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Open Championship dark horse picks: 5 sleepers who could win at St. Andrews

By Cody Williams

The 18th green is overseen by a near-empty grandstand during practice for The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 12, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
The 18th green is overseen by a near-empty grandstand during practice for The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 12, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Open Championship dark horse picks
Jordan Smith (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images) /

4. Jordan Smith (+9000)

Unless you were super dialed in for the Scottish Open or are an avid DP World Tour watcher, you might not be aware of Jordan Smith — but you should be. Coming off a T24 at the Scottish, a result that looks worse given that he shot a 74 on Sunday to trickle down the leaderboard a bit, Smith hasn’t finished outside of the Top 25 since March and has two Top 10 finishes over that span as well.

The biggest results to me, though, are back-to-back T24s at the Scottish and Irish Opens, which show that this guy is in form to play this style of golf. His number has already been dropping this week from north of +12500, so this isn’t just me identifying him as a live dark horse this week. He’s a sneaky play who is in great form and could show out this week at St. Andrews.

3. Thomas Detry (+12500)

Another player who we largely only see playing the DP World Tour, Thomas Detry is someone that seems like he’s being undervalued a great deal. He’s coming off of a T10 finish last week at the Scottish Open but has been showing out pretty well overall with four straight made cuts in a streak that included three Top 30 finishes over that span.

The one worry for Detry is that he’s not traditionally been the best putter but he performed decent in that capacity last week. However, he’s a great ball-striker and has some flashes of beautiful creativity with his wedges and around the greens. That’s the type of game needed to compete at the Old Course and he could be someone that comes seemingly out of nowhere to have a real chance at lifting the Claret Jug.

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