Open Championship DFS Picks 2026: Round 1 at Royal Birkdale Is Happening Right Now

Round 1 of the 154th Open Championship is live at Royal Birkdale today, and this is not a course where last week's Tour form translates. Royal Birkdale is a firm, par-70 links that filters for short game and course history above everything else, and the ownership distribution on this slate is broken enough in the right places to build a real GPP edge.

Who to Build Around

Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood grew up 15 minutes from Royal Birkdale. He played junior golf on this course before half his current competitors knew what links golf was. That is not a feel-good detail for a broadcast intro. Links golf rewards course familiarity in ways no aggregate stat fully captures, and Fleetwood has five top-20 finishes in his last seven Open Championship starts to back that up with data. His current-season form closes the argument: six top-10 finishes this year means his ball striking and short game are both live going into this week. At projected ownership around 20%, he is the cleanest case of local upside at a price that doesn't punish your salary structure. Fleetwood anchors this lineup. Build out from him.

Tyrrell Hatton

This is the highest-value play on the board. Three Alfred Dunhill Links Championship wins across Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, and St Andrews — which means Hatton has racked up links wins at three different courses with three different wind exposures. His average links finish over the past six years leads the entire field. The DFS market misses him here because casual users anchor on recent form at non-links venues. His projected ownership does not reflect his win probability at Royal Birkdale. That gap is the definition of a GPP edge. He groups with Scheffler and DeChambeau in Round 1, which means the broadcast and narrative focus goes elsewhere and his ownership stays suppressed. Lock Hatton.

Rory McIlroy (Secondary Core Option)

Six top-5 finishes in his last 10 Open Championships. He groups with Schauffele and Fitzpatrick and tees off at 10:15 a.m. ET. Adding McIlroy only works if his ownership number gives you separation from the field, not overlap with it.

Who to Fade in GPP: Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion, the world number 1, and projected at 21.5% ownership. That is the single largest chalk position on this slate. In cash contests, playing Scheffler is defensible. In large-field GPP, 21.5% kills your ceiling. If he wins, roughly one in five competing lineups wins with you. GPP contests are not won by picking the most likely winner. They are won by finding the right combination of players at differentiated ownership. Scheffler is the fade when Fleetwood and Hatton are available at the prices and ownership levels they're at today.

Build This on Wanna

Drop Fleetwood and Hatton as your core into Wanna Parlay, then run the AI Parlay Generator to fill the rest of your lineup. The generator flags ownership exposure in real time, which matters here because 15 LIV players are in the field — DeChambeau, Rahm, and others carry suppressed ownership because casual DFS users skip them. The generator finds those spots automatically. Fleetwood anchors, Hatton is your value, and Scheffler is the GPP fade. Get into the Wanna app, run the generator, and lock your Open Championship DFS picks. Sign up with code DATA and receive a 100% deposit match up to $250. Real-money contests available in 26 US states. Free-to-play available everywhere. See wannaparlay.com for eligibility.