The 2025 edition of The Open, also known as the British Open, got started on Thursday, July 17th, as the top golfers in the world teed off from Royal Portrush Golf Club. As of right now, we have five players tied for first at -4, with Matthew Fitzpatrick and Harris English being the most noteworthy ones. However, just a little further down the leaderboard is Scottie Scheffler at -3. And there are several other big names lurking, so this is everything you can possibly want in a big tournament.
As always, our VSiN golf analysts had you covered with pre-tournament analysis, but we don’t stop there. We’ll be talking about the action on our live VSiN programming, and we’ll also have some daily notes from our top golf minds. So, keep reading for some first-round observations and second-round predictions.
The Open Championship first-round scores
The Open Championship second-round tee times
The Open Championship latest odds
Matt Youmans
I just finished watching almost 15 hours of TV coverage and this is why the British Open is my favorite major. (It’s very important to note it should be referred to as the British Open — not The Open Championship, as stuffy, wannabe elites such as Wes Reynolds say — because we host a major here called the U.S. Open.) The course is outstanding. Royal Portrush features narrow fairways with big trouble waiting on either side, deep bunkers, fair greens that are not too fast and, of course, rain and wind on the coast in Northern Ireland. This is a true test of golf that challenges all aspects of a player’s game. And, again, the TV coverage on NBC/Peacock/USA/Sky Sports is much better than the commercial-filled broadcasts you get on CBS with know-it-all Jim Nantz pontificating from his tower while the Immelman brothers babble like children.
The first round also had something of everything. Five players are tied for the lead and four are deep longshots. Here’s where Circa Sports closed the odds on the leaders: Fitzpatrick (40-1), English (115-1), Bezuidenhout (245-1), Li (550-1) and Olesen (750-1). Scheffler, the pre-tournament favorite at 6-1, is one off the lead despite rarely playing from the fairways and hitting only three of 14. Scheffler countered his erratic driving by gaining strokes on approach (+3.27) and putting (+2.26), and those numbers are positive indicators for his weekend. Some other popular players are in the hunt and under par, including Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm. Several other popular players are over par and probably out of it, including Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa. Pat Reed (+6) is unpopular and headed home soon, fortunately. Bryson DeChambeau (+7) was the biggest first-round bust among star players.
My wagering plan for this major was to be conservative going in and limit the players I bet to three to five. The reason for that is links golf is different and it’s more difficult to rely on predictable data. Of course, I wound up betting until 10 p.m. Wednesday and fired on more than five players. I played Scheffler (+600 and top 5 +135), Rahm (top 10 +115), Hatton (30-1 and top 10 +310), Lowry (33-1 and top 10 +375), Robert MacIntyre (36-1 and top 20 +185), Fitzpatrick (40-1 and top 20 +160) and Justin Rose (60-1). So far, so good with no obvious casualties.
We almost always have a few regrets with bets we made or didn’t make. A friend who’s a former pro golfer mentioned Tuesday to consider betting on English and Bezuidenhout, but I didn’t take the advice. After watching both players Thursday, he was right, and I’m expecting both to stay in contention until Sunday. I’ll look to add English (20-1) and Bezuidenhout (30-1) on the DraftKings adjusted odds board.
Kelley Bydlon
Just like I said, Jacob Skov Olesen and Haotong Li for The Open Championship… Riiiiight.
As should be expected with an Open, there’s some names that will hover around the first page of the leaderboard all weekend that you haven’t heard much about if you’ve just been locked on the PGA Tour.
Speaking of the PGA Tour, quick shout-out to the PGA Tour airport bar and grill in Las Vegas, which didn’t have the Open on, or access to putting it on TVs. Maybe something to look into…
I will be in Montreal for the weekend so bets and updates from will be limited.
Scottie Scheffler being one shot off the lead should terrify everyone, unless you bet him close to 6-1, of course. What should scare everyone even more is if he can keep this kind of putting up. He gained over two strokes on the field with the flat stick.
Ahead of Scheffler though, there are five names tied atop the leaderboard at -4… Let’s go Matty Fitz!
Looking into some first-round data, Fitzpatrick was second in the field Tee-To-Green and I still very much like his chances of being in the mix the whole way.
I do wish I had considered Harris English a bit more before the tournament. He rated out highly for me, but the lack of quality results in Opens ultimately kept me away. He’s also in that group at -4 and was positive in all the stat categories. I’m going to let more of the tournament play out before running to add any outrights or finishing position bets, but I wouldn’t hate if you wanted to consider an outright or top 10 on English. Remember, he might not have that many great finishes at the British, but he has had great results in other majors, including a T2 at the PGA this year and a T12 at the Masters.
If you liked Rory or Rahm pre-tournament, outright odds are about the same on them and I think you’re just fine jumping in on them now if you’re dealing with any FOMO.
One long shot to consider: Sam Burns. He was a disaster last week in Scotland for me when I bet him, but he’s really started to find his game these past few months and he’ll always be one of the best putters on the planet. At 55-1… you could do worse.
The winds — as of now — look like they should be a tad more calm in tomorrow’s second round, but keep your eye on that. It’s always changing.
Good luck on all your bets!
Wes Reynolds
Day 1 of the 153rd Open Championship began at 6:35 am and concluded at 10:11 pm at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. The Open Championship is considered the game’s biggest international event and at the conclusion of Thursday, five players from four different continents share the first-round lead including one of my pre-tournament selections: England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (11/1 current price), USA’s Harris English (20/1), South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout (30/1), China’s Haotong Li (50/1), and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen (80/1) all shot 4-under rounds of 67.
Scottie Scheffler (+225; 3-under) and Rory McIlroy (8/1; 1-under) remain the top two choices on the odds board despite Scheffler only hitting 3 of 14 fairways (21.4%) and McIlroy tying for worst in the field at 2 of 14 (14.3%). One of the beautiful or brutal, depending on your perspective or who you have bet, things about links golf is that there is more than one way to score on these courses. Scheffler did it by doing what he always does, which is to have the best iron play in the field (gaining +4.16 strokes on Approach; # 1 in the field). McIlroy got in red figures by saving tough pars going 6 for 6 in Scrambling to lead the field.
Right behind Scheffler ranking second for Strokes Gained: Approach and leading the field for Greens In Regulation (15/18, 83.3%) was pre-tournament third choice and one of my pre-tournament bets Jon Rahm (11/1; 1-under).
Tyrrell Hatton (12/1; 3-under), another one of my pre-tournament wagers, is near the top of the “best player to never win a major” list and carded a solid first round with elite ball striking (off the tee + approach) ranking third in the field.
Weather is a key factor most years at The Open and there was intermittent rain throughout the day and there will be throughout the weekend with overcast skies and high temperatures in the high 60s. Typically, the mornings will have the easier conditions, but that did not materialize on Thursday as the morning group players had an average score of 73.68 (+2.68 over par) while the afternoon group players averaged 72.40 (+1.40 over par).
I will not be adding anyone to the card until after Round 2 has concluded, but the important stats remain Strokes Gained: Approach, Scrambling, and Bogey Avoidance. You can find those season long numbers in my initial championship preview article here.
Nevertheless, a couple of Round 2 matchups do interest me:
Tommy Fleetwood +125 over Rory McIlroy
Fleetwood is currently right on the number for the cut at +2. His ball striking was poor on Day 1, but he was the runner-up here at Royal Portrush here in 2019 and did putt well in the opening round. Meanwhile, Rory is still very much a factor but his accuracy off the tee is certainly a concern.
Tom McKibbin -130 over Cameron Smith
Perhaps McKibbin was nervous being in the first group off the tee today considering he is a local and a member of Royal Portrush. He had a rough start and a bit of a rough finish to get in at 1-over 72. However, he did make three birdies and an eagle in the middle portion of the round. Smith ranked 147th out of 156 for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee and the 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year has missed all three cuts in the majors this season.
