BetspertsGolf
a month ago
Bryson DeChambeau arrives at the 2026 Open Championship with a problem he has never had before. He has missed the cut at all three majors this year, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and the U.S. Open, and Royal Birkdale is his last chance to keep 2026 from becoming a clean sweep of major weekends spent at home. Most books have him in the +2500 to +4000 range to win, a soft number for a two-time U.S. Open champion, and it tells you exactly how the market feels about his links game right now.
The Open runs Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. For DeChambeau, it is a return to where his Open story started. He made his championship debut here in 2017, arriving straight off a John Deere Classic win, and he missed the cut. Nine years and two U.S. Open titles later, the fit still is not obvious.
DeChambeau has missed the cut in three straight majors for the first time in his career, and the misses were not close calls. He went out early at Augusta after a triple bogey on the 72nd hole of his second round, shot seven over at Aronimink for the PGA, and never got going at Shinnecock, where two early double bogeys on Friday buried him. Add it up and he played the year’s first three majors in a combined 18 over par.

That is a stunning stretch for a player who spent the spring winning and contending on LIV Golf. Power still travels between formats. Precision under major setup pressure has not, at least not this season, and the game’s biggest tests have exposed the parts of his profile that the wider LIV fields do not.
The Open has always looked like the hardest major fit for DeChambeau, and the results mostly agree. His lone top-10 in the championship is a tie for eighth at St Andrews in 2022, a week when the Old Course played firm and fast and let his distance work as an asset rather than a liability. Outside of that, his Open history is a run of missed cuts and finishes well down the board.
Royal Birkdale is a different question than a wide-open St Andrews. It is a par 70 threaded through tall dunes, lengthened by a recent redesign, and it is generally regarded as one of the fairest links on the rota, rewarding good ball-striking rather than punishing every miss. In theory that helps a bomber. In practice, the Open still asks for a controlled ball flight, sharp wedges, and the patience to grind out pars when the wind comes off the Irish Sea, and those have not been the strengths carrying DeChambeau lately.

The price is the whole story. At +2500 to +4000 depending on the book, DeChambeau is no longer priced as a genuine contender, and the three straight missed major cuts are the reason. That leaves bettors with two honest ways to play him, and neither is a confident outright ticket.
The contrarian case is simple. He is one of the biggest names in the sport, he is a proven major closer with two U.S. Opens, and a firm, benign Birkdale week could let the driver do damage before the field even reaches the greens. If you believe the talent outweighs the recent form, a small outright or a top-20 flier is where the value sits.
The fade case is easier to defend. A player who cannot get to the weekend at majors is not someone you want anchoring a DFS lineup or a top-10 bet, and make-the-cut markets may be the sharper way to bet him at all, in either direction. For most models this week, DeChambeau is a name to build around only if you specifically project a low-wind, high-scoring setup that flatters length over control.
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Yes. DeChambeau is in the Royal Birkdale field through his standing as a recent major champion and his world ranking, one of a group of LIV Golf players exempt into the year’s final major. His missed cuts elsewhere in 2026 do not affect his Open exemption.
No. His two major titles are both U.S. Opens, at Winged Foot in 2020 and Pinehurst in 2024, where he edged Rory McIlroy down the stretch. The Open remains the major where he has contended the least, with a tie for eighth at St Andrews in 2022 as his best result.
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