0

Our Links Life Golf Open Championship Picks

It’s Open Championship week and the oldest and most intriguing of the majors wouldn’t be complete without the Links Life Golf Crew Open Championship Picks.

The boys at Links Life Golf put hours and hours into researching their favorites at Royal Troon and have selected these fine golfers to become The Champion Golfer of the Year.open troon flag

Lil Skins is still alive for the Grand Slam with a win at the U.S. Open and a tie for first at The Masters. There can be only one! And right now he’s the man. He likes the 2010 Open Champion Louie Oosthuizen to get another and Lee Westwood to break through. He thinks Dustin Johnson will go back to back and Rory McIlroy to get another Claret Jug. Of course he likes his man crush, Miguel Angel Jimenez as his dark horse and thinks Jordan Spieth will go home early with a missed cut.

Gordo, aka Dr. Albatross, thinks Spieth will get back on the major train as will Graeme McDowell. He likes Kevin Na to break through and Colin Montgomerie to break through for his first major at age 53 on his home course. Dark horse Matthew Fitzpatrick would be a wonderful story and he thinks Patrick Reed is missing the cut.

Big Dick poured over stats for a week before putting his faith in Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Spieth and he hopes that Sergio Garcia can finally get that monkey off his back. His dark horse Danny Lee is coming off a T3 at the Scottish Open and is one hot golfer. He thinks Danny Willet will be taking his green jacket home early.

The Greek likes those top four golfers that all have withdrawn from the Olympics, Jason Day, DJ, Spieth and Rory. It’s odd that the Greek, an Athenian and a descendant from the original home of the Olympics would pick those golfers that jilted the Olympics. Hmmm, interesting. Shane Lowry is his dark horse and Rickie Fowler will miss the cut.

G. Rennie by far has the most to say about his picks, of course he does. And he like his Open in caps.

Royal Troon is as green as Muirfiled Village and with rain expected Friday through Sunday it’s going to get even greener. And when a links is this green and isn’t running as fast as the R&A would like ball strikers with power gain back some the edge they lose when it runs very fast and fairways run out too quickly.

Branden Grace- has made an international rep by consistently contending in recent majors. Ranked #10 in the world, the burly South African is making beau coup d’argent on the PGA TOUR this year and is near the top in many tour stats, including scoring average. Numbers aside, there is just something in his manner and aggressive play on the big stage that tells me he’s ready for a major title.

Adam Scott- the Other Aussie, with the swing every golf instructor dreams of, is probably the most consistent performer in The OPEN in recent history. He has four consecutive top tens highlighted (perhaps lowlighted is more apt) by his 2nd place finish in 2012. We all remember his collapse at Royal Lytham &St. Anne’s where he bogied the last four holes to hand the Championship to his buddy Ernie Els. His Masters win the next spring was some redemption but he’s out for full blown salvation that only the Claret Jug can confer.

Henrik Stenson- this big Swede spanks the ball like few other mortals can. His 3 metal game is made to order for this course and he’ll even be able to hit driver into the wind on the inward nine. Royal Troon has relatively simple greens with less undulations than most tracks so Henrik’s less than great putting touch should be less of a hindrance than at other majors or courses in the OPEN Rota.

Dustin Johnson- you gotta ride the big guy! He is on a roll with back to back wins but, more importantly, he is on the other side of the wall now. I’m talking about the wall that separates major winners from every other major winner wannabe in the world. He’s in the promised land now and he’s ready to bag a slew of majors. And if the golf world doesn’t think this guy has a champions maturity, rock solid character, true humility and sporting class than they weren’t watching at Oakmont. Johnson outshone the grandees of golf at the USGA and made the golf story of the year ( The New Big Three) an outdated idea.

Rickie Fowler continues his flea bag year and misses another cut in a major.

Andy Sullivan, and Englishman who’s always smiling (is he really English?) is my dark horse pick. A good showing at Castle Stuart in the Scottish Open last week, where it rained and blew all week, will be a great tune up for his week at Royal Troon.

Big Skins: For my money there are so many golfers that can win here and with the quirkiness of links golf that brings so many more golfers into the mix. Remember this is the championship that had Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton win in consecutive years. But I’ll go with some familiar names that can tame the wind and the links of Royal Troon.

Rory has one big chip on his shoulder now that Day, DJ and Spieth have overtaken him in the rankings and in the media. DJ is as hot as can be and if the course stays soft he’ll be able to eat it up. Adam Scott deserves an Open Championship and this may be the one. Branden Grace has been hanging around majors very often the last few years and sooner or layer he’ll find one.

My dark horse is an oldie but goodie…Lee Westwood. Westy is playing well and knows links golf. The greens at Troon should suit him well. Try and find a top 15 player that will miss the cut. That’s the toughest pick here, anyone of them could win…but I’ll hop on the Bash Rickie Train and pick him to go home early.

Let’s see come Sunday if any of us has seen the future and picked The Champion Golfer of the Year.

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.