The British Open is an amazing golf tournament. Along with the Ryder Cup it is the only golfing event that rivals the Masters and the US Open played annually in the USA. It is a different golf tournament because it is played on a different style of golf course to the traditional US style layouts.
Links golf courses are courses near the ocean and are synonymous with bunkers and massive greens rather than water traps, hazards and heavily treed fairways. They are open, exposed to the elements and the ground tends to be hard. Experts often describe golf in the US as mostly played in the air and golf in Europe as mostly played on the ground. The chip and run and the huge putts replace fairway to green golf where golfers look to stick the ball close to impact.
The Open is being held this year at Muirfield which is described as a course that plays simply but is far from simple to play. This sounds a little confusing but what it means is that the layout is simple without many tricks or surprises but you have to drive long, stay out of trouble and putt well.
This course has tended to favor champions in the past which suggests that you may want to look towards the top golfers to take out this title. The first thing that you will need to win this tournament is for your putter to run hot. So you would think this rules out the likes of Sergio Garcia. It also won’t suit the American tee to green players who aren’t used to letting the ball roll on.
I will be taking Tiger Woods at around 10/1 which I think is juicy. Back him to win, each way (top 5) and top 10. Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell look well placed and you should be able to get better than 20/1 about them both. If you are looking for a couple of long shots I like Nicolas Colsaerts at around 80/1 and Marc Leishman at around 150/1. Enjoy what will be one hell of great weekend of golf.
