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JoePa's Open Championship
THE BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP -
Can the Americans break the drought! I've decided they have only a couple legit shots at winning The Open and have sided with just one American and a couple of European surprises.
LUKE DONALD 11/1 to win outright - Donald could set a new standard by becoming the first Barclays Scottish Open winner to followup a week later with a victory at The Open Championship. He's had a phenomenal year, probably his best-ever and he's still without a major win. He ranks 1st in the Race to Dubai standings, and on the European Tour has a 79% GIR average, 69.42 stroke average, 74% driving accuracy rating, and 60% in sand saves. He does just as well when splitting his time on the PGA Tour making 9 of 10 cuts with 8 Top 10s while winning the WGC Accenture Matchplay, finishing 2nd at The Heritage, T4th at The Masters and Players Championship, T6th at the WGC Cadillac, T8th at the Zurich Classic and T10th at The Honda Classic.
MATT KUCHAR 40/1 to win outright & 8/1 to finish Top 5 - Kuchar was impressive last week at the Barclays Scottish Open and is very consistent this season. He has not missed a cut in 15 events this year, has 8 Top 10s on the PGA Tour this year and besides Nick Watney is one of the top American contenders this season. His best finish is a T2nd at The Memorial, he ranks 3rd in all-around stats, 23rd in driving accuracy, 15th in GIR, 23rd in strokes gained putting, 11th in birdie average, 4th in scoring average and 12th in sand save percentage.
ERNIE ELS 12/1 to finish Top 5 - Els is not having a great season by any imagination. However, he does have a win on the European Tour this year at the South Africa Open to go along with 3 Top 20 finishes. And, he coming off an 11th place finish last week at the Barclays Scottish Open with rain shortened rounds of 68-69-68. On the PGA Tour he's made 9 cuts through 12 events, with 3 Top 20s, 2 Top 15s, and a 2nd place finish at the Tavistock Cup. He does rank 9th in GIR on the PGA Tour. This all goes for naught when considered his course form at The Open Championship where---even though he was cut last year---he has 12 Top 10 finishes in 19 starts, and prior to the cut last season he had 4 straight Top 8 finishes, and 8 Top 10s in the last 10 Opens with a win in 2002.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS 125/1 to win outright & 22/1 to finish Top 5 - Colsaerts finished 3rd last week at the Barclays Scottish Open and 11th the week before at the Alstom Open de France. He won the Volvo Open earlier in the season and is currently ranked 8th in the Race to Dubai. At the Barclays he ranked 6th in driving accuracy at 69%, 17th in putting and hit greens in regulation 78% of the time. The week prior in France he was 7th in driving distance, 7th in driving accuracy and 24th in GIR. Recent form warrants him a good look.
Can the Americans break the drought! I've decided they have only a couple legit shots at winning The Open and have sided with just one American and a couple of European surprises.
LUKE DONALD 11/1 to win outright - Donald could set a new standard by becoming the first Barclays Scottish Open winner to followup a week later with a victory at The Open Championship. He's had a phenomenal year, probably his best-ever and he's still without a major win. He ranks 1st in the Race to Dubai standings, and on the European Tour has a 79% GIR average, 69.42 stroke average, 74% driving accuracy rating, and 60% in sand saves. He does just as well when splitting his time on the PGA Tour making 9 of 10 cuts with 8 Top 10s while winning the WGC Accenture Matchplay, finishing 2nd at The Heritage, T4th at The Masters and Players Championship, T6th at the WGC Cadillac, T8th at the Zurich Classic and T10th at The Honda Classic.
MATT KUCHAR 40/1 to win outright & 8/1 to finish Top 5 - Kuchar was impressive last week at the Barclays Scottish Open and is very consistent this season. He has not missed a cut in 15 events this year, has 8 Top 10s on the PGA Tour this year and besides Nick Watney is one of the top American contenders this season. His best finish is a T2nd at The Memorial, he ranks 3rd in all-around stats, 23rd in driving accuracy, 15th in GIR, 23rd in strokes gained putting, 11th in birdie average, 4th in scoring average and 12th in sand save percentage.
ERNIE ELS 12/1 to finish Top 5 - Els is not having a great season by any imagination. However, he does have a win on the European Tour this year at the South Africa Open to go along with 3 Top 20 finishes. And, he coming off an 11th place finish last week at the Barclays Scottish Open with rain shortened rounds of 68-69-68. On the PGA Tour he's made 9 cuts through 12 events, with 3 Top 20s, 2 Top 15s, and a 2nd place finish at the Tavistock Cup. He does rank 9th in GIR on the PGA Tour. This all goes for naught when considered his course form at The Open Championship where---even though he was cut last year---he has 12 Top 10 finishes in 19 starts, and prior to the cut last season he had 4 straight Top 8 finishes, and 8 Top 10s in the last 10 Opens with a win in 2002.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS 125/1 to win outright & 22/1 to finish Top 5 - Colsaerts finished 3rd last week at the Barclays Scottish Open and 11th the week before at the Alstom Open de France. He won the Volvo Open earlier in the season and is currently ranked 8th in the Race to Dubai. At the Barclays he ranked 6th in driving accuracy at 69%, 17th in putting and hit greens in regulation 78% of the time. The week prior in France he was 7th in driving distance, 7th in driving accuracy and 24th in GIR. Recent form warrants him a good look.
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