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

2. Harold Varner III (+10000)

Betting an outright on Harold Varner III is not the most comforting proposition because, you know, a golfer has to play well on Sundays while in contention to win, particularly at a major championship. That’s been a bugaboo for HV3 throughout the majority of his career.

With that said, the way the course figures to play this week with wide fairways that are rolling out like crazy should play into what Varner does well off the tee. As long as he’s not missing hugely, he should be able to take advantage of the Old Course. Moreover, we’ve seen him really dial it in with his short game at times this season. He’s playing too well in 2022 for him to be at +10000 right now, so I think a little sprinkle on him as a dark horse to win would make a lot of sense.

1. Bryson DeChambeau (+7500)

I’m not going to lie to you and say that Bryson DeChambeau has shown a ton that gives me confidence in him. He did finish T10 at the LIV Portland event but, prior to that, he was T56 at the US Open and had four straight missed cuts that were built around a wrist injury on the PGA Tour before he defected.

Yet, I can’t look away from his length. When DeChambeau won the US Open at Winged Foot, it was his unprecedented length off the tee that gave him that advantage along with solid wedge play. That could be the recipe for St. Andrews this week as well.

This course is dried out and rolling like crazy, which could mean DeChambeau is simply making the course stupidly short for a player with his physical tools and how he plays the game. This largely depends on the wedges and putter, as it often does for Bryson, but the formula is there for him to really overpower this course and +7500 doesn’t reflect that. The value makes him a live sleeper.

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