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Following Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open victory last month British bookmakers immediately installed him as an overwhelming 5/2 favourite for this week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
But with Woods resigned to watching the championship from his couch following knee surgery, this year’s championship is shaping up to be the first truly Open Championship of the Woods era.
Sergio Garcia: 10/1
World Ranking: 7
Best British Open finish: 2nd (2007)
Garcia has an excellent Open record with six Top 10 finishes in his past seven starts. It will be interesting to see how he fares as the favourite for the first time in his career and coming off last year’s disappointing playoff loss to Padraig Harrington.
Ernie Els: 14/1
World Ranking: 5
Best British Open finish: Winner (2002)
Els has won 50 events world-wide, yet only one British Open despite an impressive nine Top 6 finishes including a fourth place finish last year and third the year before. No one has more runner-up finishes to Woods than Els, but he doesn’t have to worry about him this week.
Lee Westwood: 16/1
World Ranking: 19
Best British Open finish: 4th (2004)
Lost in all the Woods-Mediate discussion after the US Open was the fact Westwood beat Woods by a shot on Sunday in the final group with him. He has long been tabbed as a future major champion, and at 34 now may be the time.
Phil Mickelson: 16/1
World Ranking: 2
Best British Open finish: 3rd (2004)
The Open Championship has historically not been kind to Mickelson with only one Top 10 in 15 tries. So don’t expect to see him lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday.
Geoff Ogilvy: 20/1
World Ranking: 3
Best British Open finish: 5th (2005)
Ogilvy hasn’t played since a ninth place finish at the US Open and he has three straight Top 10 finishes. The world No. 3 is a strong performer in the three U.S.-based majors, but he has only made two cuts in five tries across the pond.
Padraig Harrington: 20/1
World Ranking: 14
Best British Open finish: Winner (2007)
The defending champion finished a strong fifth at The Masters, but fell to 36th at the US Open after a poor putting weak. Harrington has no wins to show for 2008 and needs a good week to boost his Ryder Cup chances.
Jim Furyk: 25/1
World Ranking: 12
Best British Open finish: 4th (1997, 1998, 2006)
Ten years ago this week at Birkdale, Furyk was battling it out for the title on Sunday with Woods, Mark O’Meara and Brian Watts. He finished a quiet third three weeks ago at the AT&T National and if he putts well, he will be a serious contender this week.
Vijay Singh: 25/1
World Ranking: 10
Best British Open finish: 2nd (2003)
Singh boasts 36 career top-20 finishes in the Majors, including eight Top 13 finishes in this event. The Fijian has no wins in 2008 despite five Top 5 finishes including a fifth place finish at the Travelers Championship in his most recent start.
Adam Scott: 33/1
World Ranking: 4
Best British Open finish: 8th (2006)
Given his considerable talent, it’s remarkable that Scott has never seriously contended for a major title on Sunday. Other than his Players Championship win in 2003, Scott’s wins have come against weak fields on less than demanding golf courses.
Justin Rose: 33/1
World Ranking: 9
Best British Open finish: 4th (1998)
Much will be made this week of Rose’s fourth place finish as a 17-year-old amateur 10 years ago. One year ago, he finished inside the top-12 in all four Majors. Despite on again, off again back trouble, Rose represents the best British hope for a win.
Retief Goosen: 33/1
World Ranking: 37
Best British Open finish: 5th (2005)
Since 2001 Goosen has four Top 10s in the Open Championship and he hasn’t finished worse than 23rd. He has several top 20 finishes around the world this year but he hasn’t come close to winning any of them.
Robert Karlsson: 33/1
World Ranking: 23
Best British Open finish: 5th (1992)
The big Swede recorded Top 10s at the Masters and US Open earlier this year, but he hasn’t finished higher than 35th at the Open since 1992. Still, Karlsson is the hottest player in the world not named Kenny Perry having finished 3-3-3-2-4-13-6 in his past seven starts.
Stewart Cink: 33/1
World Ranking: 6
Best British Open finish: 6th (2007)
Prior to last year, Cink hadn’t finished higher than 14th in nine Open championships. However, he won the Travelers Championship in his most recent PGA Tour start and he is enjoying a career year with six other Top 10 finishes in 2008.
Graeme McDowell: 40/1
World Ranking: 29
Best British Open finish: 11th (2005)
The winner of last week’s Scottish Open appears to finally be reaching the potential he showed on the way to breaking Tiger Woods’ record NCCA scoring average in winning six of 12 events when studying at the University of Alabama. The two-time winner in 2008 will make his Ryder Cup debut this fall.
Miguel Angel Jimenez: 40/1
World Ranking: 20
Best British Open finish: 3rd (2001)
Like his love of fine wine, the 44-year-old Spaniard keeps getting better with age. The current European Tour Oder of Merit leader finished 3rd at the Scottish Open last week and won Europe’s second biggest tournament—the BMW Championship—back in May.
Canadians:
Mike Weir: 80/1
World Ranking: 35
Best British Open finish: 8th (2007)
Weir struggled and missed the cut two weeks ago at the AT&T following three straight Top 20 finishes including a T2 at The Memorial. His play has been erratic at best in 2008, but Weir tends to save his best play for the majors.
Stephen Ames: 80/1
World Ranking: 25
Best British Open finish: 5th (1997)
Despite a game seemingly well-suited to links golf, Ames has a poor record in the Open Championship with just one Top 20 finish in nine tries. Still, like Weir, Ames plays his best golf in the biggest events.
Odds from ladbrokes.com