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The 153rd Open: Six outsiders to look out for
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The 153rd Open: Six outsiders to look out for

Major Championships are unpredictable to call, perhaps none more so than the Open Championship.

Due to their natural rugged terrain, links golf courses are demanding, unforgiving and the external elements often have a big impact on the outcome, ensuring they are often viewed as the biggest leveller in the sport.

While there will inevitably be a lot of expectation on the shoulders of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele – the world’s top three players in the Official World Golf Ranking – at Royal Portrush this week, there is no shortage of players hoping to go under the radar in the pursuit of winning the Claret Jug.

McIlroy and Scheffler may have shared the first two men’s Majors of the season, but after JJ Spaun won the U.S. Open last month, could we see another player upset the odds?

Here, we take a look at six players who could challenge the leading lights as they target becoming a Major winner.

Aaron Rai

Having built on a breakthrough 2024 in which he won his first PGA TOUR title at the Wyndham Championship last August, the Englishman is now firmly ensconced in the top echelons of the sport. He made his debut at the Masters Tournament in April, and has finished no worse than a tie for 33rd at the U.S. Open across his three Major outings this year. While he is so far yet to challenge in his three previous appearances at The Open - with his best a tie for 19th on his debut at Royal St George's - he is a Rolex Series winner having won the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in 2020. The bedrock of his game is his consistency off the tee, highlighted by him leading the standings for Driving Accuracy Percentage on the PGA TOUR for the 2025 season so far. If he can have a good week on the greens, then it would be no surprise if he plays his way into the mix.

Aaron Rai

Matthew Jordan

The Englishman may still be searching for his first DP World Tour win but that is surely a matter of time. He announced himself on the DP World Tour scene in his first year as a professional with a course-record 63 close to home at Hillside Golf Club in the Betfred British Masters and has been a consistent performer ever since. A winner on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2019 as he earned graduation, he has finished in the top 80 on the Race to Dubai Rankings every season since and enjoyed his best result to date in December with a tie for second at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa. The Royal Liverpool member had the honour of hitting the first shot of The Open at his home club in 2023 on his way to a top ten, a result he impressively repeated 12 months later at Royal Troon. At Royal Liverpool, he was ranked outside the world’s top 300 but now finds himself inside the top 150 after prolonged spells of strong results on the DP World Tour, while he has made his PGA TOUR debut (non-Major) in Puerto Rico and played in his first overseas Major at the U.S. Open already this year. Links golf suits him down to the ground, and he’ll be excited for the challenge that Royal Portrush will provide.

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Rasmus Højgaard

It wasn’t that long ago that the DP World Tour was at another world-renowned links course in Northern Ireland for the Amgen Irish Open. Less than 12 months ago, it was the Dane who triumphed over a strong international field at Royal County Down and those memories are likely to be something he calls upon this week. He produced a memorable final-round 65 to edge out home favourite Rory McIlroy by a single shot and claim the biggest of his five DP World Tour titles to date. His success was instrumental in him earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR, and he has since made a solid start to life stateside, missing only five cuts in 15 starts and playing the weekend in both of the first two Majors of the year. With the end of the qualification period for the Ryder Cup closing in, impressing again on a stage like this one will be pivotal in his bid to feature in Luke Donald’s European Ryder Cup team at Bethpage in September.

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Tony Finau

With missed cuts in each of his last two Opens you may be questioning the logic behind this one. But prior to that, he had finished in the top 30 in his previous six going back to his debut at Royal Troon in 2016. The 2019 Open at Royal Portrush will forever be remembered for Shane Lowry’s unstoppable performance but it is easily forgotten that Finau finished solo third – his career-best result at a Major. Full of praise for the County Antrim layout when it made its return to The Open six years ago, he described it as a “beautiful golf course in great condition”. With top-five finishes in all four of golf’s biggest events, there can’t be many players with a better record yet to claim one. He has not played in almost a month, since missing the cut at the Travelers Championship, but don’t think that won’t mean he won’t have done his preparation in the background for his latest tilt at a first Major triumph.

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Dan Brown

The Englishman came to international recognition at The Open last year when he held the first-round lead after a bogey-free 65 on his debut at Royal Troon. He went into Sunday tied for second before a final round 74 saw him finish in a share of tenth, earning his place at Royal Portrush in the process. Known as a strong driver, he has the all-round game to perform well on links, emphasised by his solo fourth at the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down two months later. Has struggled with a cyst in his knee at times earlier in the season, but he arrives with great confidence after claiming his second DP World Tour title earlier this month at the BMW International Open, which he dedicated to his late friend who died a week earlier. He also has good memories at Portrush having performed well in the Amateur Championship in 2014. Unlikely to be deterred by the stage, he is likely to have some vocal support in the crowds.

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Ryan Fox

Such has been his form over recent weeks, the jury might be out on whether the New Zealander can be labelled an ‘outsider’. But such is the depth of international talent, and with many others likely to shoulder far greater expectations, allow us the chance to spotlight him. After all, it was only in May that he was ranked outside the world’s top 100 and struggling to establish himself on the PGA TOUR. But he now arrives in Northern Ireland as a two-time PGA TOUR winner, after winning the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic and RBC Canadian Open. Both victories were perfectly timed as they secured him last-gasp entries into the US PGA Championship and U.S. Open respectively, finishing in the top 30 at both. Of his eight appearances to date at The Open, his best result came at Royal Portrush when he finished in a tie for 16th after carding a brilliant back nine of 29 in the first round. A long-time fan-favourite around the world, he will hope to capitalise on his purple patch.

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