British Open week is upon us. Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England hosts the 143rd Open Championship. This is the 12th time overall the tournament has been played at Royal Liverpool, most recently 2006’s memorable, iron-filled victory by Tiger Woods.
2014’s 3rd major is here and similar to every significant tournament this year, I’m having a hard time choosing my favorites. This PGA season is a match that just won’t light so far. I keep waiting for someone to make a prolonged statement, but it doesn’t seem like we can get more than 3 weeks of dominance from anyone. Even the crowning of a new world’s #1 ranked golfer was diluted by the uncertainty of his grasp on the spot, with a potential win from several other players enough to end Adam Scott’s reign before it barely got started.
So, who do we like this week?
Never-the-less, fantasy golf leagues and odds makers will continue to chug along, so we offer our picks for the British Open/Open Championship (don’t get me started, we’ll talk about that another time):
Justin Rose– Is his hot streak the first streak worth talking about since Jimmy Walker’s run earlier this season? If it wasn’t for Justin Rose, I may not have been able to finish this article before Thursday’s first tee time. In a season starved for hot streaks, how can I not pick the hottest golfer on the planet right now? I will conveniently ignore the fact he has never placed in the top 10 of this tournament as a professional.
Henrik Stenson– Stenson is getting hot at the right time. Last year’s runner up at Carnoustie, he also has 2 other top 10’s in this event. A tie for 4th at the U.S. Open (his last PGA event) and 2nd place at the BMW International Open cement him as a solid play this week.
Graeme McDowell– Of the 10 cuts (11 events) he has made on the PGA Tour this year, 5 of those tournaments were top 10 finishes. Of the 4 cuts ( 6 events) he’s made on the European PGA Tour, all 4 events were top 10 finishes including the win at the French Open handed to him by Kevin Stadler.
Dark Horse, Rickie Fowler– Tied for 2nd place at the U.S. Open and a surprisingly strong showing at the Scottish Open last week, could this be Rickie’s breakout win? He’s been playing well since he changed his swing. A cause for hesitation, he’s missed 8 cuts out of his 19 PGA events this year. More than likely this is an all or nothing play, but he has made 4 out of 5 cuts in his European Tour starts.
100-1 Flyer, Shane Lowry– Shane had a strong showing last week at the Scottish Open finishing tied for 4th place. A 12th place finish the week before at the BMW International Open shows me all the trending I need to see for a long shot. Why not?
The 143rd Open Championship begins Thursday July 17 at 6:25 a.m. local time, 1:25 a.m. EST.
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