The final major of the 2025 season is upon us, and with a field of 156 descending on Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, the world’s best will meet, regardless of what tour they play on. The tournament offers another chance for LIV Golf to prove its legitimacy on the global stage, as PGA TOUR players have swept the first three majors of the season, with Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and J.J. Spaun coming out victorious so far.
The Open will have the largest contingent of LIV players of any of the four majors, as 19 permanent players are in this weekend’s field. Among them, Jon Rahm (+1200), Bryson DeChambeau (+2000), and Tyrrell Hatton (+3000) have the shortest odds, while Henrik Stenson and Jason Kokrak (both +70000) are the biggest long-shots.
DraftKings Sportsbook is offering an LIV Golf special for this weekend’s tournament, with +350 odds for any of the 19 players to top the leaderboard come Sunday night. The DraftKings Network is also offering a player parlay featuring Rahm and DeChambeau, with +523 odds for both players to finish in the top 10.
It’s not a terrible bet, although DeChambeau has only one career top-30 finish in seven Open Championship starts, by far his worst track record of any major. The green complexes are among the course’s biggest defenses, and despite being among LIV’s best both off the tee and around the greens, DeChambeau is a merely good, not great, putter. He also tends to launch the ball high, which could be a challenge in Northern Ireland’s punishing winds. Rahm, who finished second at last week’s LIV Golf Andalucia, is probably a safer bet, especially given that he’s finished in the top seven in three of the last four Opens and tied for 11th in 2019, the last time the championship was held at Royal Portrush. He is worse with his flat stick than DeChambeau is, but at least he tends to flight the ball low.
Plus, you can never rule out a player like Joaquin Niemann (+5000), who finally recorded the best major finish of his career with a tie for eighth at the PGA Championship. Though he’s cooled off in form, missing the cut at the US Open and finishing in a tie for 23rd in each of his last two LIV starts, he still leads the circuit’s overall standings after recording four wins in the first eight tournaments of the season. The supremely talented Chilean is one of the world’s best from tee to green and likes to keep the ball out of the wind. I’d also never bet against Brooks Koepka (+5500), though the five-time major winner is currently in danger of losing his guaranteed place in the league, sitting 28th in the standings.
