Sungjae Im among three long shots worth betting ahead of the 2024 Open Championship

The 2024 Open Championship, the final major of the golf season, is set to get underway on Thursday, July 18 at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.

As usual, Scottie Scheffler is the clear favorite at +450 and is one of two golfers, along with Rory McIlroy (+750), with single-digit odds. Xander Schauffele (+1200), Bryson DeChambeau (+1400), Ludvig Aberg (+1400) and Collin Morikawa (+1400) are the only other golfers under +2000.

Played on a difficult links-style course in wind and (sometimes) rain, the British Open is always chaotic and full of surprises. Last year’s winner, Brian Harman, was +12500 going into the tournament and he’s not the only longshot to have hoisted the Claret Jug in recent memory. Shane Lowry was +8000 when he won in 2019 and Zach Johnson was the same price in 2015.

With that in mind, here are a couple of players who could outrun their odds at Royal Troon this week.

It’s been a turbulent season for Sungjae Im. The South Korean is known for his consistency, but he was anything but in the first half of 2024. Im was missing cuts and never found himself in contention, but things started to shift after he MC’d at Augusta. He’s finished 12th or better in seven of his last nine starts, though the two outliers were also major championships. Nonetheless, Im was regarded as one of the best players on the PGA Tour coming into 2024 and has six top-10 finishes in his last eight outings (including last week at the Scottish Open), so getting 75/1 is a really solid option.

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The fields at majors are so deep that you’re always going to find some incredible prices on players with winning upside and that is what we’re looking at here with Jason Day. The Aussie hasn’t set the world alight with his performances in 2024, but you can excuse pedestrian form on this caliber of player at this price. Day has been around the Claret Jug in his career and came very close with a runner-up finish in 2023.

This is simply a numbers play. We could be past the days where Dustin Johnson has what it takes to contend in this kind of field, but at this price it’s worth one last kick at the can. Plus, it’s not like his form on LIV has been abject, either.

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