British Open early observations The Open Championship the oldest major in golf is a handicapper's challenge unlike any other. This year the Rota stop is in Sandwich, ENG at Royal St. Georges GC where they haven't had any rain in weeks which is currently playing hard and fast, but rain is in the forecast for Sat-Sun and possibly earlier.
While we are excited that another major is here primarily because there is a smorgasbord of matchups, my personal results in the British Open are not as good as the other three majors for obvious reasons: Weather, course conditions, Euro Tour venue vs. PGA Tour, and mostly because this event is such a crap shoot with humps and bumps, weird bounces, uneven lies, traps that you cannot see, constant wind changes, slow greens and my favorite quote...."the last time they played The Open at Royal St. Georges in 2003 Ben Curtis became the first player since Francis Ouimet in the 1913 US Open to win his major championship debut." Cripes!
Rory McIlroy is the 6-1 favorite and why not. Just imagine if he had held on to win the Masters, the hype this week would be triple. Speaking of triple, Steve Stricker just won his 3rd straight John Deere Classic (the Tractor Triple), but we are looking to bet against Stricker in The Open as he is a terrible wind player and a fair-weather golfer if there ever was one. I believe the guys that played the Scottish Open this week will have an advantage ....getting acclimatized, hitting shots to the front of the green, bouncing them on instead of flying, sticking, spinning, acquiring again a feel for the conditions of links golf, the slow greens, wind, temps, of course the Euros are way ahead here. Phil Mickelson did not play his best this past week in Scotland, his game has too much spin and hits the ball too high for links golf. Another American, Matt Kuchar fared very well finishing in the Top 10 at -13 under par...I'd take Kuch over Mick in a heartbeat this week.
Other names we are looking bet against: Vijay Singh who WD'd 2 weeks ago from the AT&T National with a bad back received an exemption from the R&A committee because of his stellar 2nd place finish in '03, so he'll have to honor this. Robert (Ganjas) Garrigus also withdrew with a bad back. Alvaro Quiros DNP in the Scottish Open due to a shoulder injury.
Future Book plays:
Fredrik Andersson Hed 400-1........finished 2nd behind Luke Donald in the Scottish Open firing a closing 62 Final Rd. Big Price for someone that is playing well.
Peter Whiteford 350-1................Had the lead at one point in the third round last week at Castle Stuart, love his swing and temperament.
