The Open Championship
Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Royal Portrush Golf Club - Par 71 - 7,381 yards
Field - 156 entrants
Purse - $17M
The Preview
An ascending American by the name of Chris Gotterup didn't let Rory McIlroy's footsteps bother him on the way to a massive Scottish Open victory this past Sunday at The Renaissance Club, which served as a links-golf primer for the 2025 season's final major as The Open Championship heads back to Northern Ireland's Royal Portrush for the first time since 2019 this week. Across the pond, we'll see undulating fairways and elevation changes from tee to green that will require precision both off the tee and with irons into these raised putting surfaces, which may be challenging to hold despite their slower pace on the Stimpmeter relative to what we might often experience stateside. Given the weather typically serves as a primary defense for this layout, par might become more difficult to protect throughout the final 54 holes if winds taper off after Thursday's opening round, as is currently forecast.
Recent Champions
2024 - Xander Schauffele (Royal Troon)
2023 - Brian Harman (Royal Liverpool)
2022 - Cameron Smith (St. Andrews)
2021 - Collin Morikawa (Royal St. George's)
2020 - None
2019 - Shane Lowry (Royal Portrush)
2018 - Francesco Molinari (Carnoustie)
2017 - Jordan Spieth (Royal Birkdale)
2016 - Henrik Stenson (Royal Troon)
2015 - Zach Johnson (St. Andrews)
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Tee-to-Green
Total Driving
GIR Percentage
Scrambling
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Scottie Scheffler - $45
The No. 1 player in the world struggled on the greens at The Renaissance Club en route to a "disappointing" T8 last week, but he paced the Scottish Open in SG: Tee-to-Green. Yahoo's $45 maximum salary remains much too low for Scheffler, so expect significant ownership once again.
Rory McIlroy - $45
McIlroy finally made improvements with his iron play throughout the final two rounds in Scotland this past weekend, and it guided him to a T2 finish for his second consecutive top-6 result dating back to the Travelers Championship. With a lively home crowd behind him, the Northern Irishman looks to avenge a missed cut here at Royal Portrush in 2019.
Xander Schauffele - $44
Yahoo's soft pricing makes it entirely feasible to build lineups with a Scheffler/McIlroy/Schauffele stack up top, and the latter is coming off a T8 at the Genesis Scottish Open where he led the field in SG: Approach. Schauffele obviously has enjoyed links-golf success in the past as the Open Championship's defending champ, finishing T26 or better in six of seven career appearances at this major.
Glue Guys
Shane Lowry - $37
The Irishman notched a dominant six-shot victory when Royal Portrush last hosted The Open Championship in 2019, and Lowry's driving accuracy plus SG: APP formula should still travel well. His main concern of late is a lousy short game since a missed cut at the PGA Championship, but he could contend for one of the loftier GIR percentages this week to mitigate those issues.
Tyrrell Hatton - $35
Hatton has placed top-20 in three of his last five trips to The Open, including a T6 here at Royal Portrush back in 2019. The Englishman tied for fourth at the U.S. Open last month, also ranking fourth among the field in SG: APP at Oakmont.
Joaquin Niemann - $31
Niemann's past struggles at The Open Championship are no secret, but at just $31, it's okay to take a GPP flier on the ceiling of LIV Golf's No. 1 player in their 2025 individual standings. He's first in total birdies, second in GIR percentage and second in driving distance on LIV this season.
Bargain Bin
Patrick Reed - $24
Reed followed up a top-25 effort at the U.S. Open with his maiden LIV Golf victory two weeks later in Dallas, before adding another top-10 this past week at Valderrama. If Captain America wants to make a case for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, he needs to post a robust performance at Royal Portrush.
Jon Rahm - $22
This is just a laughable salary miscalculation on a top-3 player in the field, so expect Rahm's inflated ownership to rival that of Scheffler's. The Spaniard earned runner-up honors last week on native soil, and he placed top-15 in each of the first three major championships this year.
Matt Fitzpatrick - $20
Another pricing mistake, Fitzpatrick is playing well enough to belong closer to the upper-$30s range than the low-$20s, nevertheless all the way down here at the $20 minimum. The Englishman just tied for fourth in Scotland where he excelled on and around the greens at The Renaissance Club, and Fitzpatrick ranks sixth in Bogey Avoidance over his last 12 rounds, resulting in three straight top-20s.
Looking for the best golf picks on Yahoo? Find the top Yahoo PGA DFS picks and value plays for every tournament from RotoWire golf expert Bryce Danielson.
