The fourth and final major of 2024 takes place this week with Royal Troon hosting the 152nd Open Championship.

While Scottie Scheffler is inevitably the favourite to prevail in Scotland, this is the most unpredictable major on the calendar, and Sports Mole attempts to take you through all the notable runners and riders ahead of this competition.

Open Championship preview

With 10 different winners over the past decade, the feeling of Scheffler cantering to another major is not there ahead of this year's Open, with the American's best-ever finish being a tied-eighth.

Of course, the world number one - who has six tournaments wins in 2024 - will be heavily backed, but there are enough storylines elsewhere to take your interest.

Rory McIlroy is a man motivated to make up for the heartbreak of missing out on the US Open at Pinehurst, with the Northern Irishman also only a few missed putts away from retaining his Scottish Open trophy last week.

US PGA Championship Xander Schauffele remains a contender, despite struggling to replicate his efforts since prevailing at Valhalla, while Ludvig Aberg will take the positives from his share of fourth at the Scottish Open.

Collin Morikawa, a former Open champion, may not have a win to his name since last year's ZOZO Championship, yet he is on an incredible run where a share of 16th is his worst finish in nine tournaments.

Bryson Dechambeau has a third and ninth-placed finish with LIV Golf to his name since snatching the US Open title last month, but he is yet to record higher than eighth at The Open.

Buoyed by his Scottish Open triumph, home favourite Robert MacIntyre is one to watch out for, with the left-hander riding a crest of a wave after two tournament wins in five outings.

And we cannot forget last year's champion Brian Harman. The American has made eight cuts in a row, but with only one top-10 during that period, it would come as a surprise if he became the first man to defend the Claret Jug since Padraig Harrington in 2008.

Course guide:

This will be the 10th time that Royal Troon has hosted this tournament - the last time coming in 2016 when Henrik Stenson outlasted Phil Mickelson in one of the most famous head-to-head duels of the modern era.

Stenson posted a final-round 63, as opposed to Mickelson's 65. The victor incredibly finished as many as 14 shots ahead of third place J.B. Holmes; the masterclass put on by the pair will live long in the memory.

McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton will be ones to watch courtesy of finishing in a share of fifth on that occasion, with the course measuring a tournament-high 7,190 yards for Royal Troon.

The course is stated to play at the same length this time around, the first six holes running in a line by the sea, leaving players at risk of the elements.

That said, the stretch is considered one of the more favourable parts of the course, the difficulty level being raised considerably on the back nine.

Two of the notable holes are the eighth and 11th, dubbed 'Postage Stamp' and 'The Railway'. The former, measuring at 123 yards, is the shortest hole in Open history, with the 421-yard par-four 11th racked with danger, starting with a blind tee-shot and continuing with an out-of-bounds on the railway track side. There is also a small green with run-off areas to contend with, bringing more out-of-bounds possibilities into play.

Prediction: Collin Morikawa

You can make a case for a whole range of players contesting for the trophy on Sunday, and it would come as a major surprise if Scheffler, McIlroy and Aberg were not in the mix.

For us, though, Morikawa gets the nod. Six top-10s in nine attempts across this particular part of the calendar is sensational, and his worst finish at a major this year is the 14th that came at the US Open.

In Scotland last week, rounds of 65, 66 and 66 were put together before a final-round 69 left him four shots back. Despite the natural disappointment, the 27-year-old's game is in fine working order, and we are backing the 2021 champion to put everything together this week.

>> Click here to see the tee-times for the first round at Royal Troon

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