Open Championship: Tommy Fleetwood tops odds board after opening round at Royal Liverpool

Fewer than 20% of the Open Championship field of 156 golfers shot under par during Thursday’s opening round at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo are tied atop the leaderboard at five-under par with Tommy Fleetwood, a United Kingdom native who grew up 20 miles north of Hoylake.

Fleetwood, 32, played in The Open in 2014, the last time it was held at Royal Liverpool, and missed the cut. This time was much different.

The 21st-ranked player in the world is now atop the odds board at BetMGM, having gone from 22/1 prior to Thursday’s opening round to +600 (6/1).

Here’s a look at some of the updated odds for the 2023 Open Championship, which resumes early Friday morning.

Odds are courtesy of BetMGM, current at the time of publishing and subject to change.

That’s 17 players with odds of 50/1 or shorter.

Where’s Lamprecht, one of the first-round leaders? All the way down at 80/1.

He’s not the only one to put together a solid first round and still have really long odds. Stewart Cink, a 50-year-old American fan favorite, shot three-under 68 Thursday and is still 125/1 to win the Open, a tournament he won in 2009 at Turnberry.

» READ MORE: Open Championship picks: Back these long shots at Royal Liverpool this week

Harman and Grillo also put together great first rounds and are still relative long shots at 20/1 or greater to win Sunday. Harman is one of 11 Americans inside the Top 20 after Thursday’s first round.

For now, they’re all chasing the local boy, Fleetwood, and a few long shots at the top.