Form Guide - 2008 British Open
IN: News | European PGA | British Open (2008) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 15 Jul 2008
The Open Championship will be played this week at Royal Birkdale near Southport in Lancashire, England. Southport is in the north west of England, just north of Liverpool and sits on the Irish Sea. This area of England is the home for three of the nine modern day Open Championship layouts with Hoylake and Royal Lytham & St Annes in close proximity.
Royal Birkdale was first used as an Open Championship venue in 1954 and this week will see the course hosting the event for the 9th occasion. Since last played at this venue in 1998, the course has has been lengthened by some 155 yards, bunkers have been added and removed resulting in a nett gain of six although many more have been repositioned and reconstructed. Trees have also been removed to return to course to more of a natural links feel and many greens have been rebuilt and in some cases repositioned.
The changes have not received universal acceptance, 1991 winner, Ian Baker Finch, was critical of the change made to the green at the par five 17th, which has been pushed back 25 yards into the dunes and heavily contoured.
“The new 17th green is not really in keeping with a links style of golf course,” said Baker Finch recently.
The tournament is perhaps receiving more publicity as a result of who isn’t playing rather than who is.
Arguably the greatest player the game has seen, Tiger Woods, is missing his first major championship since the PGA Championship of 1996. He has won fourteen of the 46 he has played in that time. While his absence is a significant blow to the event, by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around the focus and attention will be where it needs to be, namely on the winner.
Determining just who that winner might be, is not any easier despite Tiger’s absence. Interestingly in the most international of Championships, Americans have a great record at this event having won seven of the last ten Championships but in 2008 there is good reason to believe the Europeans hold a great chance of winning for the second year in succession.
It has been 20 year since such a feat was performed by Seve Ballesteros with his 1998 victory backed up Nick Faldo’s win the previous year.
Sergio Garcia
Sergio Garcia has warmed in favouritism since the confirmation
that Woods was taking the rest of 2008 away from golf. Garcia
trailed only Woods into the final round just down the road at
Hoylake two years ago and last year saw a 12 foot putt at the
72nd hole catch the lip before going on to lose a playoff to
Padraig Harrington.
Garcia has been in fine form in recent months winning the Players Championship and in his most recent tournament finished runner up at the European Open. If Garcia can handle the increased expectation there is now on him to win his first major, he stands a great chance of doing just that.
What a treble it would be for Spain in 2008 if Garcia was to win. The European Cup, Wimbledon and the Open Championship would surely be Spain’s greatest ever year in sport.
Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood produced his best ever major championship finish
just a few weeks ago at Torrey Pines, finishing third behind only
Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. The manner in which Westwood has
played over the past twelve months generally gives every
indication that he could even better that effort at the Open.
Surprisingly Westwood has a rather ordinary record at the Open
his 4th place at Royal Troon in 2004, one of only two top tens in
13 starts in the event.
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson and the Open Championship have struggled to come
to terms with each other over a long period of time. In 15 starts
there has been just one top ten and it would be surprising if
that was to change this year. If the weather gets nasty, which is
expected during the latter part of Open Championship week, there
is even less reason to be confident of his chances. A generally
disappointing week at Loch Lomond did not help.
Ernie Els
Ernie Els might not be at the peak of his game or his golfing
confidence but there have been enough signs to indicate that he
could step up in an event where he has often played well. His
record of eight top five finishes in this event, including his
win in 2002 and playoff loss in 2004, makes him one of the
favourites. His solid 9th place finish at the Scottish Open was
encouraging.
Geoff Ogilvy
Geoff Ogilvy has been quietly going about his business in recent
starts with three top tens in his last three events. His form at
the Open Championship has been a mixture but his 5th place finish
in 2005 gave an indication of what he can do on Open type
courses.
Adam Scott
Adam Scott perhaps has too many things working against him to be
considered a realistic chance. A finger broken in a car door two
months ago has hampered him. His ordinary record at the Open
Championship, especially give his status in the game, is hardly
reason for confidence in his chances. While many Australians are
waiting for it to happen it would be a surprise if it was this
year. He has shown that his game is thereabouts with a reasonable
week at Loch Lomond.
Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington has not, in recent weeks, been at the peak of
his game that he was earlier in the season but it has been solid
enough. He did however head to the Irish PGA Championship last
week at the European Club just outside of Dublin, choosing to
play that event due to the course’s links like qualities, and as
he did last year won his lead up event to the Open. In the past
35 years only two players, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson, have won
consecutive Open Championships but if Harrington was to do so
this week it would surprise no-one.
Stewart Cink
Stewart Cink is not one who would necessarily be considered as a
likely Open Championship winner but his 6th place at Carnoustie
last year sheds a different light on his chances, especially
given his recent form. He won the recent Travelers Championship
in Hartford at his last start and seems to have been in
contention in most of his events most this year including when
3rd at Augusta.
Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh is very nearly the forgotten man of late. A close
analysis of his form in 2008 however reveals it is not too bad.
He was 5th in Hartford recently and although he had an ordinary
US Open, his form before that was generally very good. His form
at the Open Championship has, in the main, been very consistent
over a long period of time, culminating in his near miss at Royal
St Georges in 2003.
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Miguel Angel Jimenez is playing well in 2008 and his recent 6th
place finish at the US Open brings him into consideration for
this week’s event. Perhaps surprisingly Jimenez’s record at the
Open is very ordinary aside from a third place finish behind
Duval in 2001. He has had another good week with a third at the
Scottish Open and is primed for a big week.
Jim Furyk
Jim Furyk has produced the occasional good finish at the Open
Championship, finishing in fourth place, three times. One of
those fourth place finishes was at Royal Birkdale. Furyk’s last
start prior to this week was a third place at the Congressional
Country Club, which gives an indication of the current state of
his game and if he was to better his previous best Open finish it
would be no surprise.
Robert Karlsson
Robert Karlsson is playing the best golf of his career including
top ten placings at both the Masters and the US Open. He has been
inside the top 20 in seven of his last eight starts worldwide and
another appears likely this week. Karlsson has an absolutely
shocking record in this event but that could have been said about
him before the US Open before his brilliant 4th place there.
As we have seen in recent years, the Open Championship is more than capable of producing a longshot winner. Paul Lawrie, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton readily spring to mind and in events where Tiger Woods was playing. Will this be the case this week or will it be one of those mentioned above?
Discuss this article in our forums
