It's all too easy to rattle off the usual names when it comes to predicting the next British Open champion.

But forecasting the winner of the season's last major, set to open Thursday at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, need not be a guessing game.

These days, selecting the winner is usually based on a system. An educated choice that only sports betting can provide.

Sportsline.com made its fearless forecast for the weekend with World No. 2 Rory McIlroy leading the choices on account of his dramatic win over Robert McIntyre for the Scottish Open last Sunday.

McIlroy, who won the British Open in the same spot in 2014, is looking to win his 24th PGA Tour title and first major in nine years.

McIlroy has created separation from himself and the rest of the field like World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm.

Another one who factored at the US Open last month and was a contender at Hoylake in 2014 is Rickie Fowler.  The recent Rocket Mortgage Classic winner sits alongside Rahm among the favorites and looks to become the second consecutive first-time major winner following Wyndham Clark's US Open triumph.

'They keep saying it's a player-run organization (but) we don't really have the information that we need.'

Hometown bet Tommy Fleetwood, Norwegian superstar Viktor Hovland, reigning Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka round out those among the favorites.

Caesars Sportsbook also placed McIlroy as the top favorite.  But he is not alone. Scheffler remains an ever-present figure on leaderboards since the fall of 2022. Rahm still has four victories to his name this season.

LIV Golf members Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau are among the consistent fixtures at majors. Oh, and then there is the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year, Cameron Smith, who is fresh off a win on LIV Golf along with a pair of top-10 finishes in the last two major championships.

Meanwhile, golf's biggest stars will be brought together at the British Open this week as the foundations of an uneasy truce between the traditional tours and breakaway LIV series are still being built.

In a shock announcement last month, the PGA and DP World Tours announced plans to merge with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which had bankrolled huge signing bonuses and prize money for players to jump ship to LIV.

But details on how the deal will work remain unknown, even for the world's leading players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour.

"They keep saying it's a player-run organization (but) we don't really have the information that we need," said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at last week's Scottish Open.