The Open Championship First-Round Leader Betting Tips And Props

The Open Championship gets under way at Royal Portrush on Thursday, but which golfer will be leading after the opening round?

The Panel have already given their thoughts on potential winners of the world’s greatest major and now it’s time to examine who could get off to a hot start on the Antrim coastline.

In addition to three Open Championship first-round leader tips, The Panel have cast their eyes over the best betting sites to check out some of the prop markets for the four days in Northern Ireland, focusing on top 20/30 selections and players by region.

For now, the team have picked out three players that can hopefully burst out of the blocks on the Dunluce Links on which you can read our analysis of the toughest and easiest holes.

Weather-wise, the wind ranges between 12-14mph for most of the day, while the rain is more likely to fall between late morning and mid afternoon, with thundery showers expected in the evening. 

With that in mind, there does not appear to be an obvious bias and the greens should be more receptive than they were at the Scottish Open where dry weather and wind caused a few problems for the field.

Open Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Lowry Can Land Spoils Again

Shane Lowry heads back to the scene of his greatest triumph from six years ago when he won The Open and then partied in style for a week.

The Irishman is 30/1 to repeat his 2019 triumph, but The Panel prefer bigger odds of 40/1 for him to be leading at the end of Thursday.

Lowry was second after the first round at Royal Portrush and at last year’s Open at Royal Troon, so he has made hot starts in the past at this major.

Additionally, the world number 18 has been inside the top 10 in three of his last six starts on the PGA Tour (fifth at the Canadian Open, fourth at the Memorial and seventh at the Truist Championship) which makes encouraging reading ahead of Thursday’s opening round.

Lowry has been drawn alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and 2021 champion Collin Morikawa, but the group has an earlyish tee-off time when conditions should be dry for a while at least.

The level of expectation is likely to be high, but Lowry is the sort of player who takes everything in his stride and kicks off this week’s Open Championship first-round betting tips.

Open Championship First-Round Leader Tip 1: Shane Lowry (Each-Way) - 40/1 With Unibet (Seven Places)

Open Championship First-Round Leader Tips 2025:

• Shane Lowry (Each-Way) - 40/1 With Unibet (Seven Places)
• Marco Penge (Each-Way) - 100/1 With Coral (Five Places)
• Mackenzie Hughes (Each-Way) - 160/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)
• Cameron Young Top 20 - 7/2 With SpreadEx
• Dean Burmester Top 30 - 7/2 With Virgin Bet
• Padraig Harrington Top Senior - 5/2 With Bet365
• Harry Hall Top Debutant - 8/1 With Betfred 
• An Byeong-hun Top Asian - 8/1 With BoyleSports
• Mackenzie Hughes Top Canadian - 11/2 With Ladbrokes

(Odds correct at 5pm on July 15, 2025)

Open Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Pick Penge For Lightning Start

Experience tells us that it’s not always well-known players that sit top of the leaderboards after the first round of majors as Daniel Brown proved at last year’s Open.

Emiliano Grillo shared the first-round lead with Tommy Fleetwood and amateur Christo Lamprecht in 2023 and 12 months earlier it was Cameron Young that led the way.

With that in mind, The Panel have picked out a couple of players at triple-figure prices, starting with Englishman Marco Penge.

The 27-year-old from Horsham in West Sussex could not have asked for a better build-up to The Open, having finished runner-up alongside Rory McIlroy at the Scottish Open where he was fifth after day one.

Penge has made other fast starts in recent weeks; joint leader at the BMW International Open, fourth at the Soudal Open and 20th at the USPGA Championship.

That is a decent run by Penge, who may have an advantage in teeing off in the third group and stands out at 100/1 on golf betting sites as the next of The Panel’s Open first-round leader tips.

Open Championship First-Round Leader Tip 2: Marco Penge (Each-Way) - 100/1 With Coral (Five Places)

Open Championship First-Round Leader Predictions: Tasty Start For Big Mac

Mackenzie Hughes may not be a household name but his best major performances have come at The Open.

In two of his last three appearances, the Canadian finished sixth at Royal St George’s (2021) and 16th at Royal Troon last year - and was fourth after the opening round on both occasions.

Even though he missed the cut at The Renaissance Club last week, he still opened with a two-under-par 68, so he has the form for fast starts on links courses.

Elsewhere, he shared the lead after day one of the recent Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA Tour, so there is everything to like about his prospects at 160/1 with Bet365.

Open Championship Prediction 3: Mackenzie Hughes (Each-Way) - 160/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)

(Odds correct at 5pm on July 15, 2025)

Open Championship Top 20 Tips: Young Gunning For Glory

Cameron Young can be backed at 100/1 to top the first-round leaderboard again, but instead The Panel are on board the American nabbing one of the top 20 spots.

Despite being winless on the PGA Tour, Young has a spectacular major record which has yielded seven top-10 finishes in his last 15 appearances.

Runner-up at St Andrews in 2022, Young was eighth a year later at Hoylake and 12 months ago finished just outside the top 30 at Royal Troon.

Young is 8/1 for another top 10 and 2/1 for the top 30, but The Panel are settling for the middle ground for a top-20 finish at 7/2 with SpreadEx.

Fourth at the recent Canadian and US Opens, Young has not missed a cut since the Masters, so his form remains solid.

Open Championship Top 20 Prediction: Cameron Young - 7/2 With SpreadEx

Open Championship Top 30 Betting Tips: Bank On Burmester

Dean Burmester has enjoyed some impressive performance at The Open and he also looks a livewire at 7/2 with betting apps for a top-30 finish this week.

Now in his third year on the LIV Golf Tour, the South African has finished no lower than 40th in all three of his Open appearances, finishing inside the top 20 at Troon and 11th at the Old Course two years earlier.

Burmester had never finished worse than 29th on this season’s LIV campaign until last week’s trip to Andalucia which The Panel are happy to ignore as an aberration from an otherwise solid year on the breakaway tour.

Open Championship Top 30 Prediction: Dean Burmester Top 30 - 7/2 With Virgin Bet

Open Championship Top Senior Tips: Harrington Looks Hot

Two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington can emerge as Top Senior at 5/2 this week.

A links specialist, Harrington recently won the US Senior Open by a shot from Stewart Cink, who won The Open Championship in 2009, the year after the Irishman made it back-to-back victories.

Cink (3/1) and 2013 champion Phil Mickelson (16/5) seem to be the main challengers to Harrington, who shot four solid rounds at last week’s Scottish Open .

Open Championship Top Senior Tip: Padraig Harrington - 5/2 With Bet365

Open Championship Top Debutant Tips: Harry Has It Hall

Harry Hall has taken to the PGA Tour like a duck to water and the early signs are that he likes links courses too.

The Cornishman finished 17th at The Renaissance Club just two months after posting a top-20 at the USPGA Championship in only his second major appearance.  

Inside the top 25 in his last seven PGA Tour events, which also includes the co-sanctioned Scottish Open, Hall catches the eye at 8/1 with Betfred to be Top Debutant at Royal Portrush.

Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup is the same price, but it would be remarkable if he were to be in the mix again so soon after his victory, while US Open champion JJ Spaun did not look comfortable on the Scottish links last week.

There are some interesting contenders further down the field like Taylor Pendrith (9/1), Andrew Novak (12/1) and Kevin Yu (14/1), but Hall gets the nod.

Open Championship Top Senior Tip: Harry Hall - 8/1 With Betfred

Open Championship Top Asian Tips: Open And Shut Case For An

Hideki Matsuyama heads the Top Asian field at 4/1, but with a poor Open record in recent years, The Panel prefer the chances of An Byeong-hun at double the odds.

Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim and Im Sung-jae are obvious threats, but An has finished 32-26-23-13 in his last four appearances at The Open Championship, so it’s clear he has momentum on his side.

The South Korean blew away the links cobwebs last week on the East Lothian coast where he started well, but faded from Friday.

He has been playing well in patches, but that may be all he needs to win at 8/1 in the Asian market.

Open Championship Top Asian Tip: An Byeong-hun - 8/1 With BoyleSports

Open Championship Top Canadian Tips: Hughes Can Edge Four-Horse Race

There are just four Canadians competing in Northern Ireland this week and although three of them are inside the top 35 in the world rankings, The Panel are with the outsider of the bunch at 11/2 with Ladbrokes.

Hughes' Open record has been excellent lately, save for one missed cut, and two of his three rivals can be dismissed, although not too lightly!

Nick Taylor has failed to make the weekend in both Open appearances and Pendrith is making his debut at this major.

Corey Conners is very consistent and has made the top 30 in three of his last four Open Championship outings which is why he is 7/4, but The Panel are siding with Hughes at a much bigger price. 

Open Championship Top Canadian Tip: Mackenzie Hughes - 11/2 With Ladbrokes