Hotdog & Friends

FIg Jam

Picking this year’s British Open should be a lot of fun.  The field is wide open and there are several intriguing storylines.  Here are 5 players who should be favorites, and 1 who should be removed from the tour.

1.  Sergio - Everyone’s touting his breakthrough at the Players Championship as the elixir to Sergio’s Major Championship drought.  Truth be told, it’s really his putting.  He has been on fire with his putter of late, which has always been his achilles heel.  When you combine a hot flatstick with some of the best ballstriking in the game, you have a guy who should contend every week.  He is the odds on favorite. 

2.  Phil - assuming he is no longer carrying 5 wedges in his bag, like he did for the US Open, and assuming he is actually carrying a driver in his bag this week, like he did not for the US Open, Phil Mickelson should be near the top of the leaderboard.  Talk about one of the all time examples of thinking yourself right out of a major: look to Phil and this years US Open.  I believe that he will be seeking redemption and feeling confident without his nemesis out there.  The British has never been Phil’s strongest major, but as he has gotten older, his game has morphed a little bit and become a little better suited to Open style golf (ie - less stupid decisions, this year’s US Open being an obvious exception).  His creativity around the greens always gives him a chance.

3. Adam Scott -Scott has been playing great golf and has moved up significantly in the world rankings.  I think most people would be surprised to learn that Scott is the #4 ranked player in the world right now.   It should be only a matter of time until he breaks out with his first major.  His meltdown in last year’s US Open (07′) notwithstanding, he is incredibly consistent and could be standing with the Claret Jug on Sunday.

4.  Justin Rose - Same analysis as Adam Scott, with the caveat that Rose has had success at the British Open in the past.  As a teenager he captured lightening in a bottle, with a 3rd place finish and he has much of England rooting for him this week.  Along with fellow countryman Lee Westwood, Rose represents the best chance that a native son will once again hold the British Open title.

5.  Anthony Kim - the 23 year old is brash, confidant, and supremely talented.  He has won twice on tour this year and could easily make it three times at the British.  His game is virtually flawlassly and he exhibits no fear down the stretch. 

Golfer who should be kicked off tour - Kenny Perry.  The guy just won last week, has been playing some of the best golf of his career in the past year, but is choosing to skip the British Open to play in the Horseshit Open this week in the United States (umm… no offense to that tournament, I guess) so he can build Ryder Cup points.  Nice work Kenny.  Way to pay homage to the spirit of the game and prove that you belong on the  US Ryder Cup team by competing against the best European Players this week and beating them. 

My Pick to Win it:  I’m taking Kim. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 9:19 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.