[Steve Bamford]

The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, Hoylake is a fascinating proposition. The course is a links test, which supposedly isn’t as ‘trick’ as many courses on the Open rota, and naturally plenty of people are referring to Hoylake yielding low scores after Tiger’s heroics here in 2006.

Calm conditions on Thursday, will allow some to score well; with tough windy conditions on Friday looking set to blow plenty into the chest high rough. Now I’m not a meteorologist and forecasts change, especially on the UK coastline, but it looks like early Thurs/ late Fri tee times will have a considerable advantage at this year’s Open. It worked that way in 2010 at St Andrews and those with a short memory will recall that Bubba Watson was on the correct side of a wind affected draw at Augusta in April.

So who to back? Well Scott, Rose and Mickelson appear to be on the negative side of the draw. That won’t necessarily be a fatal problem, as long as they shoot a low score in the placid Thursday conditions. Playing catch-up on Friday will be nigh on impossible.

Taking this into account, players with seemingly the best tee times include Woods, Stenson, Cabrera, Walker, Kuchar, G-Mac, Poulter, Oosthuizen, Fowler, English, Spieth, Furyk, Casey, Harrington, Bjorn, Matsuyama, Reed, Gallagher and one Sergio Garcia.

Let’s see how this pans, out come Sunday.

Steve Bamford
http://www.golfbettingsystem.co.uk

[Ian Hudson]

Donald Has Right Credentials for Hoylake

Luke Donald (12/1 with bet365) has a game well suited to Hoylake and he is a leading contender to be the top player from Britain and Ireland in the Open. For a former world number one the Englishman has a poor record in the majors. He often plays poorly in the first round and leaves himself with too much to do over the rest of the tournament.

Donald has played in 44 majors and in making 27 cuts his success rate of playing over the weekend is no more than average. He has finished in the top three in just two majors and he has made the top ten on eight occasions. In 13 Opens Donald has not made the top three and made just six cuts.

On the face of it based on career results Donald does not have a game suited to links golf. However, Hoylake looks to be a good fit for his game and this could be the week when he contends in a major. He could improve on his best performances in the Open in 2009 and 2012 when he came fifth.

It is Donald’s outstanding short game that gives him a chance this week. He is a top 20 player for putting, scrambling and sand saves. There are 96 riveted bunkers at Hoylake and tough run-off areas so getting up and down from sand and just off the green will be key and Donald excels in this area.

Time For El Nino to Become a Man

When Sergio Garcia (25/1 with William Hill) came second in the US PGA Championship in 1999 as a teenager he looked destined to win several major championships during his twenties. Fifteen years later he is still trying to win that elusive first major but El Nino could become a man at Hoylake this week by wining the British Open Championship

When the Open was last held at Royal Liverpool in 2006 Garcia played with Tiger Woods in the last group in the fourth round. Just one shot off the pace he looked set to contend for the prize he craves most. He couldn’t recover from two early bogeys and eventually shot the joint highest round of any player that finished in the top ten that week. At the end of the tournament Garcia was seven shots behind Woods.

A year later Garcia lost in a play-off with Padraig Harrington in the Open at Carnoustie. He led from the first round and missed a putt on the 72nd hole to win the Open. He hit the flagstick with an approach shot during the pay-off but Harrington won his first major by playing better over the four extra holes.

Garcia has not got closer to winning a major since and that disappointment seems to have been carried into the rest of his career, especially in the majors. Despite not winning one of the four most prestigious titles in golf Garcia has an outstanding overall record in the majors. He has finished in the top five at least once in all four and of the modern players only Lee Westwood has a better record without winning one. This could be Garcia’s week at Hoylake in the Open.

Rose Blooming at the Right Time

Justin Rose (14/ with Stan James) has now won his last tournament on the two main Tours and will head into this week’s Open Championship at Hoylake knowing his game is in the best order possible.

He won his first tournament on a links course in the Scottish Open and will now be trying to emulate Phil Mickelson who won the Scottish version last year before winning the Open a week later.Mickelson proved you can win in consecutive weeks and in the week before a major and still be competitive when it matters most.

Since moving to links courses the quality of the field for the Scottish Open has improved as players look to hone their game to the demands of seaside golf on courses that are similar to those that stage the Open.A brief ‘links swing’ has been created and it can only be good for the sport that so many of the leading players have added the Scottish Open to their schedule.

Players like Rory McIlroy and Rose realise that you cannot be competitive on a links course when you have been playing and practising in the States in the previous week. Andy Murray would not go straight from playing on clay without some grass court practice or matches before Wimbledon.

Rose first came to prominence in the British Open at Royal Birkdale in 1998. As a 17year old amateur he finished fourth after chipping in on his final hole. He turned professional immediately but had a nightmare start in the paid ranks.

He gradually rebuilt his career the culmination of which was winning the US Open last year. He now begins his attempt to win the British version in the best form of his life.

[Steve Bamford]

The one player I never mentioned on the better side of the draw was the eventual winner!