The 30-year-old finished T8 at the PGA, and T9 at the US Open. Oh, and one other thing: McIlroy has home-course advantage this week, as he holds the course record at Royal Portrush \u2013 a 61 he shot in the 2005 North of Ireland Amateur at the young age of 16.<\/p>\n
\nWhenever I think about Royal Portrush and about links golf and my development, I always think about that round of golf,” McIlroy told TheOpen.com. “There are not many golf rounds where I remember every shot, but for that round I do.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The R&A will setup the course much harder than the one McIlroy played 14 years ago. The over\/under on the low round of the week is at 64 (both -110). As for the winning score, the over on 272.5 is at even money, and under -120. That number comes to 68.125 strokes a round for the Claret Jug winner.<\/p>\n
Other Contenders<\/b><\/h2>\n
“The confidence I had, and the cockiness I had at 16, sometimes I think I have to rediscover that a little bit,” McIlroy added. Bettors feel confident he’s the man to beat this week.<\/p>\n
He’s favored in numerous one-on-one matchups including versus DJ (-170), Justin Rose (-190), Koepka (-155), Rahm (-180), and Woods (-200).<\/p>\n
\n
With a ton of liability on McIlroy, there are some more attractive lines on other strong favorites, as oddsmakers look to reduce their potential exposure should McIlroy indeed win.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Francesco Molinari \u2013 the defending Open champ \u2013 has missed just one cut in 12 PGA Tour starts this year. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, finished third at the WGC-Dell Match Play, and T5 at the Masters<\/a>. The Italian is at 25\/1 to defend his Claret Jug.<\/p>\nMcIlroy has the lowest score in relation to par at The Open since 2014 at -32. But despite his well-publicized struggles, Jordan Spieth is next at -30. However, because Spieth hasn’t won since the 2017 Open, he’s at a distant 40\/1.<\/p>\n
40\/1 is also where Louis Oosthuizen is at, and with the SuperBook revealing that the South African and winner of the 2010 Open has generated the fourth most money, a victory by him would also presumably be a blow to the casino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rory McIlroy is the consensus betting favorite for this week’s Open Championship being played in his native home country of Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush Golf Club. The Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas says McIlroy has attracted the most money and printed the most ticket slips. As a result, the casino has his odds short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":109487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Rory McIlroy Consensus Open Favorite in Native Northern Ireland<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n