Spieth could be the best bet to emerge at Birkdale
THE Open Championship is like nothing else in golf.
For the true golf fans, it’s the highlight of the year as the best players in the world gather at one of our great links courses to showcase their skills.
The Open has a unique identity. To be called the Champion Golfer of the Year means everything.
Royal Birkdale is one of the finest courses on the rota and it should provide the setting for a terrific Open.
There would be no better story than Southport lad Tommy Fleetwood being in contention and he arrives in terrific form.
Tommy leads the Race to Dubai and he has kicked on from playing with eventual winner, Brooks Koepka, in the last round of the US Open last month.
Tommy played excellently to win in France at Le Golf National, and his game is in great shape.
But being the local favourite can be a distraction. He will be desperate to do well.
The key will be to keep calm and control his emotions. There will be so many people supporting him and that brings its own pressure.
I remember playing in Scotland and I could hear the crowd sighing if I hit a bad shot. It made you feel like you were letting them down when you’re so keen to put on a good show.
At Birkdale in 1976, a 19-yearold Spaniard called Seve Ballesteros burst onto the scene when he finished in a tie for second, alongside Jack Nicklaus, behind Johnny Miller.
Fast forward to now and a new young matador in the guise of Jon Rahm is ready to make a big impression.
This is only his second Open and logic tells you that is too soon, but this is no ordinary player.
The 22-year-old has only been a pro for just over a year, but he is already in the world’s top-10.
He has won in both Europe and America and I was impressed with the way he accelerated away from the field to win the Irish Open last Sunday by six strokes.
He’s tall, strong and a good putter. His credentials are strong and it’s only a matter of time before he wins a Major.
We’ve already had one Spanish Major Champion this year after Sergio Garcia won The Masters.
He has certainly celebrated in grand style, wearing his Green Jacket everywhere from the Real Madrid-Barcelona match to the Royal Box at Wimbledon.
But now it’s time to hang the jacket up and get back to work. If he can get fired up again, there is no-one better suited to Birkdale.
Watching Garcia in his Green Jacket must hurt Justin Rose after losing the play-off at Augusta.
Birkdale is where it all started for Justin in 1998 when he tied fourth as a 17-year-old amateur. He was destined for great things and he hasn’t disappointed, and he would love to become The Open Champion.
Rory McIlroy knows how that feels after his success at Hoylake in 2014, but his year has been disrupted by a change of equipment, injury and time away getting married.
He measures his season by the Majors and he’ll be hurting with how things have gone. His current form is also poor having missed the cut in both the Irish and Scottish Opens, but it could change with just one good round.
There are so many players who could win when you think of guys like Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama, ranked one and two in the world.
But I like Jordan Spieth’s chances. He should have won at St Andrews in 2015 and will feel he has unfinished business.
The American has quietly picked up two wins this year – and a bunch of top-10s – without putting as well as in the last two years.
Previous winners at Birkdale like Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson were great putters and Spieth is definitely in that category.