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| British Open Preview: Picking the winner |
When the 8 competitors made three trips around the 12-hole golf course at Prestwood. Willie Park Sr.'s 174 gave him a two-stroke victory over Tom Morris Jr. The original prize was the Challenge Belt. In 1873, Tom Kidd's victory at St. Andrews was monumental. It was the first Open Championship held at St. Andrews, and with Kidd's victory, he took home the first-ever Claret Jug. The jug was manufactured at a cost of 30 pounds by Mackay Cunningham & Co. of Edinburgh. he Open Championship went on a six year hiatus beginning in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I. When the tournament resurfaced in 1920, it did so under new ownership. The R&A was entrusted with the task of managing the event. To this day, the R&A still manages the event. The R&A quickly installed changes to The Open Championship. The event spanned three days, 18 holes on each of the first two days and 36 on the final day. Also, The R&A began charging admission to see the event. A year later, The R&A began to produce a replica Claret Jug that is awarded to each year's champion. The original jug resides in the clubhouse of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The suspension of the Open from 1939 to 1946 due to World War II represents the longest gap between Open Championships. Sam Snead won the 1946 U.S. Open at St. Andrews, defeating Bobby Locke. The 1955 Open marked a new era for the event. BBC broadcasted the tournament on television for the first time. By 1966, the Open Championship was being played over four days, 18 holes each day. ABC, for the first time, broadcasted a live feed of the event in America in 1982. In 1977, Regional Qualifying around England and Scotland was introduced on a permanent basis, to help organize qualifying in which there was two levels, first local qualifying and then moving on the week of the championship. It had been an experiment at the 1926 Open, but abandoned after just one year. In 1980 the Open Championship was moved to its current format, 18 holes over four days, with the tournament concluding on Sunday. A decade later, in 1990, the event set an attendance record with over 208,000 spectators showing up to watch the tournament at St. Andrews. One more major change in 2005 saw international qualifying, with different sites set up in Australia, South Africa, Asia, America and for the European players to try and qualify in there country instead of having to fly off to England. The 2011 Open Championship will be the 140th installment of the tournament. It will be held on the Old Course at St. Andrews for the 14th time, it's list of winners include a who's, who of golf including Hall of Famers like J.H. Taylor, Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and Greg Norman. The last time the Open was played at St. George, Ben Curtis became the first player since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win a major in his first try. Lot's if talk on the lack of Americans on top at majors while the Brits are the flavor of the year. We have gone now five majors since an American won a major with Phil Mickelson's Masters win in 2010. Making the drought worst, in the first two majors, the Masters and U.S. Open there were only a grand total of five American players that finished in the top-ten in both events. That is a bit embarrassing. In looking for any answer there isn't any other than they just aren't performing. Why youngsters like Charl Schwartzel from South Africa and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland have claimed the first two majors, our young studs like Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney haven't been inside the top-20 in any majors. Now Kevin Chappell was T3rd at the U.S. Open, the best American finish in a major this year but he is not playing this week. There are 52 Americans in the field, that is a third of the field and the smart money is that none of them will get into the top-three. What it will take to get Americans to play well is anyone's guess. On the other end of the spectrum there are 36 players from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the odds are between Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell one of them will win. With McIlroy's win at Congressional, Westwood and Donald fighting for #1 ranking it's created the biggest surge of interest since the days of Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie. Anticipation of locals this week are very high that either Westwood or Donald or McIlroy will be a victor this week, which would create a big buzz. Tiger Woods continues to disappoint but this time because of a injury. The reality of things is that Woods is probably finished for the year. No I didn't get any special treatment from the Woods camp it's just my estimation. Now some think he will be back for Bridgestone and the PGA Championship, but I can't see him slugging it out and struggling. He has a perfect out by not playing and taking three or four months off Now while I am here at the British Open, I was talking about Tiger's plight with some folks of the world rankings and said that I felt that Woods would probably not play until his Chevron event in December. But I was quickly told that if Tiger doesn't play until then he would drop even further down the world rankings and possibly out of the top-50. If that is the case then he wouldn't be eligible for his own event and since they made a deal not to give out sponsor exemptions in order to get World Ranking points, that will mean that Woods has no choice but sit out his own event, bummer Tiger and his fans. The course looks parched from lack of rain, but is in great shape. One thing of concern, if the course plays hard and fast it will mean more balls bouncing into the rough, but that is very light. I can see low scores unless the wind pops up. Now long range forecasts aren't very good in England, specially when your by the sea. The big news is that the sunny hot days won't be around, like it was at Hoylake in 2006. Everyday has wind, mostly with gusts up to 30 mph. The worst day looks like Saturday as there are predicting rain around lunch time with wind coming from the south at 30 to 35 mph. Look for temperatures to be in the low 70s, high 60s with cloudy skies each day and rain on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Rory McIlroy will Thursday play his first tournament shot since a tap-in to complete a resounding victory at the US Open more than three weeks ago. The lack of competitive action has surprised some of his fellow pros, but the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland believes the break leaves him mentally fresh for the 140th Open Championship. Following his dizzying performance at Congressional when he broke a number of US Open records on his way to a winning score of 16-under par 268, McIlroy remains the player to watch when Thursday's first round begins at Royal St George's in Sandwich on the southeast coast of England. Rory McIlroy is for real and it will show in this tournament as he comes out and leaves the field in his dust and wins back-to-back majors. Play on Rory McIlroy 
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Finally the next major in golf is here as the British Open starts this week. The British Open traces its roots back to October 17, 1860, at the Links at Prestwick. Eight professionals vied for the inaugural Open Championship. It's interesting to note that a month later on November 6th, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States.
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