Senior Open 2026 Betting Tips: Can Zach Johnson To Go Back-To-Back?
The Senior Open Championship returns to Gleneagles with Zach Johnson fancied to make it back-to-back senior major victories, but with another veteran backed to go close in Paul Higham's betting preview
If at times there were some unfamiliar names at the top of the leaderboard at Royal Birkdale, there should be plenty of household faces challenging at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open Championship.
A field full some of the biggest names in the sport will tee it up on the Kings Course at Gleneagles - headlined by defending champion Padraig Harrington who claimed his fourth senior Major at the US Open last month.
The Irishman is playing for the seventh week running but is loving every second of it, and after becoming just the fifth player to win The Open and Senior Open with last year's victory he'll again be one of the men to beat.
Tournament favorite though is another Claret Jug winner in Zach Johnson, who is making his Senior Open debut having just turned 50 and arrives after already bagging a Major at the recent Senior Players Championship (now known as the Kaulig Companies Championship).
Johnson is the +400 (4/1) favorite after a scintillating start to life on the PGA Tour Champions, with another Open champion Stewart Cink next best at +650 (13/2) after he won the first two senior Majors of this season.
They're two of a number of high-profile debutants this year, with another being 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson (+1600), while Jamie Donaldson (+2000) returns to Gleneagles where he won the Ryder Cup for Europe in 2014 - albeit on a different course.
Ernie Els (+2200) is another big name in the field, while Darren Clarke (+2500) returns to the same course he won the Senior Open on back in 2022 - beating a warm order favorite that year in Harrington.
And the way the senior Majors have gone lately it's wise to stick to the top end of the market to find the next Senior Open champion.
Pick One: Zach Johnson +400 (4/1)
He's not as short at Scottie Scheffler is to win the 3M Open but like him there are plenty of reasons to back Zach Johnson this week - as he's taken the seniors by storm after turning 50 at the end of last year.
Johnson won the Senior Players and then took the week off, missing The Open at BIrkdale no less, in order to prepare for this at Gleneagles - which obviously is more the parkland golf he's been playing than the links golf his major competitors here have been taking part in.
He won by six shots at the Senior Players in his last start to make it back-to-back wins and three titles in nine events in his fledgling seniors career - with a worst finish of T8. That's some stellar form that makes him the man to beat here.
Harrington is on his marathon run and just missed the cut at The Open (shooting 80 in round one) and the Scottish Open, while Cink also struggled at Birkdale as did Clarke.
They'll be big challengers if at their best but they have more negatives than Johnson - who looks primed to add to the long list of recent back-to-back Major winners in the seniors.
Cink's already done it this year, while Angel Cabrera, Richard Bland, Steve Stricker and Alex Cejka have all gone back-to-back in just the last five years. Johnson fits the bill for another.
Back Zach Johnson @ +400 (4/1) with BetMGM
Pick Two: Miguel Angel Jimenez +3000 (30/1)
Cink, Harringon and Stenson could all easily go close, but at a bigger price we're looking at evergreen Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez.
A three-time senior Major winner, Jimenez won the Senior Open in 2018 and claimed the Senior Players Championship last year - he's followed that up with three top-eight finishes this year in the majors.
Jimenez has six top 10s in his last eight senior majors - and a T11 before that - so he's always there or thereabouts seemingly and he arrives in Scotland in flying form.
He finished T8 at the Senior Players Championship where he fired in a round of 62 so he still has the ability to go low - and he should have conditions to suit here to make another big run at this one.
