PORTRUSH, Northern Eire — The ultimate main championship of the 12 months has arrived, and if the 2019 Open Championship is any indication, Royal Portrush is as soon as once more set to supply the right canvas for an epic 4 rounds of golf to find out the champion golfer of the 12 months.
This 12 months’s majors have already given us compelling outcomes as world No. 2 Rory McIlroy accomplished the profession grand slam on the Masters, and the highest participant on this planet, Scottie Scheffler, added to his main whole by successful the PGA Championship. Then, journeyman J.J. Spaun shocked the golf world final month when he outlasted each participant within the area and conquered Oakmont for his main victory in the usOpen.
All three are within the Open this week in addition to the remainder of the highest gamers on this planet who will look to play their approach into the story of this main season.
This is a take a look at the 25 gamers most certainly to be elevating the Claret Jug come Sunday.
1. Scottie Scheffler
There may be by no means a lot to say about Scheffler earlier than any of those majors any extra than simply to all the time body any prediction with the caveat that he would possibly merely overpower the remainder of the sector in a approach solely he can. However what’s extra intriguing is seeing the three-time main champion make his approach abroad and attempt to translate what makes him excel stateside to a vastly completely different type of golf.
Editor’s Picks
2 Associated
On the Scottish Open this week, Scheffler completed tied for eighth and his document at Open Championships thus far has been, comparatively talking, probably the most combined of any of the opposite majors. In 4 begins, Scheffler’s greatest end is a tie for seventh finally 12 months’s Open (he completed tied for eighth in his Open debut in 2021) and he has two finishes simply exterior the highest 20 in between. Should you wanted a reminder of how good he’s, since 2021 (the primary 12 months he performed all 4 majors) that is the one main through which Scheffler has a couple of end exterior of the highest 20 in 19 begins.
So, sure — spoiler alert — it is protected to say one of the best participant on this planet might be going to contend this week.
2. Jon Rahm
Maybe nobody has been slowly however certainly trending in the proper path over the course of this 12 months greater than Rahm. Certain, there are the sheer variety of top-10 LIV finishes he has accrued, however extra notably is the best way he has carried out on the 12 months’s largest occasions. Since final 12 months’s Open Championship at Royal Troon the place he quietly completed in a tie for seventh, Rahm has discovered his recreation.
On the Masters, he completed 14th and adopted up that efficiency with heading into the again 9 at Quail Hole with an actual probability to win the PGA Championship. The Spaniard could not catch Scheffler, however the best way he battled there and at Oakmont to complete tied for seventh felt quintessential Rahm. No person will get the aggressive juices flowing greater than him, and given the place he already occupies in European golf historical past, it feels as if he ought to have a Claret Jug on his résumé. The best way Rahm has been enjoying just lately, Portrush ought to arrange effectively to offer him an opportunity to do exactly that.
3. Rory McIlroy
Properly, right here we’re once more. The Open has returned to McIlroy’s house nation and he ought to — emphasis on ought to — be within the combine to win his sixth main championship. In 2019, that was additionally the sense and McIlroy proceeded to hit his first tee shot of the event out of bounds and missed the minimize. It was an anticlimactic conclusion to a extremely anticipated week.
So much has modified since — McIlroy has gained a inexperienced jacket and is now a profession grand slam winner. He has additionally underperformed since that historic win in April. Furthermore, he has spoken at size about struggling to seek out motivation whereas additionally acknowledging that there’s something about this particular event being in Northern Eire that ought to spark one thing in him. Maybe that spark got here per week early, too. On the Scottish Open this previous week, McIlroy performed a few of his greatest golf because the Masters, posting rounds of 68-65-66-68 to complete tied for second.
4. Bryson DeChambeau
In the identical approach that there was a fascination with how DeChambeau strategizes and assaults Augusta Nationwide on a year-to-year foundation, I am all the time fascinated by how his recreation interprets — or would not — to hyperlinks golf. In seven appearances, DeChambeau has just one top-10 end (Royal Liverpool in 2022) and has missed the minimize 3 times, together with final 12 months at Royal Troon.
Something is on the desk this week for the two-time U.S. Open winner. You may inform me DeChambeau will by some means discover his strategy recreation and trip his quick recreation to a commanding win at Portrush and I might consider it. You may additionally inform me he struggles to maintain it within the fairway below robust situations and misses the minimize. This type of recreation would not precisely match DeChambeau, however watching him attempt to crack the code is definitely worth the value of admission.
5. Xander Schauffele
The defending champion is just right here, at No. 5, as a result of he has had a comparatively quiet 12 months since successful two majors final 12 months. After coping with a rib harm in the beginning of the 12 months, Schauffele took a while off after which took time to get again into kind. He has just one top-10 end this season and his strategy recreation (prime 10 in strokes gained on tour) has buoyed what has been an uncharacteristically unhealthy 12 months for his driver, quick recreation and placing.
Considered one of Schauffele’s greatest qualities, his total steadiness, is what allowed him to return from behind final 12 months at Troon. This week in all probability would require loads of that once more at Portrush.
6. Shane Lowry
Maybe that is too excessive for Lowry, however in 2019, he rode the emotional wave of enjoying in a area he is aware of all too effectively to a commanding six-shot victory. The power that Lowry will carry with him as followers cheer him on at a spot the place he has already gained must be value some type of worth to his probabilities this week.
Like McIlroy, he’ll be one of many emotional favorites and although his recreation hasn’t precisely been in nice form on the majors this 12 months (two missed cuts and a tied for forty second on the Masters) he does have 4 top-10 finishes on Tour and it would not shock anybody if he once more performed effectively at Portrush.
7. Viktor Hovland
Having an actual sense for simply precisely how Hovland will play at a serious championship today is a whole guessing recreation. Although he is likely to be waxing within the information convention about how unhealthy his swing feels and the way he is chasing the right really feel, he would possibly find yourself contending the best way he did at Oakmont final month the place he completed third and had an actual shot to win it on the again 9.
Earlier this 12 months, Hovland missed three straight cuts. Shortly after, he gained the Valspar Championship. Final 12 months, Hovland completed third on the PGA Championship and in addition missed the minimize on the three different majors, together with the Open. Like DeChambeau, Hovland has the sport to win this week, however the house between his ceiling and his ground is as vast as anybody close to the highest of this record.
8. Collin Morikawa
There aren’t too many individuals on this planet who’re hitting the ball in addition to Morikawa has this season. His ballstriking is as elite as ever and but, regardless of having 4 top-10s this season, he can not seem to recover from the road and win his first event because the 2023 Zozo Championship.
Morikawa is aware of methods to win this event — he did it in 2021 at Royal St. George’s — and although his recreation has objectively improved since then, there appears to be one thing lacking in his skill to place 4 high quality rounds collectively on the sport’s prime tournaments. This 12 months, he completed 14th on the Masters however has gone backward, ending tied for fiftieth on the PGA Championship and tied for twenty third on the U.S. Open. Theoretically, at a course like Portrush, Morikawa’s iron play and accuracy off the tee ought to put him in competition. How his placing fares (at the moment 99th on tour this season) will decide how far up the leaderboard he can go.
9. Ludvig Åberg
There was some extent, proper after Aberg’s win at this 12 months’s Genesis Invitational, that it felt as if he was the speak of the game. Since then, Aberg has fallen right into a little bit of a rut, lacking 4 cuts (together with at each the PGA and the U.S. Open) and solely notched one top-10 end (seventh place on the Masters). However Aberg is quietly lurking. On the Scottish final week, he appeared to seek out some kind and completed tied for eighth and it will not be a shock if he entered the dialog at Portrush this week and hung round till Sunday.
10. Tommy Fleetwood
Might this lastly be the week? Fleetwood has come agonizingly near not solely a serious win lately however actually, grabbing any win that is not on the DP World Tour. Fleetwood’s recreation, with its elite ballstriking, feels primed for an Open Championship and this one, particularly, ought to go well with his recreation. Although he missed the minimize at Troon final 12 months, in his two earlier appearances on the Open, Fleetwood completed inside the highest 10.
11. Tyrrell Hatton
Maybe Hatton must be a bit larger right here. His efficiency at Oakmont was totally spectacular — a tie for fourth was his greatest end ever at a serious and it feels as if he has been slowly trending towards being extra of an element on the weekend of main championships (he has two top-15 finishes up to now two years at Augusta).
Nonetheless, it is exhausting to shake the truth that Hatton’s angle, the best way he responds to unhealthy pictures or unhealthy breaks will probably be examined this week at a hyperlinks setup like Portrush. Both approach, it’s going to be enjoyable to observe him do this week.
12. Robert MacIntyre
MacIntyre was totally spectacular at Oakmont, battling the situations and delay on Sunday and nonetheless carding a spherical of two below to carry the clubhouse lead and practically get right into a playoff with Spaun. MacIntyre is comfy, to say the least, on this a part of the world and on hyperlinks programs. Although he missed the minimize on the Scottish this previous week, he has the sport to contend at Portrush this week.
13. Russell Henley
Any time ballstriking and accuracy — and never driving distance — are prioritized in a specific venue, Henley appears to rise to the highest and with good cause. He’s a top-10 participant in strokes gained and has eight top-10s and one win this season. On the foremost entrance, Henley has struggled, lacking the minimize on the Masters and the PGA. At Oakmont, a top-10 end felt extra apt, and now he’ll arrive at Portrush coming off a fifth-place end at Troon final 12 months.
14. Brooks Koepka
It is exhausting to gauge the place precisely Koepka’s recreation is in the mean time. Although he confirmed flashes of his previous self Oakmont and talked at size about how misplaced his swing had been for some time, he withdrew from the next LIV occasion and completed tied for thirty second in its most up-to-date event. If situations at Portrush get gnarly this week, I may see Koepka rising, nevertheless it may additionally be that his recreation is solely not fairly sharp sufficient proper now to actually contend.
15. Joaquín Niemann
This is the factor: Niemann must be larger than fifteenth on this record, however the actuality is that, although he continues to excel on LIV (4 wins this season), his performances on the sport’s largest occasions proceed to underwhelm. Even this 12 months, after lastly recording his first top-10 end at a serious in the course of the PGA, Niemann adopted it up with a missed minimize at Oakmont.
16. Justin Thomas
Thomas and the Open Championship do not appear to get alongside very effectively. In eight appearances at this occasion, Thomas has missed three cuts and by no means completed inside the highest 10. However in case you’re searching for optimism, Thomas’ greatest end at an Open got here at Portrush in 2019. That week, Thomas performed 4 rounds of even-par golf or higher. He’ll be hoping to deliver that very same type of show to the Dunluce course this week.
17. Matt Fitzpatrick
I actually do not know what to make of Fitzpatrick, who hasn’t had a win on tour since 2023 and hasn’t actually contended at a serious since his 2022 U.S. Open win, however he has proven some kind going into this week with an eighth-place end on the Rocket Classsic and a fourth-place end this previous week on the Scottish Open.
18. Jordan Spieth
Talking of gamers who you by no means know what you are going to get, here is Spieth. I’ve a tough time believing he truly has an opportunity to win this week, however at the same time as erratic as he might be, Spieth has 4 top-10 finishes this season and has missed solely two cuts. Final 12 months, these two numbers have been three and 7, respectively.
19. Justin Rose
Let it not be forgotten that Rose had an actual shot to win this event final 12 months at Troon and completed in a tie for second. Rose has had a roller-coaster 12 months thus far, taking McIlroy to a playoff at Augusta however lacking three of his previous 4 cuts, together with on the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Nonetheless, at 44, he has proved he can nonetheless contend and an Open is likely to be his greatest shot at getting a second main.
20. Corey Conners
Very like Henley, Conners’ superpower is his elite ballstriking, which ought to translate effectively to a hyperlinks course akin to Portrush. It is by no means fairly felt as if Conners has ever raised his recreation sufficient to actually compete at a serious championship (his greatest end is a sixth-place end on the 2022 Masters), however because it did in 2022 with Brian Harman, the Open usually tends for giving us surprising winners who merely hold the ball in entrance of all of them week. Conners may actually be that.
21. J.J. Spaun
Very like Wyndham Clark after the 2023 U.S. Open win, Spaun’s profession now takes on a special tone. Whether or not he is ready to observe up his win at Oakmont with one other aggressive begin at a serious championship is likely to be a tricky ask, particularly given that is Spaun’s first time competing in an Open.
22. Ben Griffin
How do you not embrace Griffin? The 29-year-old has been probably the greatest gamers on tour this season, successful twice and racking up eight top-10 finishes. Griffin hasn’t had a lot luck with the Open — he has missed the minimize in two appearances — however he is enjoying at an entire completely different stage this 12 months.
23. Keegan Bradley
5 top-10 finishes, a top-10 at a serious and a PGA Tour victory — that is what Bradley’s season seems to be like thus far and the dialog about him being a enjoying captain on the Ryder Cup is already at a fever pitch. He may not want it, however a fantastic end at Portrush, and even an unbelievable win, would seal it.
24. Sepp Straka
In a transfer that may solely be described as the other of Koepka, Straka has made a residing off excelling at PGA Tour occasions however continues to wrestle on the game’s largest phases. Like Griffin, he additionally has two wins this season whereas including 5 top-10s, however he has missed the minimize on the Masters, the PGA and the U.S. Open.
25. Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama’s greatest end at an Open Championship got here in his Open debut in 2013 when he completed tied for sixth at Muirfield. Can Matsuyama win? In fact. However it will take so much for a participant who hasn’t had a top-10 end this 12 months exterior of his win on the Sentry.
First 4 out: Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, Sam Burns
