Winners & Losers at The Open Championship

by Jeff Skinner

Winners:

Rory McIlroy looks to be over his Freaky Friday issues. He’s threatening to run away and hide like he did at his U.S. Open and PGA victories. Back to back 66’s and a four stroke lead puts young Rory in great position for his third major and at the same time has those naysayers eating their words.

Italy: The Molinari Brothers and Matteo Manessero for awhile had plenty of Italian flags on the top of the leaderboard.

Dustin Johnson’s seven under 65 has put him where many have thought he should be, on the brink of winning his first major. He needs help from Rory.

Sergio Garcia continues to be one amazing striker of the golf ball. And he is in great shape but we have seen this picture before.

Rickie Fowler has had good success in the majors this year and the Open is no different. Butch Harmon’s work is paying off.

South Africa: Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and George Coetzee all in contention. Gary Player just did 1,000 sit-ups in their honor.

Royal Liverpool or Hoylake, whatever you call it has come out looking great so far. And Liverpool looks awesome too.

Peter Alliss gets better each time I hear him. He’s the wittiest to them all. And his Twitter feed tops anything he says over the air. Check it out.

Losers:

It’s difficult when your championship is over after one swing. And that is what happened to Ernie Els. He never recovered from hitting a spectator with his opening drive and it cost him the hole, the round and any chance at the championship.

Tiger Woods: For mere mortals making the cut barely three months after back surgery would be miraculous. For Woods it is unacceptable. No matter what he says his game isn’t there yet. How could it be?

Phil Mickelson: Phil’s rosy assessment of his game is borderline delusional. He says he is hitting it well and he may be, but the results are just not there, especially with the putter.

Lee Westwood is 41 and still looking for that first major. The former world number one will have to live with being the Colin Montgomerie of his generation.

The amateur Ashley Chesters didn’t make the cut but that is the best name of the championship. That’s the classiest “stripper name” I ever heard.

Miguel Angel Jimenez won’t earn any Ryder Cup points with a missed cut. He’ll just have to count on the fact that he’s still the coolest guy in the game.

At least we have one Watson playing the weekend and it’s not Bubba. 64 year old Tom Watson out played Bubba by two shots and will makes two more trips around Hoylake. This is what experience, patience and focus…along with a lot of skill can do for you. Bubba needs to learn that.

Not a loser at all: 

John Singleton, the now famous factory worker and my longshot to make the cut just missed the weekend by two shots. He had a very respectable 70 today and birdied three of his last four to end his fairytale on a positive note. He may be disappointed but this week has been a dream come true for him. Maybe he’ll walk away with some sponsors after all this attention.