The OTHER Open Championship

The British Open will go on as scheduled, even without Tiger Woods.

The British – or The Open as they call it – doesn’t garner as much attention as the other “open” championship here in the U.S. Surely the time difference is a factor, but also the links-style courses tend to favor a different style of player. The bomb & gouge style that works on a lot of the long American courses gets eaten up by the slew of bunkers dotting the fairways on most European links courses, putting a premium on accuracy and creative shotmaking. So, considering the course conditions, the always sketchy English weather, and the absence of Mr. Woods, who’s the favorite? Beats the heck out of me.

Consider this: The last time a major was played without Woods, the winner was Mark Brooks. Yeah, that Mark Brooks. That was the ‘96 PGA. The major winners that year also included Steve Jones (US Open), Tom Lehman (British) and Nick Faldo (a memorable Masters victory over a gagging Greg Norman).

A look at the world’s top players in 2008 also offers little clue. Mickelson has never fared well at the British, ditto any of the Australians (Ogilvy, Scott, et al). Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood are the most popular choices, having finished second in a major in the last 12 months, but I don’t see either one being able to close the deal. Another name being thrown around a lot is Mark O’Meara, the winner at Royal Birkdale in ‘98, but he’s 51.

I still think Ernie Else may be the guy. With no Tiger, the field shapes up with a totally different feel. Imagine the American League race if the Yankees & Red Sox were disbanded for a season. Not only would the other teams in the league benefit by not getting their tails kicked by those two juggernauts on a regular basis, but there’s a mental aspect there as well. Without a clear frontrunner, teams would feel better about their chances, they could relax a little more and play within themselves, knowing that every single miscue won’t be multiplied by the superiority of the leaders. In other words, one loss won’t kill you. Stay in the race to the end when it’s anybody’s game. With Tiger, too often that’s not the case. And Els, while not drastically altering his style when Tiger plays, does press a little, I think, anticipating that it would take a near-perfect effort to beat Tiger when he’s on his “A” game. (Which he usually is come major-time.)

Of course, I’ve been wrong before.

As always, if you’re at work or otherwise have access to a computer, keep up on the action by checking out Jason Sobel’s live blog at ESPN.com.

~ by Porky on July 17, 2008.