British Open Results 2012: Golfers That Should Be Encouraged by Performance

Only one golfer won the 2012 British Open, but that doesn’t mean every other competitor should be disappointed with the tournament’s results.

A handful of golfers not named Ernie Els finished The Open Championship strong and/or performed better in the PGA Tour event than they were expected to. Here are three that should be content with their conclusion.

3. Miguel Angel Jimenez

Jimenez is 48 years old. He’s been participating in major tournaments since 1991. Before Sunday, though, he had finished in the top 10 just three times in the last 10 years.

While golfers like Adam Scott, Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell melted in Round 4, Jimenez recorded his best score of the tournament going three under par. He finished even and tied for ninth—his best finish in a major since 2008.

2. Nicolas Colsaerts

Colsaerts turned pro in 2000, but he’s made the cut in a major PGA Tour event just once in his entire career prior to this past weekend. On Sunday, he pulled off the most impressive performance of Round 4 shooting five under par.

His late-tournament surge moved him to one under and in a tie for seventh place. That type of finish is exactly what the 29-year-old Belgian needed to ignite his career.

1. Luke Donald

According to the World Golf Rankings, Donald is the best player in the world. You wouldn’t be able to tell if you looked at his success in majors. The 34-year-old veteran has yet to win one.

Donald’s strong finish in the British Open, though, should give him the confidence to be able to do just that. At the tourney’s end, he was tied for fifth at two under par. Considering that Donald hadn’t finished a major that well in years, he’ll enter the 2012 PGA Championship with win-or-bust expectations.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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