions of their own.

A host of former British Open champions, from Henrik Stenson and Ernie Els to Justin Leonard and Darren Clarke, will also get another chance to shine on the Links.

This Week’s Course Preview

Royal Portrush has twice hosted the British Open; the first time in 1951, and the second as recently as 2019.

Shane Lowry was the victor on home soil, romping away with it at -15 in a week that no other player made it to double digits under par.

The Dunluce Course at Royal Portrush played in reasonably tough fashion in July 2019, with just six of its holes – headlined by the three Par 5s – averaging under par.

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It’s a course of two halves, with holes two, three, five, and seven playing as some of the easiest on the real estate in 2019. But the back nine is much tougher, with particularly hair-raising holes at fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen.

The sixteenth, in particular, is a doozie. Nicknamed Calamity Corner, this is a mammoth 236-yard Par 3 that plays uphill, with 360 degrees of trouble around the green provided by ravines and closely-mown hollows.

The Dunluce Course will play to around 7,380 yards for its Par 71, and this is as classical an example of Links golf as you’re ever likely to see. It was designed by Old Tom Morris, a four-time British Open champion in his own right in the 1800s, so quintessential coastal golf was very much the order of the day.

Bumpy, undulating fairways, tiered greens, pot bunkers, fescue grass, a complete absence of trees… this is Links golf in its purest form.

Weather Forecast for Portrush, IRE

It has been a halcyon summer for much of Northern Ireland, with lots of sunshine and hotter-than-average temperatures.

But for Open week… well, it looks set to be all change.

The temperatures have plummeted in Portrush, to the point that they might struggle to even get up to 64 degrees.

There’s rain in the forecast too – how much will fall, it’s hard to say, so this could be a tough test in more ways than one.

At least the wind, which can blow hard in these parts, appears to be somewhat manageable. It could peak at 14mph on Thursday, as per the early forecast, but dip down from there to around 8-10mph. 

PORTRUSH WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the Open Championship

In howling winds and heavy rain, Xander Schauffele landed his maiden British Open title and his second major victory of 2024.

Shane Lowry, the 2019 champion at Royal Portrush, led after 36 holes, with only ten players under par – Schauffele one of them, but six behind the Irishman.

It was all change on Saturday, with Lowry making a calamitous 77, which allowed Billy Horschel to go one clear of a seven-strong chasing pack.

The wind got up and the rains fell on Sunday, but Schauffele was able to cope with the conditions – he fired a 65, which was the best round of the day by two shots, to win by two from Horschel and Justin Rose.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for this Week’s the 2025 Open Championship

It’s the fourth and final major of the year, which means that this is the final opportunity of 2025 to really get stuck into some of the meatier prize pools that DFS golf has to offer.

• GOLF $2.75m Fantasy Golf Millionaire: Top of the shop, as ever, is the milly maker. This $25 entry contest boasts a top prize of a cool $1 million, with stacks of sizable payouts that will raise a smile for those fortunate enough to trouser them.
• PGA $600k Drive the Green: For a lower price point, try this $5 game, which still boasts a rather handy top prize of $100k. The top 275 players will all win a minimum of $50.    

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the 2025 Open Championship

Building a fantasy lineup for the British Open is easy, in a sense: just pick those guys that have shown a real fondness for Links golf, and then hope for the best.

The Scottish Open has been a real proving ground. Last year, Schauffele won the British Open after finishing T15 at the Scottish. Before that, Brian Harman and Cameron Smith lifted the Claret Jug after finishing T12 and T10 at the Scottish Open respectively.

On top of that, Schauffele, Harman, and Smith all had a prior top-ten in the British Open before lifting the trophy. Schauffele had a prior runner-up finish, while Harman had a previous tournament best of T6.

For much of the summer, we’ve been expecting Royal Portrush to play firm and fast; at which point, finding fairways and greens in regulation – allied to an ultra-reliable chipping game – would have been vital.

But if the rain comes and slows proceedings, allied to lower temperatures and weaker winds, there will likely be more margin for error, with slightly lower scoring than otherwise expected.

Even so, you would still expect the Links specialists to prevail…

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the 2025 Open Championship   

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the 2025 Open Championship  

Top Tier Pick # 1

Xander Schauffele (Odds: 25/1, FPPG: 72.0, Salary: $9,700)

The fact that Xander Schauffele was able to finish T8 at the Scottish Open, despite losing strokes to the field putting, speaks to how well the other departments of his game fired.

It’s not as if bad putting is a regular feature of Schauffele’s game either, given that he gained strokes in the field in that department at The Masters, the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, so there’s a feeling that he can make a robust defense of the Claret Jug this week.

The American is a fully paid-up Links golf convert; a former Scottish Open champion, a British Open runner up – to go with his win last year, and somebody who played some excellent golf at Royal Portrush in 2019.

There’s just plenty to like about Schauffele this week given that there’s some doubts about Scheffler, DeChambeau, and co in the Links environment.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 7th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 34th
• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 44th

Top Tier Pick #2

Ludvig Aberg (Odds: 28/1, FPPG: 64.8, Salary: $9,100)

Ludvig Aberg produced his best putting display in nearly a year at the Scottish Open last week.

It’s timely, confirming that the Swede has a fondness for the quick, undulating greens that tend to inform Links golf, and goes along with the fact that he’s gained strokes on the field with his ball striking in each of his last four completed finishes.

Aberg has finished in T12 or better in three of his seven major starts, and he heads to Royal Portrush in tremendous shape. Could he improve upon his burgeoning Links record in Ireland?

Key Stats:

• SG: Off-the-Tee – 15th
• Proximity to Hole – 19th
• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 55th

Mid-Tier Pick #1

Matt Fitzpatrick (Odds: 40/1, FPPG: 65.1, Salary: $7,800)

The good times keep on rolling for Matt Fitzpatrick, who gained strokes on the field in every SG department at the Scottish Open.

That T4 finish was his best in a PGA TOUR event for quite some time, but followed T8 at the Rocket Classic and T8 in major company at the PGA Championship in May.

Fitzpatrick played some good golf at Royal Portrush in 2019, finishing T20, and while he hasn’t always shown his best on the Links, his showing at the Renaissance Club last week confirms that he has the game for these coastal assignments.

Key Stats:

• SG: Tee-to-Green – 60th
• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 76th
• Scrambling – 81st

Mid-Tier Pick #2

Justin Rose (Odds: 60/1, FPPG: 53.7, Salary: $7,600)

Justin Rose delivered his best ball-striking performance since The Masters in finishing solo sixth at the Scottish Open.

His performance on Sunday was particularly exceptional, ranking first in the field for SG: Approach by a comfortable margin in a round of 63.

As we saw at last year’s British Open, Rose revels in Links conditions – particularly when the weather is foul, and while the veteran has developed an inconsistent streak in his game, he still has that ability to rise to the big occasion… as we saw at Augusta National.

Key Stats:

• Birdie Average – 45th
• Rough Proximity – 52nd
• SG: Putting – 65th

Low-Tier Pick

Sepp Straka (Odds: 50/1, FPPG: 77.9, Salary: $7,400)

This seems a more than fair price about a prolific winner with Links chops to his name.

Sepp Straka is into the top ten of the world rankings, thanks to a run of four PGA TOUR victories – two of those coming in 2025 at the American Express and Truist Championship.

The Austrian finished T2 at the 2023 British Open, T22 last year, and solo seventh at the Scottish Open last week, so this is a guy that enjoys these particular conditions.

Most notable last week at the Renaissance Club was his short game, which looked remarkably short – typically, that’s Straka’s weakness, so that bodes very nicely. 

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 4th
• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 4th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 7th

Sleeper Pick for the 2025 Open Championship

Louis Oosthuizen (Odds: 200/1, FPPG: 52.2, Salary: $6,500)

A player that has finished first, second, and third in the British Open deserves respect when the action returns to the Links.

And it’s not as if Louis Oosthuizen’s career is over. Yes, he is advancing in years, but the South African has finished inside the top-five in two of his last seven LIV Golf outings.

A return to the British Open should light a fire under Oosthuizen, who simply loves Links golf and who has the skillset, and temperament, to thrive in this environment. 

Key Stats:

• N/A

Alternative Sleeper Pick for the 2025 Open Championship

Nick Taylor (Odds: 175/1, FPPG: 69.6, Salary: $6,000)

After 36 holes, Nick Taylor found himself in T4 on the leaderboard at the Scottish Open.

He drifted down from there, but the Canadian still showed more evidence of his adaptability for the Links – making him an excellent sleeper pick this week.

Taylor gained strokes on the field with his ball striking and putting in Scotland, where his normally reliable chipping stroke let him down.

But, assuming he regresses to his mean, Taylor can far outperform this lowly salary at Royal Portrush.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 11th
• Scoring Average (adjusted) – 26th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 30th

This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match to best fit individual contests.

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Fantasy Golf Predictions – This Season 

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