Charthills Pro Newsletter - 15th July 2010
With the Open event celebrating its 150th anniversary since the first Open held at Prestwick in 1860. To celebrate, past champions have been invited to play four holes of the Old Course at St. Andrews in teams of four. Past champions who will be attending include Tom Lehman, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and last year’s champion, Stewart Cink.
The “Champions Challenge” should make for a great event, but I’m sure the question on everyone’s lips is, who will outplay some of the greats of the game to become the 2010 Open Champion?
For the first time in some while, this year’s event has no real favourites. The previous winner (Mr. Woods) of the last two times the event was held over the Links at St Andrews, is returning to some form with the Driver – he led the Driving stats at his last tournament - and that could stand him in good stead for his third St Andrews victory.
The Brits are also well represented this year; Justin Rose, winner of the recent AT&T National and The Memorial event in June, has to be a contender after moving to 2nd place on the FedEx rankings. He has been working hard on his patience and calmness recently and that is definitely needed in an Open Championship. Graeme McDowell stepped-up at the US Open recently, and Lee Westwood’s chances can’t be overlooked. Add names like McIlroy, Harrington, Poulter and Donald into the equation and anything is possible!
Ernie Els, a previous Open Champion leads the FedEx table right now so he must be a favourite, but with Phil Mickelson desperate for the World No.1 slot you cannot write him off either.
With so many different golfers winning recently and the lack of a real super star dominating the leader boards don't be surprised if another Paul Lawrie (remember him from Carnoustie?) type winner comes from within the pack to take centre stage. Watch this space!
Regards,
James
