We take a look at five British contenders for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
British Contenders For The Open Championship
The last time a British golfer won The Open Championship was Rory McIlroy in 2014 so it seems that time is ticking for us to see another.
Importantly there are several names we can throw into the hat as possible winners so bearing that in mind in this piece we have taken a look at the top five British contenders. Given the strength of golf in this part of the world at the moment this was more difficult than we imagined.
Rory McIlroy
This took little discussion. Rory is one of the big favourites to win because of two main factors – he shot 61 there when he was just 16 years old, and this year he appears to be in fantastic form winning twice at The Players and RBC Canadian Open.
Justin Rose
Perhaps England’s best hope of Open glory, Justin Rose has won twice this season and became world number one before being quickly overtaken by Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Rory.
By his lofty standards he has been rather up and down in the Majors this year missing the cut at Augusta, coming tied 29th at Bethpage Black and then was in with a very good shout of winning the US Open before a final round 74 derailed his chances.
Regardless his consistency and quality ball-striking should never be overlooked.
Paul Casey
Don’t sleep on Casey. Portrush is unquestionably a drivers course according to head professional Gary McNeill, and Casey is one of the most accurate in the game as he currently ranks 12th on the PGA Tour for driving accuracy. He is no slouch with distance either averaging just under 300 yards.
The main issue here is his putting but he has shown his ability to get hot during the week so why couldn’t he do the same in Royal Portrush.
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Tommy Fleetwood
The man many are pipping to hold the Claret Jug aloft come Sunday the 21st, Fleetwood is most definitely one to watch. He has not missed a cut since the 2018 HNA Open de France and has several key top-10s to his name as well.
Matt Wallace
Wallace has gone from strength to strength at the start of his career. He has won four times on the European Tour and has shown he can play on the biggest stage too. In his last two Majors he came in tied 3rd at Bethpage and then a tied 12th at Pebble Beach.
Notable mentions – Matt Fitzpatrick, Eddie Pepperell, Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton
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