Koepka & Fleetwood Co-Favorites to Win Open Championship After 2 Rounds Despite Trailing Holmes, Lowry

• Local hero Shane Lowry & J.B. Holmes lead the 148th Open Championship after 36 holes at -8
• Brooks Koepka (-5) & Tommy Fleetwood (-7) are the new betting favorites to win the Claret Jug
• See the updated live odds entering Saturday at the 2019 British Open

The first two rounds of the Open Championship from Royal Portrush are in the books with such luminaries as pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlroy (+2), Tiger Woods (+6), and Phil Mickelson (+8) all missing the cut.

Irishman Shane Lowry and first-round leader J.B. Holmes are tied for top spot through 36 holes at -8.

But heading into moving day (Saturday, July 20), it’s a bunched-up leaderboard with 17 players within four shots of the lead. Among those lurking are major champions Justin Rose (-6), Brooks Koepka (-5), Jordan Spieth (-5), and Dustin Johnson (-3). The table below displays the updated odds ahead of Round 3.

Live 2019 Open Championship Odds After Round 2

*Odds taken July 19th; follow the link in the table above to see all options

Brooks Koepka still the Man to Beat Despite Trailing by 3 Shots

While Brooks Koepka shockingly doesn’t hold onto the lead heading into the weekend of a major championship, he’s proven time and time again that he’s a force to be reckoned with and he certainly justifies a wager for the final 36 holes.

Oh so we all love Brooks Koepka because he plays well only four times per year and get upset when Eli Manning does that.

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) July 18, 2019

Through two rounds, you could argue that Koepka has underperformed given that he was basically right on par with the field average in fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putting in Round 2, and yet he’s still three strokes behind two unproven players at the major championship level. Continue to bet Koepka with confidence.

This is why I really love @BKoepka in press conferences pic.twitter.com/Ovp3b3XjW7

— Bob Weeks (@BobWeeksTSN) July 19, 2019

Don’t sleep on Jon Rahm Heading Into Moving Day

We were bullish on Rahm’s Open Championship odds entering the tournament. At this point, there’s no reason to deviate from that as he finds himself just four shots off the lead of two golfers (Lowry, Holmes), who combined have just three top-5 major finishes in their careers.

Rahm hit all but two greens in regulation on Friday and shook off a potentially disastrous double bogey on the par-5 2nd hole to post a solid -1 in Round 2. Rahm is definitely worth a look at +1400.

Best Live Value Picks at 2019 Open Championship

1. Jordan Spieth (+1600): The 2017 Open Champ is just three shots back, putting really well through two days. Always finds himself in the mix in this event, as he was also the 54 hole co-leader at the Open last year.
2. J.B. Holmes (+1600): Not often is the 36-hole co-leader sporting odds this long. He’s been hitting a ton of fairways and greens, and putting at the field average this week. If his (at times) balky putter can stay even lukewarm, he could snag this championship.
3. Tony Finau (+4000): Four behind the co-leaders, I’m not entirely sure why his odds are this long. Sure, he has just one PGA Tour win to his credit, but he’s often close in the big events with four top-10’s in his last seven majors.