The historic Old Course at St. Andrews will host the Open for the 30th time starting Thursday. The 2022 Open Championship will bring out all the stars for the tournament's 150th anniversary celebration. Collin Morikawa is the defending champion, while Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Matthew Fitzpatrick will all try to add a second major title this calendar year.

According to the latest 2022 Open Championship odds at Caesars Sportsbook, Rory McIlroy is the 9-1 favorite, followed by Xander Schauffele (14-1), Masters champion Scottie Scheffler (16-1), Jon Rahm (16-1) and Jordan Spieth (16-1). Before you lock in any 2022 British Open picks, be sure to see the Open Championship 2022 predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.

After spending time at FanSided and NBC Sports EDGE, McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in the spring of 2022. Now covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour. 

He takes a measured approach to his outright selections and is up more than 64 units on those plays in 2022, having hit Cameron Smith (22-1) at the Tournament of Champions, Hudson Swafford (250-1) at The American Express, Joaquin Niemann (70-1) at the Genesis Invitational and Justin Thomas (66-1) live at the PGA Championship.

Now, McDonald has studied the 2022 Open Championship field is locking in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. We can tell you McDonald is fading Cameron Smith, even though he has won twice this year and is among the favorites at 25-1! The Australian was on fire early in the season, but has hit a major cold patch and is unlikely to make a strong run.

Instead, McDonald is targeting a forgotten player who is a MUST-BACK! You could cash in HUGE on this overlooked golfer, so you ABSOLUTELY need to see who it is before locking in any picks of your own!

So which 2022 British Open players should you target or avoid? And which overlooked player is a MUST-BACK? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Patrick McDonald's top picks for the 2022 Open Championship, all from the expert who's up more than 64 units on outright plays in 2022, and find out!