Here is how my British Open choices completed:
Justin Rose: sixteen/1 (MC)
Phil Mickelson: 16/1 (1st)
Adam Scott: 20/1 (t-3rd)
Dustin Johnson: 33/1 (t-thirty second)
Matt Kuchar: forty/1 (t-fifteenth)
Jordan Speith: 125/1 (t-forty fourth)
Robert Karlsson: one hundred fifty/1 (MC)
Graham DeLaet: 150/1 (t-83rd)
Marc Leishman: 200/1 (MC)
Value Pick: Luke Guthrie 300/1 (MC)
Here are my selections for the Canadian Open:
Matt Kuchar: 18/1
Billy Horschel: 33/1
Chris Kirk: 50/1
Matt Jones: 55/1
Morgan Hoffmann: fifty five/1
Ryan Palmer: 60/1
Jerry Kelly: sixty six/1
Nicholas Thompson: seventy five/1
Cameron Tringale: one hundred/1
Value Pick: Tom Gillis 150/1
I notion the British Open became one of the extra interesting ones to look at in recent memory as we had roughly 10 extraordinary gamers all in competition going into the returned 9 on Sunday.
One of the problems that has a tendency to smash the Open for many lovers is how the weather can alternate so significantly and harm a golfer?S possibilities simply with the aid of getting a horrific tee time. We didn?T have that right here this weekend as the weather become fairly best for Scotland. The wind was there, but it was blowing approximately at 12-15 mph and didn?T appear to get above that.
However, the recent climate conditions made it hard to definitely appreciate Muirfield. The direction resembled some of the courses I grew up playing in Upstate New York throughout the summer season while there's little in the manner of irrigation. It seemed dry, hard and rapid. Outside of the Masters, it?S hard to get a real feel for the any distinctive capabilities of golfing holes within the other majors. But I find that to be maximum tough at the British Open given the hyperlinks design and the holes at Muirfield began to all run collectively.
A big congratulations goes to Mickelson for winning the Open in tremendous style, such as birdieing 4 of the closing 6 holes. I might positioned that round up there with Charl Schwartzel?S very last spherical heroics on the 2011 Masters where he snuck up on absolutely everyone, birdied the closing four holes and gained a closely contested Green Jacket. From a drama angle, it become no longer as lovely as say Nicklaus? Augusta victory in 1986. But, I may want to recognize it greater than Ernie Els? Victory final yr as Mickelson ?Won? The Open as an alternative of having Adam Scott ?Lose? The Open.
There had been some large matters that I took away from the Open.
Mickelson has a wholly higher demeanor at the course than Tiger (and most gamers on Tour)
We?Ve seen this all year from Lefty, even on the Masters where he performed extraordinarily. He emphatically states his self assurance that he can win the tournament after each round. And it seems natural as opposed to a false feel of self belief. Tiger seems to saunter around the direction extra, specifically after hitting a terrible shot. Phil has completely greater composure which is ordinary for the reason that Tiger commonly moves it higher than Phil. In the cease, this permits Phil to hit better photographs down the stretch than Tiger.
Tiger is hurt through his conservative play off the tee.
I think the 2008 PGA Championship misplaced to YE Yang has set a precedent for Tiger. In that very last round Tiger played extraordinarily conservative off the tee while Yang constantly blasted his motive force well past Woods? Three-timber and a couple of-iron off the tee. The stop result became Yang had an awful lot closer tactics. Tiger could hit those longer processes amazingly near given the gap he become hitting them from, but Yang would constantly positioned them internal Tiger and that?S why he won.
It?S very difficult to play conservatively and achieve success on Tour. Tiger can do it due to the fact he?S exceptional along with his 3-wood off the tee and is an awesome long-iron participant. He also has a knack for buying warm with the putter from lengthy distance.
But, he?S placing his odds against him while he plays conservatively. And sooner or later the ones long putts will now not fall because they don?T continuously fall for each person on Tour, ever. Perhaps his conservative play off the tee this year is because of now not trusting his driver. Either way, he wishes to have the ability to drag the driver out of his bag much greater often and be able to hit fine shots with the driver. There?S a purpose why he?S by no means won a primary when he has not had the lead after the third spherical.
The Mickelson manner works for now.
There has been a debate about Phil Mickelson?S ballstriking ability. As I even have stated time and again in Pro Golf Synopsis, Phil is a great to wonderful irons participant. However, he?S a lousy driving force of the ball. I have not begun to see some other information which can refute that.
I assume a main trouble for Phil is that his driver doesn?T quite in shape him. At the USA Open he didn?T deliver a driving force. Instead he utilized a 43-1/four? 3-wooden with a 12? Loft. He should hit it as much as 300 yards, however the shorter shaft and eventually heavier membership allowed him to get on well the tee a good deal extra successfully than if he had used his 45-half? Motive force. And even in the end, the 3-timber inaccuracies stymied him a piece at Merion.
When Mickelson wins, he wins notwithstanding his driving. Here?S a examine his contemporary metrics going into Muirfield:
Driving Effectiveness: 155th (out of 190 golfers)
Birdie Zone play: 27th
Safe Zone play: 1st
Danger Zone play: 54th
Short Game Play: 31st
Putts Gained: 11th
And that has been a piece of a dip in performance from the Danger Zone for Mickelson, who typically ranks in the top-20 within the class.
At Muirfield, anybody changed into hitting a whole lot of irons off the tees and accordingly Mickelson became no longer at the downside as he would lose strokes if he had to hit driving force, like he did at Bay Hill, Sawgrass and Greenbrier (all courses had been motive force use is frequent and Phil ignored the reduce on every occasion). Instead, Mickelson became now at an advantage off the tee because most of the golfers had been the usage of long irons and that they do now not strike the ball with their lengthy irons in addition to he does.
It could be thrilling to see what takes place at Oak Hill in August as having performed that route some instances, there?S no way possible get across the direction no longer hitting driver. And the punishment from the rough is extreme. Perhaps Phil is going to the three-timber off the tee again (which may additionally serve him nicely), but I assume he has a protracted road to hoe to try to get into contention there.
3JACK
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