McIlroy still fancies his Birkdale chances

Rory McIlroy believes he is a great bet to win the Open this week but bookmakers didn't agree as final preparations were made on Wednesday for the tournament at Royal Birkdale.

McIlroy, who won the Claret Jug at Hoylake three years ago, has missed three of his last four cuts but said that 20-1 was a decent price for him to repeat that success.

The Northern Irishman will want a strong performance this week a month before the USPGA Championship, which will be held at Quail Hollow where he has been successful twice in the Wells Fargo Championship.

He said: "I think it's a good time to back me at 20-1.

"If I was a betting company and I saw my form over the past few weeks it would probably be a fair enough price.

"But all it takes is one week for those odds to go back to 7-1 or 8-1 at Quail Hollow, so it is a good week to back me.

"It hasn't quite happened for me over the past couple of week but as I keep saying it doesn't feel that far away," said McIlroy.

Bookmakers, however, have pushed him out to 22-1 to be celebrating a fifth Major success on Sunday.

One player who will not be winning the Claret Jug is American Brandt Snedeker, who withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday with a rib injury.

His place in the 10.20am group with Ireland's Shane Lowry and JB Holmes will be taken by James Hahn.

The Korea-born American tied for 68th in the Open last year, with a best Major finish of tied 48th in this year's Masters. He has two PGA Tour wins to his name, the most recent in the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship. He was introduced into the betting at 500-1 by Betfred, Coral and Ladbrokes.