The 2021 Open Championship will begin on Thursday, with Royal St. George's Golf Club hosting the oldest major in golf for a 15th time. In typical British Open fashion, plenty of wind could occur with the course situated on the southeast coast of England and the 2021 Open Championship forecast is calling for a steady 15 mph breeze throughout the week. That would appear to be a disadvantage for American golfers, who have won the Open Championship just four times since 2007 and are typically unaccustomed to links courses.
Jon Rahm grew up in Spain but moved to America to play college golf at Arizona State. He's listed as the 7-1 favorite in the 2021 Open Championship odds from William Hill Sportsbook. Other 2021 Open Championship contenders include Bryson DeChambeau (14-1), Dustin Johnson (15-1), Rory McIlroy (16-1), Brooks Koepka (16-1) and Xander Schauffele (16-1). Before you lock in any 2021 Open Championship picks or make any golf predictions, you need to see who red-hot golf insider Sal Johnson is backing.
A media legend and consummate golf insider, Johnson knows what it takes to win on the tough links courses across the pond. Before the 2018 British Open, the expert was locked in on Francesco Molinari as a top contender.
"Look at what he has done in the last five weeks," Johnson told SportsLine before that event, "this guy is on fire and that could include and spill over to this week."
The result? Molinari went out and shot 65 in the third round and posted a bogey-free 69 on Sunday to win his first major championship by two strokes. He is the only Italian player to win a major title.
In 2017, he said of Jordan Spieth, "if he putts well, watch out for him." The Texan did just that, shooting a pair of 65s to take his first British Open and his third major overall.
Johnson also has a tremendous feel for when momentum will propel a player to victory. Before the U.S. Open, he pegged Rahm among his best bets to win and touted Louis Oosthuizen at 45-1 as his top long-shot candidate. Rahm and Oosthuizen battled to the finish, with Rahm surging to his first major title.
Johnson has been on fire all season. Before the Memorial, he had Rahm and Collin Morikawa listed among his best bets. Rahm had a six-stroke lead after the third round but had to withdraw, and Morikawa dueled to the end with Patrick Cantlay before falling in a playoff. Anyone who has followed Johnson's advice has cashed in huge.
Now Johnson, the first producer of "Inside the PGA Tour," a longtime ABC Sports golf producer who worked with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman, and the founder of the world's top golf stats database, has released his highly confident Open Championship 2021 picks, and they will surprise you. You can only get those picks and Johnson's 2021 Open Championship expert predictions and analysis at SportsLine.
Top 2021 Open Championship expert picks
Shockingly, the golf expert is fading DeChambeau, who could find himself in a lot of trouble at Royal St. George's. He knows the big-hitter is capable of anything, but the rough will be thick and wreak havoc on his wedge game. The 27-year-old leads the tour in driving distance (321.9), but is 189th in accuracy, hitting the fairway less than 54 percent of the time. DeChambeau overcame the rough at Winged Foot to win the U.S. Open in September, but Johnson isn't willing to bet on him at the Open 2021.
On the other hand, Johnson knows Rahm will be motivated after a strong seventh-place finish at last week's Scottish Open. The Spaniard lost his No. 1 ranking despite that result, and his frustration on the greens in North Berwick was evident after he missed critical putts to fade on Sunday. He should come out with laser focus as he seeks his second straight major, and his stats are tough to match. He has 11 top-10 finishes in 18 events and leads the tour in scoring average (69.602) and total driving and is fifth in greens in regulation (71.04 percent).
Johnson moved back up to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking last week and should be able to draw on a strong experience at Royal St. George's Golf Club in the 2011 Open Championship. Johnson finished tied for second that week and has managed to put together three top-10s at the British Open. Unfortunately, Johnson hasn't been playing his best golf, finishing inside the top 10 just once and missing two cuts in his last 10 starts. He hasn't finished inside the top 50 in his last three Open Championship starts.
How to make 2021 Open Championship predictions
Johnson is backing a major long shot who comes in around 50-1 odds for the 2021 Open Championship. This veteran is trending in the right direction and has found success at the Open Championship before. He could pull off a stunning victory this week, and anyone who backs this underdog could cash in huge. He's only offering these picks at SportsLine.
Who wins the Open Championship 2021? Where do Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson finish? And which huge long-shot is a must-back? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sal Johnson's full leaderboard, picks and analysis for the 2021 British Open, all from the insider who knows the challenges the players face on Britain's links courses.
2021 Open Championship odds, field, contenders
Jon Rahm 7-1
Bryson DeChambeau 14-1
Dustin Johnson 15-1
Rory McIlroy 16-1
Xander Schauffele 16-1
Brooks Koepka 16-1
Justin Thomas 20-1
Jordan Spieth 20-1
Louis Oosthuizen 30-1
Shane Lowry 33-1
Tommy Fleetwood 33-1
Patrick Cantlay 33-1
Matthew Fitzpatrick 33-1
Patrick Reed 33-1
Tyrrell Hatton 33-1
Paul Casey 35-1
Lee Westwood 35-1
Viktor Hovland 40-1
Scottie Scheffler 40-1
Webb Simpson 40-1
Collin Morikawa 40-1
Tony Finau 45-1
Justin Rose 45-1
Daniel Berger 50-1
Cameron Smith 55-1
Sergio Garcia 55-1
Marc Leishman 55-1
Branden Grace 55-1
Joaquin Niemann 60-1
Ian Poulter 60-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 66-1
Adam Scott 66-1
Abraham Ancer 66-1
Garrick Higgo 66-1
Will Zalatoris 66-1
Rickie Fowler 66-1
Robert MacIntyre 66-1
Lucas Herbert 70-1
Phil Mickelson 70-1
Harris English 70-1
Jason Day 70-1
Ryan Palmer 90-1
Jason Kokrak 90-1
Sam Burns 100-1
Alex Noren 100-1
Corey Conners 100-1
Thomas Detry 100-1
Matt Wallace 100-1
Francesco Molinari 100-1
Martin Kaymer 100-1
Brian Harman 125-1
Victor Perez 125-1
Guido Migliozzi 125-1
Danny Willett 125-1
Min Woo Lee 125-1
Stewart Cink 125-1
Max Homa 125-1
Gary Woodland 125-1
Bernd Wiesberger 125-1
Russell Henley 125-1
Padraig Harrington 125-1
Billy Horschel 150-1
Matt Kuchar 150-1
Charley Hoffman 150-1
Harold Varner 150-1
Keegan Bradley 150-1
Kevin Streelman 150-1
Kevin Kisner 150-1
Richard Bland 150-1
Andy Sullivan 175-1
Emiliano Grillo 200-1
Jason Scrivener 200-1
Brendon Todd 200-1
Carlos Ortiz 200-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 200-1
Lucas Glover 200-1
Henrik Stenson 200-1
Cameron Tringale 200-1
Sebastian Munoz 200-1
Antoine Rozner 200-1
Erik Van Rooyen 200-1
Matt Jones 200-1
John Catlin 200-1
Chez Reavie 250-1
Aaron Rai 250-1
Matthias Schwab 250-1
Troy Merritt 250-1
Johannes Veerman 250-1
Brandt Snedeker 250-1
Dean Burmester 250-1
Joel Dahmen 250-1
Ryan Fox 250-1
Dylan Frittelli 250-1
Justin Harding 250-1
Chris Kirk 250-1
Mackenzie Hughes 300-1
Kurt Kitayama 300-1
Brendan Steele 300-1
Takumi Kanaya 300-1
Adam Hadwin 300-1
Lanto Griffin 300-1
Joost Luiten 300-1
Talor Gooch 300-1
Jack Senior 300-1
Romain Langasque 300-1
C.T. Pan 350-1
Jazz Janewattananond 350-1
Marcus Armitage 350-1
Mike Lorenzo-Vera 400-1
Marcel Siem 400-1
Daniel Van Tonder 400-1
Jimmy Walker 400-1
Rikard Karlberg 400-1
Paul Waring 400-1
Benjamin Hebert 400-1
Jorge Campillo 400-1
Keith Mitchell 400-1
Shaun Norris 400-1
Adam Long 400-1
Hao-Tong Li 400-1
Rikuya Hoshino 400-1
Byeong-Hun An 400-1
Marcus Kinhult 400-1
Chan Kim 500-1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 500-1
Marcel Schneider 500-1
Richard Mansell 500-1
Yuki Inamori 500-1
J.C. Ritchie 500-1
Ernie Els 500-1
Cole Hammer 500-1
Darren Clarke 500-1
Yuxin Lin 500-1
Ryosuke Kinoshita 500-1
Matthias Schmid 500-1
Daniel Hillier 750-1
Brad Kennedy 750-1
Ryutaro Nagano 750-1
Poom Saksansin 750-1
Jaco Ahlers 750-1
Christoffer Bring 1000-1
Richard T. Lee 1000-1
Nicholas Poppleton 1000-1
Deyen Lawson 1000-1
Jonathan Thomson 1000-1
Sam Bairstow 1000-1
Aaron Pike 1000-1
Laird Shepherd 1000-1
Ben Hutchinson 1000-1
Joe Long 1500-1
Sam Forgan 1500-1
Ricardo Celia 1500-1
Abel Gallegos 1500-1
Daniel Croft 2000-1
Connor Wordsdall 2000-1Todd Hamilton 2000-1