There are four top contenders being highlighted above the rest to win the 2016 British Open, but this is a tournament that favors dark horse candidates more often than not.
Heading into this weekend’s action at Royal Troon, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are being viewed as the guys to beat, based on how oddsmakers at GolfOdds.com see the upcoming action. This is completely reasonable, but it doesn’t mean one of these four world superstars will walk away with the Claret Jug on Sunday.
Looking back at the history of this tournament, longshots and dark horses have won plenty in recent years.
Going back to the turn of the century, big-name stars have won the British Open just seven times (Tiger Woods three times, Ernie Els twice, Phil Mickelson and McIlroy once). On the flip side, we’ve seen nine underdogs win the British Open.
So which dark horse candidates have the best shot to win the 2016 British Open?