Brooks Koepka. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

Best bets for the Open Championship (that aren't Rory McIlroy)

The Open Championship heads to Royal Liverpool Golf Club this week for the first time since 2014. Rory McIlroy, who won that tournament nine years ago and is coming off a Scottish Open victory last week, is unsurprisingly the betting favorite at most sportsbooks. I'm not targeting McIlroy with any of my best bets, though.

Here are my four favorite non-outright bets for this weekend's Open Championship.

Brooks Koepka top-20 finish (+110 FanDuel)

This is a disrespectful, incorrect price. Plain and simple.

Brooks Koepka has teed it up 10 times since April. He's won twice and hasn't finished worse than T17 in that stretch. Most of those events are LIV Golf tournaments with 48 players, sure, but the form is clearly there. If you take out his 2022 season (when he couldn't bend down to read a putt due to injuries), Koepka has finished inside the top 20 19 times in his last 22 major championship starts. This is a gift from FanDuel. Don't overthink it.

Denny McCarthy top-40 finish (+120 FD)

When you think about the hottest golfers in the world right now, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler immediately come to mind. Denny McCarthy may not have the raw talent those two possess, but he deserves to be on the same list.

Over his last 12 starts, McCarthy has recorded 10 top-30 finishes and four top-10s. The biggest reason for his recent hot streak has been the putter, as the American has gained a ridiculous 25 strokes on the greens over his last four events. McCarthy's floor is incredibly high right now because of how well he's putting, so a top-40 finish should be a breeze.

Tom Kim > Cameron Young (+100 DraftKings)

I love Tom Kim's game for links golf. The talented South Korean gets in trouble on longer golf courses that emphasize driving distance, but that isn't the case this week. With out-of-bounds areas and deep pot bunkers lurking on every tee shot at Royal Liverpool, it will be much more important to hit fairways than bomb it 350. That's good news for Kim, but not for Cameron Young.

Young ranks 123rd on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy this season. He nearly won The Open at St. Andrews last year because he was able to bomb his driver without worrying about trouble off the fairway, but Royal Liverpool will play much differently. I wouldn't be surprised if Young missed the cut this week.

Francesco Molinari top Italian (-115 FD)

There are only two Italian players in the Open Championship field this year: Francesco Molinari and Guido Migliozzi. Migliozzi has missed the cut in both of his two career Open starts, and he's finished better than 28th just once in his last seven events. Molinari hasn't been in good form of late, but he has three top-15 finishes and a win in his last four starts at The Open. Give me the veteran in this matchup.

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