DATES : July 17-20 COURSE : Royal Birkdale, Southport PAR : 70 YDS : 7,171
THE COURSE
Royal Birkdale, situated on the same stretch of coastline as fellow Open Championship venues Royal Lytham St Annes and Royal Liverpool, is distinguished by its roll call of honours. Two Ryder Cups, the Walker and Curtis Cups – and eight Open Championships.
The Open comes to Royal Birkdale for the ninth time this July, and competitors will find a course that is 155 yards longer than the challenge presented to them in 1998, the last time the event was played here. The extra length is relatively inconsequential, however, compared to the tightened bunkering, newly-introduced mounds and, in the case of some holes, altered playing lines. The philosophy of the changes – which affect 16 of the 18 holes – is to reward strategic play and accurate shotmaking.
The course design allows holes to follow the valleys running between the sand dunes, making for generally flatter lies on the fairways. Many holes are routed in such a way that you see no other hole except the one that you are playing; and it leaves the dunes free for spectators to enjoy some of the best vantage points available at any of the courses which host The Open.
1 Tiger Woods US 2 Phil Mickelson US 3 Adam Scott Aus 4 Geoff Ogilvy Aus 5 Stewart Cink US 6 Ernie Els SA 7 Sergio Garcia Spa 8 Steve Stricker US 9 Justin Rose Eng 10 Vijay Singh Fij
EUROPEAN ORDER OF MERIT
1 Miguel A Jimenez Spa 2 Robert Karlsson Swe 3 Lee Westwood Eng 4 Oliver Wilson Eng 5 Henrik Stenson Swe 6 Ross Fisher Eng 7 Trevor Immelman SA 8 Martin Kaymer Ger 9 Graeme McDowell NI 10 Jeev M Singh Ind
PGA TOUR MONEY LIST
1 Tiger Woods US 2 Phil Mickelson US 3 Stewart Cink US 4 Kenny Perry US 5 Anthony Kim US 6 Justin Leonard US 7 Geoff Ogilvy Aus 8 Vijay Singh Fij 9 Ryuji Imada Jpn 10 Sergio Garcia Spa
ENG 4 DEN 1 FRA 1 SCO 1 IRL 1 WAL 1 NZL 1 GER 1 ESP 5 ARG 3 RSA 7 AUS 3 FIJ 2 USA 18 KOR 1 CAN 2 JPN 1 SWE 2
USA 18 EUR 17 ROW 20
The stat highlights the value in backing USA players at big prices for a Top 10 or Top 5 finish. (Note Paddy Power have the best ew terms down to 6 places). You only have to look at last year with Cink, Mahan, Curtis all unfancied but finishing Top 10.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mugz,
Here is a snapshot of the betfair prices 5 days before tee off. Will check again after practise on Wednesday to see where the smart money is going.
Sergio Garcia 12 Ernie Els 16.5 Phil Mickelson 18.5 Padraig Harrington 19.5 Lee Westwood 18.5 Jim Furyk 29 Justin Rose 32 Vijay Singh 36 Adam Scott 29 Geoff Ogilvy 36 Robert Karlsson 40 Andres Romero 44 Retief Goosen 44 Stewart Cink 42 Anthony Kim 55 Robert Allenby 55 Trevor Immelman 75 Miguel Angel Jimenez 50 Henrik Stenson 60 Paul Casey 70 Ross Fisher 65 Martin Kaymer 85 Justin Leonard 65 Hunter Mahan 65 Angel Cabrera 60 Colin Montgomerie 110
1st Round Tee Off Times (GB & Ire unless stated, all times BST)
0630 Lucas Glover (US), Craig Parry (Aus), Simon Dyson 0641 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Pat Perez (US), Peter Fowler (Aus) 0652 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Brendan Jones (Aus), Matt Kuchar (US) 0703 Jerry Kelly (US), Darren Fichardt (SA), Damien McGrane 0714 Graeme Storm, Scott Strange (Aus), Sandy Lyle 0725 Richard Green (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia (US), Anders Hansen (Den) 0736 Tom Watson (US), Justin Rose, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 0747 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Oliver Wilson, Davis Love III (US) 0758 Retief Goosen (SA), Padraig Harrington, Justin Leonard (US) 0809 Richard Sterne (SA), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jeff Quinney (US) 0820 Hunter Mahan (US), Vijay Singh (Fij), Reinier Saxton (Ned) 0831 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Scott Verplank (US), Ernie Els (SA) 0842 David Howell, Andres Romero (Arg), JB Holmes (US) 0858 Lee Westwood, KJ Choi (Kor), Ben Curtis (US) 0909 Nick O'Hern (Aus), Ian Poulter, Paul Goydos (US) 0920 Phil Mickelson (US), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Paul Casey 0931 Boo Weekley (US), Colin Montgomerie, Mike Weir (Can) 0942 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Richard Finch, John Daly (US) 0953 David Duval (US), Simon Khan, David Frost (SA) 1004 Rich Beem (US), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Thomas Sherreard 1015 Michoi Matsumura (Jpn), Tom Gillis (US), Barry Hume 1026 Shintaro Kai (Jpn), Tim Petrovic (US), Dave Horsey 1037 Ariel Canete (Arg), Craig Barlow (US), Phillip Archer 1048 Jamie Elson, Rohan Blizard (Aus), Jon Bevan 1059 Adam Blyth (Aus), Jamie Howarth, Josh Cunliffe (SA) 1110 Thomas Aiken (SA), Gary Boyd, Brad Lamb (Aus) 1141 Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Steve Webster, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 1152 Philip Walton, David Smail (NZ), Michael Letzig (US) 1203 Paul Waring, Hennie Otto (SA), Kevin Stadler (US) 1214 Paul Lawrie, Rocco Mediate (US), Angel Cabrera (Arg) 1225 Niclas Fasth (Swe), Mark O'Meara (US), Michael Campbell (NZ) 1236 Graeme McDowell, Rory Sabbatini (SA), Todd Hamilton (US) 1247 Jim Furyk (US), Nick Dougherty, Camilo Villegas (Col) 1258 Robert Karlsson (Swe), Greg Norman (Aus), Woody Austin (US) 1309 Robert Allenby (Aus), Steve Stricker (US), Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 1320 Adam Scott (Aus), Zach Johnson (US), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 1331 Gregory Havret (Fra), Tim Clark (SA), Stewart Cink (US) 1342 Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Jeff Overton (US) 1353 T.Immelman (SA), Soren Hansen (Den), Anthony Kim (US) 1409 M.A.Jimenez (Spa), S.Ames (Can), Charles Howell III (US) 1420 Peter Hanson (Swe), Bart Bryant (US), Rodney Pampling (Aus) 1431 Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Sean O'Hair (US) 1442 Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brandt Snedeker (US), Ross Fisher 1453 Azuma Yano (Jpn), Johan Edfors (Swe), Tom Lehman (US) 1504 Simon Wakefield, Jay Williamson (US), James Kingston (SA) 1515 Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Danny Chia (Mal), John Rollins (US) 1526 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Chris Wood, Scott McCarron (US) 1537 Anthony Wall, Alexander Noren (Swe), Ewan Porter (Aus) 1548 Peter Baker, Hiroshi Iwata (Jpn), Alex Cejka (Ger) 1559 Douglas Labelle (US), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 1610 Martin Wiegele (Aut), Angelo Que (Phi), Doug McGuigan 1621 Jonathan Lomas, Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn), Peter Appleyard
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mugz,
The bookies are pushing out the boat to get your business for this major betting event.
PADDY POWER lead the way with 7 places for each way betting at 1/4 odds.
Bookies paying out on 6 include BET365, BlueSq, Boylesports.
The rest are paying out on 5.
As always check out the win odds before placing any ew bets eg. you can get 11/1 GARCIA with VC BET (5 places), but only 9/1 with Paddy Power (7 places).
If you are constructing a portfolio or 4 or 5 win only bets to go to war with then you are better off going with bookies paying out on 5 places such as VC Bet or Sportingbet. Those bookmakers are holding top price for the front 5 in the betting.
Couldn't have Mickelson on my mind myself. Royal Birkdale is a sharp course requiring accurate driving and Phil doesn't fall into that category. Additionally when the course was playing soft at Loch Lomond that was when really struggled to stay / progress through the field. The course is due to play soft at Birkdale this week so those who are great accurate iron players will have a big advantage this week. Three against the field for me Adam Scott (especially if he keeps his driver in his bag and relies on his irons, this course doesn't need a big hitter which Adam is), Jim Furyk has previous history of doing well in the Open good accurate straight hitter of a ball and Jiminez.
Looks like Level par over the four days will be a good score.
With Wet and Windy conditions causing problems all over the course, whether your in thick wet rough or putting with gusting cross winds, there could well be someone posting 4 level rounds to win.
Just got back from Birkdale. What a morning Thank goodness the weather forecast was spot on and the afternoon was dry otherwise I might have been following Sandy Lyle out the gate !
Saw lots of Weir, Monty, Mickelson, Poulter and bits and pieces of others. Monty & Weir played really well in appaling conditions. Anyone teeing off before 10am you could knock 3 shots off to compare with anyone teeing off after 12pm. Monty was playing very straight and safe, and has a game to handle windy conditions. With Fridays weather set to be the same, bad early better later, then +1 will be close to leading, so Monty is not out of it. Nor is Westwood who played superbly after a nightmare first 5.
Felt a bit sorry for big Phil after he lost his ball on the 6th and had to trudge back 200 yds to play again and ended up with a triple bogey. He says he will be back tomorrow and is not out of it, now thats character.
I have backed Westwood ew who is double the price now, but Im still hopeful of a top 6 finish. If his putter had worked today he would have played the last 12 holes better than anyone.
I havent backed Garcia yet, and with the weather set to favour late starters on Friday I think I will wait.
1 Choi KOR -1 2 Norman AUS level 3 Villegas COL +1 4 Allenby AUS +2 4 Harrington IRL +2 4 Furyk USA +2 4 Noren SWE +2 4 McDowell NIR +2 4 Duval USA +2 4 Mediate USA +2 11 Poulter ENG +3 11 Jacobson SWE +3 11 Appleby AUS +3 11 Hanson SWE +3 11 Ames CAN +3
What a great leaderboard. In the top 10 players we have 3 USA, 3 ROW and 3 EUR. A really good mix of seasoned pros, proven winners, 3 former Open winners, the steady grinding of Harrington and Furyk, the ecentricity of a Mediate, the gung ho youthfullness of Villegas, and the ageless class of a reborn Norman.
Its a shame we could not book 10 hrs of sunshine for Saturday to really see the Championship explode, but I believe its been ordered for Sunday. So its 1 more day of grey skies and drizzle, then we can let them all off the leash on the Sabbath.
Some of those on the leaderboared are fortyunate to be there, Norman and Villegas have ridden their luck, but provided all the headlines today. with extraordinary golf. Others such as Harrington and Furyk are just plotting their way through 72 holes and will not worry about where they are until the back 9 on Sunday. They will be very happy sitting just off the pace. The more it rains and blows, the wider the smile on Harringtons face.
And what about Duval? So cool to see him back at the top and still wearing shades in a storm.
Choi has threatened a major win before but not seen it through. He is now in pole position, and in many ways he might think hes got a 3 shot lead. Norman & Villegas are still longshots to see this through.
And what of the rest? Villegas showed with 8 birdies that it is possible to shoot low and there are so many good players on +6 or better that we could see the winner coming from a mile back. Garcia is very capable of shooting 65 and nothing has gone right for him so far.
The weather promises to be bleak on Saturday and brilliant on Sunday and thats a recipe for a lot more drama and a lot of activity on the leaderboard. Time for punters to play steady as well.
What class from Mickelson and Els today who followed up shocking 1st Rds with a 68 and 69 respectively. Compare that to John Daly who followed up an 80 with an 89 for +29.
12:05 Soren Hansen (2) Graeme Storm (2.3) Tie (9) 12:15 Anthony Kim (2) Ross Fisher (2.25) Tie (9) 12:25 Nick Dougherty (1.91) Gregory Havret (2.25) Tie (9) 12:35 Jay Williamson (1.91) Chris Wood (2.25) Tie (9) 12:45 Sergio Garcia (1.44) Simon Wakefield (3.75) Tie (9) 12:55 Zach Johnson (1.8) David Horsey (2.5) Tie (9) 13:05 Scott Verplank (1.8) Anthony Wall (2.38) Tie (9) 13:15 Adam Scott (1.8) Anders Hansen (2.75) Tie (9) 13:30 Ian Poulter (1.67) Vande Velde (2.88) Tie (9) 13:40 Stuart Appleby (1.83) Peter Hanson (2.4) Tie (9) 13:50 Stephen Ames (2) Fredrik Jacobson (2.2) Tie (9) 14:00 Padraig Harrington (1.5) David Duval (3.5) Tie (9) 14:10 Robert Allenby (1.8) Alexander Noren (2.5) Tie (9) 14:20 Jim Furyk (1.91) Graeme Mcdowell (2.38) Tie (9) 14:30 Camilo Villegas (2.1) Rocco Mediate (2.2) Tie (9) 14:40 Kj Choi (1.62) Greg Norman (3) Tie (9)
Thank goodness the weather forecast was spot on and the afternoon was dry otherwise I might have been following Sandy Lyle out the gate !
