The Open Championship picks to win: Will the hometown lad lift the Claret Jug?
Sunny skies? Temperatures in the mid-70s? Winds gusting no more than 10-15 mph?
That all sounds good if you're playing or walking the grounds at Royal Birkdale this week, but these are certainly not the conditions that annually make the The Open Championship — or British Open on this side of the pond — the most unique major of the year.
TV viewers can only hope the forecasters are wrong, and that wind, rain and brutality make their way north of Liverpool to wreak some havoc on the 154th Open.
Now, let's get to our picks, which are never wrong:
Jay Busbee: Tommy Fleetwood
Total heart pick here. Tommy's got a whole mural painted in his honor at Royal Birkdale, and he's a local lad. That probably puts way too much pressure on him to win, but just suppose Fleetwood wins the Open and then, a couple hours later, England win the World Cup. The entire country wouldn't go to work for a week! Well, unless you work at a pub, then you'd be working for a week. Regardless, this needs to happen. (Head pick: Matt Fitzpatrick, for the record.)
Ryan Young: Rory McIlroy
This isn't really a fun pick. But Scottie Scheffler is off his game after missing a cut for the first time in years, and McIlroy claims to have identified the issue with his swing that was bothering him last week. So why overthink this? McIlroy will end the year with a win in the UK, and then we can all start talking about his potential Masters three-peat even earlier.
Jay Hart: Xander Schauffele
Picking the winner of a golf tournament amounts to a dart throw. Picking a player to finish in the top 10 is a lot easier, especially if you pick Xander Schauffele, who has 10 top-10 finishes in his last 15 majors. That includes a victory at The Open two years ago and a T7 last year. His worst finish in the three majors this year was a T11 a few weeks ago at Shinnecock. I don't know if he will lift the Claret Jug for a second time on Sunday, but it's a safe bet that he'll be in the hunt.
