He came up short again at the US Open on Sunday, but perhaps Rory McIlroy's fifth major championship is finally due next month.
The standout from Northern Ireland will return to Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, the site of his only Open Championship victory (2014). And after McIlroy finished second to Wyndham Clark at the US Open by a single stroke, some sportsbooks have pegged McIlroy as the Open favourite – above Scottie Scheffler and Span's Jon Rahm.
McIlroy is the +750 favourite at BetMGM and DraftKings, while he is listed at +800 at FanDuel and PointsBet as of Monday afternoon.
Curiously, it wasn't a clean sweep. Caesars Sportsbook lists Rahm as the favourite to win at +750 and McIlroy tied for second with Scheffler at +900.
McIlroy shot an even-par 70 Sunday to finish at 9-under 271, never quite putting enough pressure on Clark, who also carded a 70 to win. McIlroy's only birdie came at the par-5 first hole at the Los Angeles Country Club, then made 12 straight pars – missing 11 birdie putts in that span – before a bogey on the par-5 14th.
"That one wedge shot on 14, missed birdie putt on 8, really apart from that, I did everything else the way I wanted to," McIlroy said Sunday night. "... And I'm getting closer. The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it's going to happen for me. Just got to regroup and get focused for Hoylake in a few weeks' time."
As for other notables on the board, the unanimous No 4 choice among sportsbooks is Brooks Koepka, who won his fifth career major in May at the PGA Championship. FanDuel and PointsBet listed Koepka as short as +1200, while BetMGM, DraftKings and Caesars have him at +1400.
Defending Open champion Cameron Smith of Australia – now with LIV Golf, like Koepka – is fifth at BetMGM (+1600) and DraftKings (+1800) but behind Norwegian Viktor Hovland at books like FanDuel and Caesars.
Clark, who captured his first major title at the US Open after never placing better than T75 in any major start, saw his odds shorten to as low as +3500 at DraftKings and Caesars, while he's +5000 at BetMGM as of Monday afternoon.
Heading into the US Open, Clark was listed as +7000 at DraftKings.