The summer is in full swing and golf fans will be making the most of the light nights, warm weather and regular PGA Tour tournaments over the next few weeks in the build up to the next major on the golf calendar — the Open Championship. A full crowd will be heading to Fife for the first time since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and now with a sense of normality resumed spectators can return to the St. Andrews Old Course and prepare to scan the golf betting odds for a favourite.
This year see’s the tournament celebrate its 150th anniversary, and with such a competitive line-up to be expected, especially how close the Masters and PGA Championship have been, another exciting affair looks on the cards. Last year saw Collin Morikawa win at Royal St. George’s in Kent as he made it a second career major, adding to his maiden PGA Championship in the rescheduled 2020 event. He edged past Jordan Spieth to clinch victory and has since made his way to number four in the world rankings.
With a few more weeks left until the Open gets underway, the golf tips are still struggling to pick a winner, but with the plethora of talent on hand there are a few that are certainly worth keeping an eye out for. Read on, as we look at three golfers worth watching at this year’s Open Championship.
Rory McIlroy
You get the sense that if Rory McIlroy is to ever end his long-awaited drought for a major, that it would finally arrive on British shores. The 33-year-old, who burst onto the scene and drew comparisons to Tiger Woods for his achievements back in his youth, looks a pale comparison of the man that won the Open and PGA Championship in 2014 but encouraging signs have been shown in his last few outings.
A fast start was followed by some self-inflicted capitulation at the Masters but the Northern Irishman, who has four victories in majors to his name, comes into the Open as a 9/1 favourite, and if he can show some consistency throughout 18 holes, he’ll have more than enough in the tank to reign supreme at St. Andrews.
Jon Rahm
The downfall of Jon Rahm since the turn of the year has coincided with the meteoric rise of now world number one Scottie Scheffler, but that doesn’t mean people should begin to underestimate the Spaniard’s abilities.
Third in last year’s Open, Rahm was unable to carry on his surge of momentum after winning the 2021 US Open, and a poor turnout in the Memorial tournament has somewhat overshowed his Phoenix Open and Mexican Championship wins. Rahm certainly has enough talent to go all the way in Scotland.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Now onto the man that grew up admiring McIlory and was congratulated by him after his recent US Open victory — Matt Fitzpatrick. At 27 years old, the Yorkshireman became the first English golfer to win both an amateur championship and US Open and the win on American shores will provide much needed confidence for the Open, especially after holding his nerve against Will Zalatoris.
“It’s what you grow up dreaming of,” he said. “It’s something I’ve worked so hard for such a long time. I’ve got to give myself credit: I had so much patience.”
Again, playing closer to home could indeed benefit the Brit, who will be in search of a second major title, having struggled in previous editions of The Open and the Masters.
