Seven years is a long time to wait. That’s how long it has been since a European golfer last won the Open Championship, the continent’s only major tournament. And if the latest betting odds ahead of the 2026 showpiece are anything to go by, that wait could be set to continue.
Scottie Scheffler arrives at the 2026 Open Championship as the clear favourite to defend the Claret Jug, with the latest odds from Lucky Rebel Sportsbook positioning him as the clear 5/1 frontrunner. And yet, for all the Texan’s dominance, he’s navigated three majors this year without adding to his collection. In fact, despite heading into each of the Masters, the US Open, and the PGA Championship as the overwhelming favourite to reign supreme, he never truly threatened to win at any of them.
That brings us to the Open, where he is the favourite once more. But Europe’s finest, namely Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, are both hot on his tail. So, what happened the last three times a European golfer reigned supreme here? Let’s take a look.
Shane Lowry — 2019, Royal Portrush
Every pre-tournament conversation heading into The Open’s return to Royal Portrush after sixty-eight years away centred on McIlroy, who had posted a legendary amateur score here as a sixteen-year-old. He was the favourite, while Brooks Koepka, winner of four of the previous ten majors, was also considered a contender. Shane Lowry arrived ranked 33rd in the world, carrying the ghost of his 2016 US Open collapse at Oakmont — four shots clear on Sunday, then nothing — and having missed four consecutive Open cuts.
Thursday shattered the script. McIlroy made a quadruple bogey at the first hole and staggered to a 79, while Lowry shot a quiet 67 to share the lead. By Friday, Wee Rory had missed the cut by one and left in tears, while Lowry added another 67, tied with the unheralded J. B. Holmes at the halfway mark. Then came Saturday — a bogey-free 63, the course record and the Open’s 54-hole scoring record, sending hundreds of thousands of spectators into delirium. Lowry entered Sunday four shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood.
The final day was brutal. Wind snapped umbrellas; barely anyone finished under par. Lowry made bogeys, but Fleetwood compounded his position with a double bogey at the fourteenth. Six shots clear walking up the last, Lowry removed his cap as the crowd sang him home — a closing 72, fifteen under par, the first champion over par on Sunday since 1996.
Francesco Molinari — 2018, Carnoustie
Defending champion Jordan Spieth dominated the pre-tournament narrative. Dustin Johnson was the world number one. Koepka had claimed three of the previous six majors. Francesco Molinari existed in the margins — ranked sixth and barely discussed, despite winning the BMW PGA at Wentworth in May and the Quicken Loans National three weeks earlier by eight strokes. Even par through thirty-six holes, tied 29th, the conversation had moved on.
Saturday changed everything. A bogey-free 65 vaulted the Italian into the final Sunday pairing alongside Tiger Woods, who had surged into contention with a blistering 66. Sunday produced one of the most chaotic leaderboards in Open history — Kevin Kisner doubled the second, Spieth found gorse at the sixth and made double bogey, and Xander Schauffele collapsed at the seventh.
Woods led briefly after birdieing the ninth, then doubled the eleventh and unravelled. Molinari opened with thirteen consecutive pars, birdied fourteen and eighteen, and was the only player in the field to complete Sunday without a bogey. His two-under 69 gave him eight under total, two clear, ensuring that he became the first Italian to ever win a major. His 2019 Masters collapse, surrendering a two-shot lead with consecutive doubles at twelve and fifteen as Tiger claimed a fifth green jacket, remains the great what-if.
Henrik Stenson — 2016, Royal Troon
By forty years old and after forty major starts without a win, Henrik Stenson occupied a peculiar category — universally admired as one of the finest ball-strikers of his generation, twice world number two, yet somehow unable to close. He’d come closest at Muirfield in 2013, finishing runner-up to the same man he now faced at Troon: Phil Mickelson. The American veteran had opened with an astonishing 63 — agonisingly missing a putt that would have been the first 62 in major history — to lead by three.
Stenson’s bogey-free 65 on Friday drew him to within one, and by the weekend, the two had pulled fourteen shots clear of the field. Saturday left Stenson one ahead. What followed has been ranked as one of the greatest performances in major championship history.
Mickelson birdied the first; Stenson birdied back immediately. Both eagled the fourth. They traded blows through thirteen holes before Stenson drained a 51-foot putt at the fifteenth. Mickelson needed an eagle at sixteen to level. He missed. Ten birdies, a final-round 63, twenty under par — a new major record by three strokes. Mickelson shot a bogey-free 65 and still lost by three.
Read the full article here