ANDY BUCHANAN/Getty Images Eight of the last nine British Open champions have been first-time winners. The favourite heading into Thursday's opening day of the 147th Open is world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, per OddsShark, who has never won golf's oldest major. Nor have Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood, who are also well fancied. Many will look to the group of favourites to produce the 2018 champion at Carnoustie in Angus, Scotland. But there are plenty of sleepers who could also make a splash. Paul Casey 40-1 ANDY BUCHANAN/Getty Images Casey, 40, will play in his 16th Open Championship this year at Carnoustie. He has finished twice in the top 10, tying for seventh in 2008 and third in 2010, while he was tied-11th last year. The world No. 14 will understand the challenge that faces the field at Carnoustie. Conditions are set to be difficult, and links golf can be unpredictable. That should not phase Casey, who has enjoyed a fine year so far in 2018. Video Play Button Videos you might like He triumphed at the Valspar Championship back in March, was fifth at the Wells Fargo Championship in May and finished second at the Travelers Championship last month. That is some fine form to take into the British Open and, at 40-1, Casey looks a decent bet, especially if he can make a fast start on Thursday. Prediction: Top 10 Russell Knox 66-1 Andrew Redington/Getty Images There has not been a Scottish winner of the Open since 1999, when Paul Lawrie famously won a play-off at Carnoustie after Jean van de Velde's 72nd-hole collapse. If that run of disappointment is going to end for the inventors of the game it could well happen back at Carnoustie, where links experience and the ability to cope with adverse conditions can be vital. And of the five Scotsmen in the field this year, Knox looks to have the best chance of lifting the Claret Jug. The 33-year-old has looked brilliant on the European Tour of late, following a second-place finish at the French Open with a fine victory at the Irish Open earlier this month: Last week at the Scottish Open, he then shot in the 60s in his first three rounds to go into Sunday in contention before carding a disappointing 75. Bar that round, though, he has been brilliant in his last three tournaments and could yet follow in Lawrie's footsteps by bringing the Open back home. Prediction: T-3 Tony Finau 100-1 Michael Owens/Getty Images Americans do not like Carnoustie—or at least their recent record at the course would suggest as much. In the last two Opens played there, in 1999 and 2007, only one player from the United States has managed a top-five finish: Justin Leonard lost out to Lawrie in the play-off with Van de Velde. For context, in the last five Opens, American players have taken 10 of the 25 available top-five spots, including three champions. However, if there is to be an under-the-radar winner from the U.S. this year, it could well be Tony Finau. He has been superb at the majors so far in 2018, placing 10th at the Masters and fifth at the U.S. Open, and the 28-year-old has the confidence and the game not to be overawed by the challenge posed at Carnoustie. Prediction: Top 20<doc-sep>A capsule look at 10 top contenders for the British Open, to be played July 19-22 at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland (listed in order of predicted finish): JUSTIN ROSE Age: 37. Country: England. World ranking: 3. Worldwide victories: 20. Majors: US Open (2013). 2018 Majors: Masters-T12, US Open-T10. British Open memory: Holing out a wedge for par on the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale in 1998 when he tied for fourth as an 18-year-old amateur. Backspin: Twenty years after he made his memorable Open debut, Rose will have a chance to reach No. 1 in the world. He has not missed a cut since the PGA Championship, and he has six top 10s in his 11 starts this year. Driving and iron play are his strengths, and they are critical at Carnoustie. MORE: Complete field for the 2018 Open Championship JUSTIN THOMAS Age: 25. Country: United States. World ranking: 2. Worldwide victories: 9. Majors: PGA Championship (2017) 2018 Majors: Masters-T17, US Open-T25. British Open memory: Making a 9 on the sixth hole at Royal Birkdale last year, and being seen on television counting the shots on his fingers. Backspin: He already has backed up last year with two victories this season and reached No. 1 in the world. Thomas is mentioned frequently as a player who shows impressive control of his shots in the wind when he plays in south Florida. ___ TOMMY FLEETWOOD Age: 27. Country: England. World ranking: 10. Worldwide victories: 5. Majors: None. 2018 Majors: Masters-T17, US Open-2. British Open memory: Bouncing back from an opening 76 before a home crowd at Royal Birkdale to make the cut on the number. Backspin: Closed out the U.S. Open with a record-tying 63 despite missing birdie putts of 12 feet and 8 feet over the last three holes. He shows up big in the biggest tournaments against the strongest fields. The last British winner of the Open was at Carnoustie (Paul Lawrie) in 1999. Fleetwood set the course record at Carnoustie last year in the Dunhill Links Championship with a 63. BROOKS KOEPKA Age: 28. Country: United States. World ranking: 4. Worldwide victories: 6. Majors: US Open (2017, 2018) 2018 Majors: Masters-DNP, US Open-1. British Open memory: Telling the R&A he was not going to keep playing at St. Andrews because his golf ball wouldn't stay still on the putting surface in 2015. Backspin: Missed four months with a wrist injury, and didn't miss a step in his return. He became the first player in 29 years to win back-to-back U.S. Opens. Koepka seems to play his best golf in the majors because they get his attention. MORE: Tiger Woods history at Carnoustie | Golfers with best history at Carnoustie TIGER WOODS Age: 42. Country: Unites States. World ranking: 69. Worldwide victories: 90. Majors: Masters (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005), US Open (2000, 2002 2008), British Open (2000, 2005, 2006), PGA Championship (1999, 2000, 2006, 2007). 2018 Majors: Masters-T32, US Open-Cut. British Open highlights: Winning at St. Andrews in 2000 to complete the career Grand Slam at age 24, and then winning at St. Andrews in 2005 for a different Grand Slam — he won all four majors that Jack Nicklaus played for the final time. Backspin: Woods has had moments where he looked capable of winning this year, such as the Valspar Championship, where he was runner-up. But he struggled in the two majors. He was never closer than seven shots at the Masters and missed the cut at the U.S. Open. He will probably need a top 10 at Carnoustie to become eligible for the final World Golf Championship event at Firestone, where he is an eight-time winner. ___ DUSTIN JOHNSON Age: 34. Country: United States. World ranking: 1. Worldwide victories: 18. Majors: US Open (2016). 2018 Majors: Masters-T10, US Open-3. British Open memory: Hitting a 2-iron out-of-bounds on the 14th hole at Royal St. George's when he was making a Sunday charge in 2011. Backspin: He has two victories and two runner-up finishes this year, and he thought he had another U.S. Open title until his putter went cold on the weekend at Shinnecock Hills. He is tough to beat as long as he doesn't get frustrated if the putts don't go in early. RELATED: How to watch The Open Championship RORY MCILROY Age: 29. Country: Northern Ireland. World ranking: 8. Worldwide victories: 22. Majors: US Open (2011), British Open (2014), PGA Championship (2012, 2014). 2018 Majors: Masters-T5, US Open-MC. British Open memory: Winning at Royal Liverpool in 2014. Backspin: A year that began with promise when he won at Bay Hill has the trappings of frustration. He failed to convert from playing in the final group at the Masters with a shot at the career Grand Slam. Since then, he has contended just one time, losing the weekend lead at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. JORDAN SPIETH Age: 24. Country: United States. World ranking: 6. Worldwide victories: 14. Majors: Masters (2015), US Open (2015), British Open (2017). 2018 Majors: Masters-3, US Open-Cut. British Open memory: His birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie stretch at Royal Birkdale to win last year for the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Backspin: Spieth seems to fall off in the even-numbered years, and this is no exception. Not only has he failed to win, his only serious chance was at the Masters when he started the final round nine shots behind and shot 64 with a bogey on the last hole. He is coming off a three-week break, the longest of his year. ___ PATRICK REED Age: 27. Country: United States. World ranking: 13. Worldwide victories: 6. Majors: Masters (2018). 2018 Majors: Masters-1, US Open-4. British Open memory: Opening with a 78 in his British Open debut at Royal Liverpool. Backspin: No one talked about a Grand Slam until the Masters champion had a share of the lead in the final round of the U.S. Open. The Masters remains his only victory this year. Reed has been leading the Race to Dubai in Europe since his Masters victory. ___ SERGIO GARCIA Age: 38. Country: Spain. World ranking: 19. Worldwide victories: 28. Majors: Masters (2017). 2018 Majors: Masters-Cut, US Open-Cut. British Open memory: Watching a 10-foot putt to win lip out at Carnoustie in 2007 and then losing a playoff to Padraig Harrington. Backspin: Garcia hasn't made the cut in a major since the British Open last year. He has shown progress in Germany and France in recent weeks. Carnoustie holds two bad memories: crying in his mother's arms after an 89 in 1999, and the playoff loss to Harrington in which he said he was playing against more than the field. This article was written by Doug Ferguson from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.<doc-sep>The third golf major of the year is upon us. The British Open—otherwise known as the Open Championship (it depends on whom you ask)—at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland is set to begin on Thursday. As ESPN pointed out, heading into the tournament the story might be the recent dominance of young, American golfers, who have won the last five majors—two-time U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka, Master champ Patrick Reed, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and defending British Open champ Jordan Spieth. Koepka is the oldest of that bunch at just 28 years old. Spieth—who has already won three majors at just 24 years old—credited highly competitive youth golf for the early successes of he and his U.S. comrades. "So maybe when it took five years to transition guys into winning ten, fifteen years ago, it's taking guys five months now," Spieth told ESPN. "And therefore whether it's five times faster, ten times faster ... you're that much quicker and more well-prepared for majors. And so it's a natural transition into fearless golf at the highest level. I think that's what you're kind of seeing out of 20-something-year-olds." Of course, we can't talk golf without talking Tiger Woods as well. A lot of the talk leading up to the start of the tournament has surrounded the slow-ish speed of the greens and the burned-out fairways that might require little to no driver off the tee—a fact that might help Woods. "Well, there's not a lot of opportunities to hit the driver just because the ball is going to be rolling 80 yards. It's just hard to keep the ball in play," Woods told USA Today, even as other top players indicated they may use the big stick often in an effort try to garner an advantage over the field. Woods, of course, hasn't won a major in a decade and hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2013. But he has been playing pretty well. And while he's not considered one of the absolute favorites to win it all—World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the favorite—Woods does have pretty short odds for someone who hasn't won in a while. Here are the odds for the entire British Open field, via Odds Shark, which relied on the sports book Bovada: Dustin Johnson +1200 Justin Rose +1600 Rickie Fowler +1600 Rory McIlroy +1600 Jordan Spieth +2200 Jon Rahm +2200 Tommy Fleetwood +2200 Justin Thomas +2200 Brooks Koepka +2200 Tiger Woods +2200 Henrik Stenson +2800 Sergio Garcia +2800 Alex Noren +3000 Francesco Molinari +3300 Jason Day +3300 Patrick Reed +3500 Paul Casey +4000 Tyrrell Hatton +4000 Branden Grace +4000 Marc Leishman +4500 Hideki Matsuyama +5000 Matthew Fitzpatrick +6000 Ian Poulter +6600 Phil Mickelson +6600 Russell Knox +6600 Thomas Pieters +7500 Bubba Watson +8000 Louis Oosthuizen +8000 Matt Kuchar +8000 Tony Finau +10000 Zach Johnson +10000 Thorbjorn Olesen +10000 Patrick Cantlay +10000 Emiliano Grillo +10000 Luke List +12500 Bryson DeChambeau +12500 Rafael Cabrera Bello +12500 Adam Scott +12500 Lee Westwood +12500 Haotong Li +12500 Ryan Fox +12500 Webb Simpson +12500 Matthew Southgate +12500 Andy Sullivan +15000 Brandt Snedeker +15000 Chris Wood +15000 Danny Willett +15000 Paul Dunne +15000 Shane Lowry +15000 Xander Schaufflele +15000 Brandon Stone +15000 Charley Hoffman +15000 Brian Harman +15000 Ryan Moore +15000 Eddie Pepperell +17500 Kevin Na +17500 Kiradech Aphibarnrat +20000 Padraig Harrington +20000 Byeong Hun An +20000 Charl Schwartzel +20000 Daniel Berger +20000 Martin Kaymer +20000 Dylan Frittelli +20000 Ross Fisher +20000 Russell Henley +20000 Cameron Smith +20000 Kyle Stanley +20000 Jordan Smith +22500 Peter Uihlein +25000 Julian Suri +25000 Alexander Bjork +25000 Beau Hossler +25000 Gary Woodland +25000 Jason Dufner +25000 Jimmy Walker +25000 Jorge Campillo +25000 Stewart Cink +25000 Pat Perez +25000 Michael Kim +30000 Keegan Bradley +30000 Alexander Levy +30000 Si Woo Kim +30000 Nicolas Colsaerts +30000 Retief Goosen +30000 Cameron Davis +30000 Jens Dantorp +40000 Matt Wallace +40000 Anirban Lahiri +40000 George Coetzee +40000 Kevin Chappell +40000 Kevin Kisner +40000 Ryan Armour +40000 Chesson Hadley +50000 Erik Van Rooyen +50000 Adam Hadwin +50000 Andrew Landry +50000 Austin Cook +50000 Charles Howell III +50000 Chez Reavie +50000 Brendan Steele +50000 Shubhankar Sharma +50000 Jonas Blixt +50000 Matt Jones +50000 Bronson Burgoon +50000 Brady Schnell +50000 Brett Rumford +50000 Danthai Boonma +50000 Darren Clarke +50000 Gavin Green +50000 Grant Forrest +50000 Jack Senior +50000 Jazz Janewattananond +50000 John Daly +50000 Jovan Rebula +50000 Kodai Ichihara +50000 Lin Yuxin +50000 Lucas Herbert +50000 Michael Hendry +50000 Minchel Choi +50000 Oliver Wilson +50000 Ryuko Tokimatsu +50000 Sang Hyun Park +50000 Sean Crocker +50000 Shaun Norris +50000 Shota Akiyoshi +50000 Jhonattan Vegas +75000 Scott Jamieson +75000 Bernhard Langer +75000 Sung Kang +75000 Ernie Els +75000 Marcus Kinhult +100000 Patton Kizzire +100000 Satoshi Kodaira +100000 Fabrizio Zanotti +100000 Hideto Tanihara +100000 Jason Kokrak +100000 Kelly Kraft +100000 Tom Lewis +100000 Yuta Ikeda +100000 Zander Lombard +100000 Abraham Ancer +100000 Ashton Turner +100000 Ben Curtis +100000 David Duval +100000 Haraldur Magnus +100000 James Robinson +100000 Marcus Armitage +100000 Mark Calcavecchia +100000 Masahiro Kawamura +100000 Masanori Kobayashi +100000 Miyazato Yusaku +100000 Nicolaj Hojgaard +100000 Rhys Enoch +150000 Thomas Curtis +250000 Sam Locke +250000 Sandy Lyle +250000 Todd Hamilton +250000 Tom Lehman +250000<doc-sep>
Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images Dustin Johnson will head into the 2018 British Open as the favourite to win a second major at Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland, but one top-10 finish at this contest in the last five attempts suggests it will be a tall order. Johnson's best result at The Open was a share of second place in 2011, but he's managed to finish in the top 10 in both majors so far this year (The Masters and U.S. Open) and will again be billed as the lead contender in Scotland. The American is priced as an 11-1 frontrunner with OddsShark, just about edging Rory McIlroy, who comes a narrow second at 12-1, followed by Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, all at 16-1. Below is a look at the market heading into the British Open, where Johnson will try to take Spieth's title and record back-to-back American winners in the competition for the first time in 13 years. 2018 British Open: Top 10 Odds Video Play Button Videos you might like Dustin Johnson: 11-1 Rory McIlroy: 12-1 Jordan Spieth: 16-1 Rickie Fowler: 16-1 Justin Rose: 16-1 Tommy Fleetwood: 16-1 Brooks Koepka: 20-1 Tiger Woods: 20-1 Justin Thomas: 20-1 Jon Rahm: 20-1 Odds provided courtesy of OddsShark. Favourites Preview World No. 1 Johnson hasn't played in a tour event since he finished third at the U.S. Open in June, where a particularly ugly 77 on Day 3 derailed what looked to be a certain title challenge. ESPN Stats & Info illustrated just how rare his failure to capture the title at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, really was: Winning The Open for the first time in his career would be a surefire way to make up for that, although Johnson's recent runs at this tournament have largely been uninspiring. It's been seven years since he managed his career-best tie for second in this event, finishing top 10 once in the past five years. But there's little disputing the top-ranked player in the world will always have a shot, as will sixth in the rankings Spieth, who can become the first player in a decade to win back-to-back British Open crowns come Sunday: Spieth lifted the Claret Jug last year in what was his only top-10 result at a major in 2017. He's yet to add any further majors this year, but he's already matched that tally in 2018 with his run to third at the Masters. He and McIlroy both failed to make the cut of this year's U.S. Open, a disappointment that's sure to have stirred motivation in both stars. Form isn't everything in golf, but if it was, Tiger Woods would statistically stand a better chance of adding a fourth British Open to his trophy cabinet ahead of Spieth, per golf journalist Amanda Rose: Woods' most recent display saw him excel to share fourth at the Quicken Loans National at the beginning of this month, although there are bound to be ongoing concerns over his lasting power in Angus. Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood will both be more heavily considered for top spot in Scotland come Sunday after taking first and second, respectively, at the U.S. Open, per ESPN's Darren Rovell: American Koepka is on a particular high after clinching back-to-back victories at the U.S. Open, which followed a second-place finish at the Fort Worth Invitational in May. Fleetwood started his 2018 with three consecutive top-10 finishes in his first three European Tour events, but the U.S. Open was a substantial reminder of what he can bring regardless of the form he's in.