Kyle Murray said Xander Schauffele is mis-priced at +2500 outright and +260 for a Top-10 despite being the reigning Open champion. Schauffele led last week’s Scottish Open field in strokes-gained approach and logged a T8 even while losing strokes with the putter. Over the past 12 months he sits 4th in SG: Approach and 10th in SG: Tee-to-Green among this week’s field. On links and coastal layouts he ranks 2nd in total strokes-gained behind only Scottie Scheffler. Murray believes a merely average putting week at Royal Portrush will put Schauffele squarely in the hunt to defend, making 25-1 a value play.

Fairholm warned bettors not to be seduced by Xander Schauffele’s 25-1 price simply because he lifted the claret jug last year. The defending champion hasn’t looked himself in 2025, logging only one top-15 in his last seven starts and slipping outside the top-40 in strokes-gained approach for the season. With a cool putter and questionable form, Fairholm prefers to fade Schauffele in matchup props and would leave him off outright cards completely.

Hochberg dropped last year’s Champion Golfer to ninth, citing a January side injury that cost two months and cratered key strokes-gained categories. Schauffele now sits outside the top-100 in SG: Off-the-Tee, Around-the-Green and Putting, with only Approach (20th) offering hope. His major line—T8 (Masters), T28, T12—would please most but marks a steep fall from his 2024 two-major season. Without a single top-10 since Augusta, Hochberg advises fading Schauffele in matchup bets and limiting DFS exposure to contrarian builds only.

Joe Champion advised betting Xander Schauffele at +2500 to successfully defend the Claret Jug. Champion highlighted that Schauffele topped the Scottish Open field in strokes-gained approach while finishing 8th, signaling his irons are dialed in. Despite missing three months earlier in the year with a rib injury, Schauffele has remained competitive in every 2025 major (8th Masters, 28th PGA, 12th US Open). His Open resume includes runner-up at Carnoustie 2018 and last year’s victory at Royal Troon. Champion believes firm, fast Portrush conditions reward Schauffele’s controlled iron play and sees little reason he should be longer than +2500 after last season’s major double.

Doug Ferguson cautioned against chasing Xander Schauffele’s +2000 outright number, pointing out that the defending champion has yet to record a win this season after being hampered by a rib injury early in the year. Ferguson reminded readers that no player has gone back-to-back at The Open since Padraig Harrington in 2007-08, underscoring how rare repeats are on links golf. With Schauffele still searching for peak form and history working against him, Ferguson framed the Californian as a fade candidate in outright markets despite the seemingly juicy price.

Esten McLaren listed reigning Open champion Xander Schauffele eighth and prefers a conservative Top-20 finish at +125 on DraftKings instead of chasing a repeat outright at +2500. The bet leans on Schauffele’s proven success on links (2024 winner) while avoiding the volatility of going back-to-back at a different venue.

McLaren cautioned against chasing last year’s winner Xander Schauffele at +2500 (DraftKings). Although Schauffele hoisted the Claret Jug in 2024, he has managed just one top-10 finish (T-8 at the Masters) in the entire 2025 season. His iron play, the cornerstone of last year’s triumph, has slipped from 3rd to 27th in strokes-gained approach on the PGA Tour. Entering Portrush with no momentum and facing fickle coastal conditions, McLaren believes the defending champion’s odds reflect nostalgia rather than current performance and suggests fading him in outright and placement markets.

Doug Ferguson warned bettors that defending champion Xander Schauffele, priced at +2000, faces an uphill battle at Portrush. Ferguson reported that the Californian dealt with a rib injury earlier in the season and still hasn’t logged a 2025 victory. He also reminded readers that no player has gone back-to-back at the Open since Padraig Harrington in 2007-08, underscoring the historical difficulty of a repeat. Given the recent lack of wins and the physical question mark, Ferguson suggested fading Schauffele in outright markets.

Byron Lindeque named Xander Schauffele his second cash-game cornerstone, stressing that the World No. 3 offers a uniquely high floor without sacrificing winning upside. Schauffele already owns a victory this season ("he won last year," as Byron reminded listeners) and has logged back-to-back 8th-place finishes, including a Sunday charge at the Scottish Open that nearly produced his first top-5 of 2025. Byron likes that Xander cleared the major-pedigree hurdles he cares about—a runner-up in a major and multiple Open top-10s—yet costs just $9,700 on DraftKings. With elite tee-to-green consistency and a scrambling game that travels in wind, Lindeque sees Schauffele as the perfect DFS safety valve to pair with more volatile punts, especially in single-entry and 3-max contests where a missed cut is fatal.

Robby Kalland noted that reigning Champion Golfer of the Year Xander Schauffele sits at 25-1 because his 2025 season form has been subpar, making back-to-back wins improbable. The author emphasized Schauffele’s struggles this year as the primary reason oddsmakers have lengthened his price well beyond the top tier.

Lack labeled Xander Schauffele a core play at $9,700, noting the American is coming off his best iron week of the season at the Genesis Scottish Open. Over the past five years no one has a better cumulative record at Open Championships, and Xander rolls into Portrush attempting to defend his 2024 Claret Jug with his ball-striking trending sharply upward.

Cam Stewart urged bettors to grab the 27-to-28-1 still floating on Xander Schauffele. He noted Schauffele brought what he called his “D-game” to the Scottish Open yet still logged a high finish once the putter heated up on Sunday, a sign the overall floor is elite. Stewart reminded listeners that Schauffele is the defending Open champion in his eyes and argued the market is disrespecting him by listing Bryson DeChambeau at a shorter 24-1 while Xander’s all-around profile — elite driving accuracy, top-tier iron play, steady short game — is tailor-made for Royal Troon’s tight corridors and gnarly fescue just off the fairway.

Glasscott called Xander Schauffele an attractive play at +2500 to defend the claret jug. Even though his current season features just two top-10s, he led last week’s Genesis Scottish Open in SG: Approach on his way to T8, hinting that his iron game is peaking at the right time. Schauffele’s major reliability is elite: 30 made cuts and 16 top-10s in 33 starts, capped by last year’s Open win at Royal Troon. A victory would make him the first back-to-back Champion Golfer since Padraig Harrington in 2007-08 (Tiger Woods did it in 2005-06). Glasscott suggested the market is over-reacting to middling regular-season form and is undervaluing elite major consistency.

Shane Bacon’s No. 4 is Xander Schauffele, and he rolled out the research to back it up. Schauffele is −29 cumulatively in his Open career, second only to Jordan Spieth among active players. He also owns 25 top-20 finishes in his first 33 major starts – better than Arnold Palmer and just behind Billy Casper. Bacon argued that kind of reliability makes Schauffele a priority for outright and top-10 bets at Royal Portrush.

Jim Sannes called Xander Schauffele the single best outright bet for the Open at 25-1 on FanDuel. Sannes highlighted Schauffele’s field-leading +2.38 strokes gained per round on approach at last week’s Scottish Open, where he also ranked 7th in driving accuracy and 3rd in greens-in-regulation en route to a T8. Schauffele sits second only to Scottie Scheffler in Sannes’ cumulative major-performance metrics and historically excels on tough setups that require balanced distance and accuracy. Putting regression is expected: Xander grades in the 63rd percentile inside 15 ft but just the 3rd percentile from long range, suggesting upside if mid-range looks drop. Sannes added a narrative boost—each of the past four Open champions played the Scottish the week before with a solid finish, a trend Schauffele fits perfectly. Price, recent ball-striking spike, and proven major floor make him the cornerstone of Sannes’ betting card.

Brandon Gdula endorsed Xander Schauffele at 25-1 outright, stressing his unrivaled reliability in majors and specifically at the Open. Schauffele has made all seven Open cuts, and his worst finish is a T41 at Portrush in 2019; the other six results are all T26 or better. Gdula reminded listeners that Schauffele "won here last year" and called him a player everyone will be talking up because the Open’s volatility rarely knocks Xander off a weekend tee sheet. With elite ball-striking and a proven major ceiling, Gdula is comfortable paying the mid-tier outright number and using Schauffele heavily in DFS cash builds where cut-making security is paramount.

Patrick McDonald slotted Xander Schauffele fourth after rattling off two eye-popping trivia nuggets. First, Schauffele’s cumulative Open Championship score sits at 29-under, second only to Jordan Spieth among active players. Second, his 25 top-20 finishes in his first 33 majors rank third since World War II behind only Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer. McDonald argued that these stats illustrate an elite floor that bettors should appreciate, especially in placement markets. He recommends leaning on Schauffele for Top-10 and Top-20 bets and building DFS ‘cash’ lineups around him, while still giving him outright consideration given how frequently he converts strong major positioning into contention.

Justin Ray highlighted a staggering stat: of more than 450 players with 20+ Open rounds since World War II, Xander Schauffele is the ONLY one carrying a scoring average below 70. Ray acknowledged Schauffele’s driving numbers have slipped since returning from an intercostal strain, but stressed his links resume is too strong to ignore—top-25s galore, two wins last season, and the second-best cumulative score to par in majors since 2020. Ray suggested leaning into Schauffele for top-10/top-20 and DFS cash-game builds, while still sprinkling outrights because Portrush’s emphasis on ball-flight control and scrambling dovetails with Xander’s strengths if the driver stabilizes even slightly.

Eric Polzin locked Xander Schauffele in as his second core play behind Scheffler. Schauffele is the "number one specialist in the field" once all Royal Portrush characteristics are weighted, and he rides a streak of 68 consecutive made cuts. His Open record is 17th-5th-1st in the last three editions, and he added a top-10 at last week’s Scottish Open to confirm links form. DraftKings has him well below Scheffler in salary, allowing balanced line-ups, while outright markets still post him near 12-1. Polzin thinks that price underrates Schauffele’s win equity given his elite tee-to-green profile and mistake-free style on tough coastal tracks.

McClure views Xander Schauffele at 22–25-1 as the best value near the top. His personal numbers would list Schauffele around 14-1, making him the fourth-most-likely winner behind Scheffler, McIlroy and Rahm and ahead of DeChambeau. Schauffele’s balanced tee-to-green game and steady track record on overseas links tracks back up the stance. McClure plans to include Xander on his outright card and treat him as a core DFS play.

Geoff Fienberg urged listeners to attack Xander Schauffele’s derivative markets, specifically citing the 9-to-1 Top American and 24-to-1 outright prices as mis-tagged. Fienberg argued that Schauffele’s skill set—balanced tee-to-green, elite approach play, and a rock-solid short game—mirrors Adam Scott’s "even-Steven" attributes but with a higher ceiling. He expects wind and weather to accentuate Xander’s versatility while neutralizing pure bombers. Given Schauffele’s consistency (no missed cuts this year and top-10s in three straight majors), Fienberg believes sportsbooks are discounting his win equity because of the Scheffler/Rory headline, creating a profitable window for bettors to back him in both outright and nationality markets.

Rick Gehman said Xander Schauffele is the prototype fit for Royal Portrush and, by extension, a DFS core play for the Open. Gehman stressed that Portrush demands a "very complete driver" who can shape shots in every direction, negotiate narrow landing zones guarded by pot bunkers and internal OB, and still keep above-average pop off the tee. Using his new shot-shape radar tool, Gehman highlighted that Schauffele is top-15 in driving distance yet maintains strong accuracy while hitting at least 10 percent of his drives in six of the nine possible windows (low, mid, high draws and fades). That rare versatility should let him pick the right line on dog-legs like the risk-reward 11th and adjust to ever-changing coastal winds. Gehman compared this to Shane Lowry’s 2019 winning formula of staying in play and piling up greens-in-regulation, concluding that Schauffele’s skill set maps almost perfectly to this volatile links test.

Schauffele climbed to Myers’ third slot because his number moved from 20/1 to 25/1 after a winless spring. Myers reminded readers that Xander is the defending Champion Golfer of the Year and owns an excellent Open record. The red flag: Schauffele sits outside the top-100 in three of the four strokes-gained categories this season, a sign the slump is real. Still, Myers thinks a proven links resume combined with the longer price offsets those statistical concerns.

Scrivener warned that bettors should temper expectations for Xander Schauffele despite last year’s win. The American admitted his form has been ‘poor’ since a rib injury early in the season. Although he shared 9-under with Scheffler at the Scottish Open, that was his first real flash of form and came with tongue-in-cheek comments about seeing his photo ‘out by the toilet’ in the media tent, underlining his own uncertainty. With limited recent reps at full health and no other top-5 finishes since the injury, Schauffele profiles as an overpriced outright and a fade in single-entry DFS builds.

Matt Chivers urged bettors not to abandon Xander Schauffele at 9/1 even though history says winning back-to-back Opens is rare (Padraig Harrington was the last in 2008). Chivers pointed to Schauffele’s ability to thrive in wildly different conditions: he toughed out brutal wind and rain at Troon to edge Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and Billy Horschel in 2024, only months after lifting the PGA Championship at a soft, low-scoring Valhalla. On the 2024 PGA Tour he ranked 2nd in strokes-gained total, 12th in putting and 1st in scrambling, numbers Chivers called “a statistical machine.” The Californian owns 16 major top-10s since 2017 and already has Open pedigree with a T2 at Carnoustie in 2018. A February injury blunted his 2025 form, but even with limited prep he still logged T8 at the Masters, T12s at both the Valspar and the U.S. Open, and T11 at the Truist. Add a prior Scottish Open title and obvious links aptitude, and Chivers believes the drift to 25/1 during tournament week is an over-correction that savvy outrights or each-way tickets should exploit.

Bacon planted Xander Schauffele at No. 4, arguing that links layouts magnify Schauffele’s fairway-finding and all-around game. While Schauffele limped to a T61 last week, Bacon took comfort in the fact that the American’s consecutive-cut streak remains alive, illustrating a rock-steady floor. Bacon believes Schauffele’s low-ball flight and elite scrambling translate to Portrush, making him a viable outright longshot and a dependable top-20 ticket.