The Open Championship each season brings players back to the birthplace of golf, and it is a unique test even for the best in the game. Some adore links golf as it provides different options and rewards creativity in using the contours of the ground to work your ball around the course. Others can never figure it out.
One reason the career grand slam holds such a lofty place in the game’s history? To achieve that honor, one is required to master every style of golf course — and some simply cannot crack that code on links courses. That struggle was apparent last week during the Scottish Open, and with the 2025 Open Championship approaching this week at Royal Portrush, it will be interesting to see whether any golfers will have learned some lessons from the last few days.
Even former major champions struggle in such circumstances, so let’s take a closer look at five of them who have specifically struggled to tame Open Championship courses in the past. Some are early in their Open careers with plenty of time to learn the ways of the links, while others never quite figured it out and have been unable to replicate the success they have across the pond.
Take this into consideration when you are making your picks for The Open this week.
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
Scottie Scheffler (9/2): Let’s start with a big-time caveat: Scheffler’s “struggles” are only in relation to his dominance everywhere else. That said, Scheffler has made four starts in The Open, and while he’s never finished worse than T23, he also has a career-best finish of T7. It is the only major that he’s yet to finish in the top 5, and his main issue has been on the slower greens in the United Kingdom.
Scheffler has lost strokes to the field on the greens in each of the last three Opens, and if you expand it to include Scottish Opens as well, he’s lost strokes putting in his last six trips across the pond. The greens on links courses are different to those played stateside, and while Scheffler’s ball-striking travels all over the world, the putter can be his lone Achilles heel.
Again, compared to others on this list, Scheffler’s done just fine at the Open, but it does seem like the biggest hurdle left for him to clear in his pursuit of the all-time greats in the game.
Bryson DeChambeau (20-1): There’s a reason DeChambeau is not part of the top 3 on the odds list this week when he’s been a fixture alongside Scheffler and Rory McIlroy going into majors the rest of the year. DeChambeau’s record at The Open features just one top 10 in seven starts (T8 in 2022), three missed cuts (including 2024) and no other finishes better than T44.
It’s perhaps not a surprise that DeChambeau’s style of play hasn’t translated to the links. He is typically a high-ball hitter who has struggled at times in windy conditions. It’s rare for The Open to be contested without at least one or two days of strong winds, and DeChambeau has yet to master navigating the links in those conditions. On top of that, he’s lost strokes on the green in each of the last three years, as the slower greens and weather conditions have given him some problems.
Despite those past struggles, DeChambeau is coming into the 2025 edition of The Open with a belief that this will be the year he cracks the code. He notes he feels better about his swing and equipment this time around, while also getting more comfortable on the greens.
“The times I’ve been over here, for some reason, my golf swing hasn’t been where it needs to be,” DeChambeau said Tuesday. “Right now, it feels as good as it’s ever been. Hitting it far, hitting it straight as I can and learning how to putt better on these greens in windy conditions and rain and all that. It’s just figuring it out. It’s just going to take time and something that I never really experienced growing up in California.”
We’ll see if that’s the case, but to this point, his preferred style of play and links golf have not meshed well. The challenge for DeChambeau is recognizing where he has to adapt and change his approach because the course won’t bend.
Justin Thomas (50-1): Thomas has never finished in the top 10 at an Open with his best finish a T11 in 2019 at Royal Portrush. He has three missed cuts and no other finishes inside the top 30. His struggles at The Open (and Scottish Open) are surprising given he has a style that would seemingly fit links golf.
Thomas is a shot-maker, known for changing trajectories and ball flights to work the ball with his irons, which is something that typically works well at places like these. However, for whatever reason, he’s never gotten his game to translate across the pond and hasn’t truly contended for a Claret Jug. Consistency from round to round has been an issue with last year being a notable example as he started strong and stood third after the first round but steadily faded back to T31 by the end of the week.
His past struggles at The Open are the main reason he’s back at 50-1 and not with his usual group in the 25-1 to 35-1 range. His challenge this week will be figuring out how to master the links for not just one round but all four.
Matt Fitzpatrick (55-1): Typically, The Open gives English, Scottish and Irish players a leg up on their American colleagues, but Fitzpatrick has not enjoyed that kind of advantage. He was low amateur in 2013 but has never finished better than T20 (2019) and has two missed cuts in his eight starts as a pro. Fitzpatrick has finished in the top 10 at every major except for The Open, and whether it’s pressure playing back at home or a game that’s not quite dialed for the links, he’s yet to find his best there.
Hideki Matsuyama (66-1): Another great ball-striker who hasn’t had the kind of success you’d expect at The Open, Matsuyama has actually gotten worse at The Open as his career has progressed. He finished T6 in his debut in 2013 and that remains his lone top 10 as he has three missed cuts and three other top 20s in what’s been a lackluster Open career compared to his history of contending at the other majors.
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