British Open 2012 Predictions: Breaking Down the Expert's Picks

The 141st edition of The Open Championship is just a couple of days away.

All around the internet, newspapers, magazines, blogs and every sports website is buzzing about this year's edition.

Tiger Woods is relevant again and that always brings up headlines.

American golf is inching back to the top. We've seen three consecutive major wins by Americans, including Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson at the most recent U.S. Open. It remains to be seen if the Americans continue the streak.

The previous six major were won by non-American players, including Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and last year’s British Open champ Darren Clarke.

Also, 15 different players have won the last 15 majors, and the last nine of those have been first-time major winners.

Will one of the players on the unofficial 'Best Golfers Never to Win a Major' list scratch his name off?

Many questions with many different answers, and around the internet the experts are making their picks.

Let's see which players picked are the ones with the best chance to win the championship.

Rickie Fowler

Rickie Fowler earned his first PGA Tour win this year at the Wells Fargo Invitational defeating Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a playoff.

He almost got back-to-back wins the next week at The Players Championship when he tied for second, and added a strong finish at the Crowne Plaza Invitational (tied for fifth) after that.

He has cooled off since then, but will be making his first appearance since tying for 41st place at the U.S. Open.

Fowler finished tied for fifth at last year's British Open, and was in contention on Sunday. He can light up any course any time. He has the game and the attitude to play these tough conditions and should be in contention one more time.

Sergio Garcia

The Open has been Garcia's best major, as he has seven top-10 finishes, including his best finish, second place, in 2007, and a tie for ninth in 2001 here at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Last year he finished tied for ninth and, at one moment, he had the lowest round on Sunday before unraveling on the back nine.

One thing he might not be relishing this year will be his pairing with Tiger Woods. He seems to be on the losing end every time they are paired together.

But this is The Open and he always shows up to contend here.

Dustin Johnson

Dustin Johnson won on his second tournament coming back from injury. But then he missed the cut and has been a non-factor in his last two tournaments.

Johnson is long off the tee, has a solid game around the greens and has shown he can play well on any course and in any conditions.

Last year he tied for second place and had a chance late to challenge eventual champion Darren Clarke for the win. 

His length might not help him much this weekend, but if he can get the mental aspect under control come Sunday, he might extend the American domination of recent majors.

Graeme McDowell

McDowell looks far removed from his great 2010 year when he won the U.S. Open and closed the year with a win over Tiger Woods at the Chevron World Challenge.

He has been a runner-up three times already this year, including at the U.S. Open where he was just inches away from forcing a playoff finish.

McDowell is currently second in fairways hit but has led that category most of the year. At a course where accuracy from the tee is at a premium, the tournament sets up pretty good for McDowell.

Jason Dufner

The only other player that is playing better than Tiger Woods lately is Jason Dufner.

With two wins, a solo second-place finish and a fourth-place tie at the U.S. Open in his last five starts, Dufner seems to have found the key to consistently place atop the leaderboard.

While he has never been able to secure a spot above the cut line at the British Open, his recent form says he should be able to contend this year.

It also helps that he is sixth in GRIs (greens-in-regulation) which he will need dearly this weekend.

Justin Rose

It's such a distant memory of 1998 when Justin Rose, then an amateur and just 17-years-old, won the Silver Medal for the lowest amateur score while finishing tied for fourth.

Fast forward to the present and that remains his lone top-10 finish in his Open career.

Now 32, Rose is the leader in the Race to Dubai and won his first WGC tournament earlier in the year.

He will be paired with Tiger Woods in the first two rounds and will certainly relish the chance to play alongside him.

Rose will need to show the form that propelled him to rank fourth on the PGA Tour in greens hit in order to contend this year and improve on his best career finish.

Lee Westwood

Arguably the best player to never win a major, Lee Westwood is on a mission to finally capture that elusive victory.

Westwood has won 39 tournaments worldwide and held the lead in many majors in the past before surrendering it during later rounds.

This year he has finished tied for third at The Masters and tied for tenth at the U.S. Open, and in both tournaments he had a legitimate shot on Sunday to be in position to win.

But this is a course where his accuracy should pay off and it looks like his best chance to win his first major in recent years. He should be expected to be contending on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy had a streak of 10 months where he seemed to do everything right and was a fixture in the top five of every leaderboard of the tournaments he played.

He reached the coveted No.1 ranking in the world, and swapped in and out of it with Luke Donald a couple of times, before finally cooling off and missing the cut three times in a row and four of five times total.

He seems to be ready to bounce back and start a new hot streak, but he has not been fond of playing in bad weather conditions in the past. To contend, he must overcome the mental barriers of playing links-style golf and also his recent missed cut finishes.

Luke Donald

Luke Donald finished tied for 32nd at The Masters and missed the cut at the U.S. Open after basically playing himself out of contention in the first round.

Sometimes it seems like it's a mental obstacle that doesn't allow Donald to finally get that first major.

But nobody can deny the desire and the will of the world's No. 1 player to finally achieve that coveted first major win.

If there is a player that it doesn't matter how bad he started a tournament, he will continue to play as if he was still in it, it's Luke Donald.

He is a precision player playing on a course that rewards such prowess. The key for him will be to get off to a fast start. If he is close from the beginning we'll see him kissing the Claret Jug on Sunday.

Tiger Woods

Ok so this is the easy way to pick a possible winner. Just go with the best player of his generation and possibly the best of all time. Easy right?

Tiger Woods has won three times already this year, but is still looking to once again savor a win in a major. He is still looking for No. 15, and a fourth Open Championship title should suffice.

He has called The Open his favorite major, and to win here would provide him with a boost of confidence like no other in this stage of his career.

The challenge this course presents is one that Woods relishes. While he might be better at St Andrews, he can win anywhere and his 15th major is always just 72 holes away.