British Open 2012: Top 10 Golfers Poised to Win Their First Major

Tiger Woods's four year major slump has been bad for television ratings, but it has been very good for parity. Between 2000 and 2008, Woods won 12 of the 36 majors played, and every tournament began with the expectation that Tiger would win the title.

Since 2009, it has been practically impossible to predict who will win a major. In the 14 majors played in that time, there have been 14 different winners. Of those 14, 12 have won the first major of their career. This is the greatest period of parity in modern golf history.

This is very good news for the many talented golfers on the Tour who are still seeking their first major win. Instead of entering a major praying that Tiger has an off day or two, every golfer on the Tour knows that if they can string together four good days on the links, they could win their first major.

At this year's British Open, some of the best golfers in the world, including six of the top ten ranked golfers, will attempt to win the first major of their career. Here we look at 10 golfers who are on top of their games and are poised to win the first major of their career at Royal Lytham.

Luke Donald

Luke Donald is the number one ranked golfer in the world and has 13 professional wins to his name since turning professional in 2001, but has not yet won a major. Though he has finished in the top 10 at six majors, including third place finishes in 2005 and 2006, Donald is just as often a complete non-factor at majors as he is a threat to win.

Over the past three years, Donald has been cut from four of the 12 majors he has played in, and three more times finished outside of the top thirty. Yet he also finished in the top 10 twice, including a tie for fourth in the 2011 Masters.

Before he missed the cut at this year's U.S. Open, Donald was playing outstanding golf. He finished in the top 10 in four straight tournaments, and rebounded from his poor first round at the U.S. Open to finish in 16th at the Scottish Open.

For whatever reason, Donald has a tough time playing as consistently well at the majors as he has at other tournaments. Still, he is the number one ranked golfer in the world, and with the exception of the U.S. Open, he has played superbly in recent months.

Jason Dufner

From the time he missed the cut at his first major, the 2001 U.S. Open, through the PGA Championship, Dufner was downright terrible at the few majors he was invited to play in. Aside from the 2001 U.S. Open, he finished tied for 40th at the 2006 U.S. Open, 62nd at the following year's U.S. Open, and missed the cut at the 2009 PGA Championship. During this time, he never won a PGA Tour event, though he did win twice on the Nationwide Tour.

Something happened to Jason Dufner in 2010.

Dufner finished the 2010 Masters in a tie for 30th place, his best performance at a major up to that time. He finished respectably at the same year's U.S. Open with a tie for 33rd, before missing the cut at the British Open. Dufner rebounded dramatically at the PGA Championship, tying for fifth place.

2011 seemed to be a return to form or Dufner, as he didn't play in the Masters and then missed the cut at the next two tournaments. He then came out of nowhere at the PGA Championship to take the tournament to a playoff with Keegan Bradley, but his putting failed him and Bradley won the playoff. 

This year, Dufner has proved that his recent success was far from a fluke. He has won two PGA Tour events this year, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April and the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May. He finished in a tie for 24th at the Masters, and earned another top five major finish with a tie for fourth place at the U.S. Open, only two strokes behind champion Webb Simpson.

Jason Dufner has come out of nowhere to be one of the best golfers in the sport. After proving in recent years that he can compete in the majors, he proved this year that he can close out tournaments. If he can do both at the same time at the Open, he will have his first major win and shoot to the very top of the rankings.

Sergio Garcia

After his collapse at the 2008 PGA Championship, his second major collapse in two years, many in the golf world wrote off Sergio Garcia's chances of ever winning a major. Though he had won a combined 13 PGA and European Tour tournaments, Garcia seemed to be lacking the mental fortitude necessary to close out at the majors. It was his ninth time finishing in the top five at a major, and his third time as runner up. Many thought that second was as close as he would ever come to winning a major.

Through 2009 and 2010, Garcia was in the process of proving the critics right. He missed the cut at both years' PGA Championships, did not finish better than tenth at any major, and failed to win a single Tour tournament.

After a mediocre Masters appearance in 2011, Garcia reemerged as one of the best in the game. He finished in ties for seventh and ninth place at the U.S. and British Opens, respectively, and won consecutive tournaments on the European Tour in October. Garcia started 2012 with a respectable 12th place finish at the Masters, though he struggled at the difficult U.S. Open. He has placed in the top five at four European or PGA Tour tournaments this year, and the once below average putter has quietly become one of the better putters on the Tour this year.

It remains to be seen whether Garcia can hold it together if he finds himself in the lead on the final day of the British Open, but Garcia's playing only a step or two below the best golf of his life, and he is in the process of giving himself an opportunity to prove his critics wrong.

Peter Hanson

Peter Hanson wasn't much of a threat to win a major for the first decade of his career. He made his first major appearance at the 2005 U.S. Open, seven years after turning pro, and only cracked the top thirty once through 2008. Though Hanson's play can still be a bit shaky at the majors, he still manages to be a non-factor as often as he is competitive. However, Hanson has proven himself to be a contender over the past four years.

Though Hanson has missed the cut in three of the last six majors he's played in, he's also twice finished in the top ten, including a career best tie for third place at this year's Masters. He also finished in the top five at four other tournaments this year, most recently at June's Nordea Masters, where he finished in third.

Hanson's one of the streakier golfers out there, and it's hard to predict whether Good Peter or Bad Peter will show up at any given tournament. It's just as likely that Bad Peter will show up at the Open and he will miss the cut, but if Good Peter shows up, he just might win his first major.

Dustin Johnson

Experts expected Dustin Johnson to struggle for awhile after sustaining a back injury that caused him to miss the Masters. After playing well in his first post-injury tournament, Johnson won the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, his sixth PGA Tour win of his career. He has been playing solid if unremarkable golf since then, missing the cut at the U.S. Open and finishing in ties for 44th and 33rd in the next two tournaments.

Johnson's only been playing in majors for five years. He made his debut at the 2008 U.S. Open, but has already finished in the top 10 four times. His best result came at last year's British Open, where he finished in a tie for second with Phil Mickelson behind Darren Clarke. Johnson might have won the tournament, if not for an errant second shot on the 14th that went out of bounds.

Johnson has won at least one tournament a year since he earned his PGA Tour card in 2008 and he is regularly finding himself on the final day's leaderboard. And he's only getting better. It doesn't seem that it will be long before Johnson wins his first major as he continues to fill his trophy case.

Matt Kuchar

In his first two majors played, Matt Kuchar finished in ties for 21st and 14th, earning the designation of low amateur at both events. Based in large part on this success, Matt Kuchar turned pro in 2000, but it would be a long time before he would again be a factor at the majors.

Between 2000 and 2009, Kuchar missed the cut at 11 majors, only making the cut a single time at the 2008 U.S. Open, where he finished in a tie for 48th. He won a single tournament during this time, the 2002 Honda Classic, and it seemed that Kuchar was destined for an unimpressive professional career.

In late 2009, Kuchar showed some promise, winning the Turning Stone Resort Championship, and made the cut at every major in 2010, including top 10 finishes at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He won another tournament in August, the Barclays, and for the first time as a professional, Kuchar was getting significant attention in the golf world.

2011 wasn't quite as good a year for Kuchar, but he still played well, making the cut at three majors and twice finishing in the top ten.

In early 2012, Kuchar turned in his best ever performance at a major, finishing in a tie for third at the Masters and winning the Players Championship. He comes to the British Open ranked eighth in the world and playing the best golf of his professional life.

Hunter Mahan

2011 was a brutal year for Hunter Mahan at the majors, as he missed three cuts before cracking the top 20 at the PGA Championship. This was hardly out of the ordinary for Mahan, who is just as likely to miss a major cut as he is to compete deep into the last round.

Since his first top 10 finish at the 2007 British Open, Mahan has missed eight cuts, but has also finished in the top 10 three times. He has also collected five PGA Tour wins in his career, including this year's Shell Houston Open in April.

Mahan missed the cut at this May's Players Championship, but has played reasonably well since then. He enters the British Open on a bit of a hot streak, having earned an 11th place finish at the Travelers Championship in June and an eighth place finish at the AT&T National.

Statistically, Mahan is having a strong year. He's third on the Tour this year in greens in regulation percentage (70.37%) and 11th in driving accuracy percentage. This accuracy should serve him well at Royal Lytham.

Justin Rose

In the first major he ever competed in, then 17-year-old amateur Justin Rose finished in a tie for fourth at the 1998 British Open. It seemed that the golf world had a budding young superstar on its hands.

Rose quickly fell into a slump upon turning pro, only playing in one major between the 1998 Open and the 2001 Open (the 1999 Open, in which he missed the cut). He won no tournaments during this time, and Rose was looking more and more like a flash in the pan.

However, starting in 2002, Rose quietly began to reestablish himself. He won four events that year, two on the European Tour, one on the Japan Golf Tour, and one on the Sunshine Tour, and finished in the top 25 at both the British Open and PGA Championship. After an unspectacular performance at the following year's Masters, Rose finished in a tie for fifth at the 2003 U.S. Open, by far his best major outing since the 1998 British Open.

Rose hit another slump in 2004, missed the cut at the U.S. Open, and did not play in another major until the 2006 PGA Championship. Rose then went on another major run, finishing in a tie for fifth at the 2007 Masters and a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open. Though he didn't crack the top ten in the next few majors, he won his second Tour event in as many years, and finished in a tie for ninth at the 2008 PGA Championship.

Seemingly intent on keeping up his reputation as the streakiest player in golf, between 2009 and 2011, Rose missed the cut in six majors and sat out two more, though he also turned in a few top 20 performances.

Rose is back in good form now. He won the WGC-Cadillac Championship this March, finished in a tie for eighth at this year's Masters and in a tie for 21st at this year's U.S. Open, and cracked the top 10 rankings. 

Rose is just as likely to slip into a slump as he is to make a run for a major title, and the Open has been his worst major since his remarkable 1998 run. Still, he's a top 10 ranked golfer with 11 professional wins to his name. With strong recent performances, he has a chance to win at Royal Lytham.

Steve Stricker

Of the 88 players who made the cut at the 1993 U.S. Open, Steve Stricker finished ahead of only five of them. The then 26-year-old golfer wouldn't play in another major until the 1995 U.S. Open, but the long break had done him well, and he finished in a tie for 13th.

Stricker went on to become a regular presence on the Tour, and earned two top-five finishes at majors in 1998, including a second place finish at the PGA Championship. Stricker finished fifth at the 1999 U.S. Open and in a tie for 10th at the 2001 Masters, and won three PGA Tour events between 1996 and 2001.

The mid-2000's were not kind to Stricker, as he qualified for only a single major between the 2002 PGA Championship and the 2006 Masters (in which he missed the cut), and he lost his PGA Tour card. Stricker was written off by most in the golf world, and it seemed that the nearly 40-year-old golfer would never again seriously compete for a major.

But Stricker wasn't done. He won the 2006 PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year Award and finished in the top 10 at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Since 2009, Stricker has been one of the most consistently successful golfers on the Tour. He has won eight PGA tournaments since 2009, and finished in the top 10 at five majors.

Stricker has failed to be a serious threat at the majors since 2009, though he hasn't missed a cut at one since the 2009 PGA Championship. Yet Stricker hasn't been too far from the leader board, finishing in the top 20 in every major in 2011 and finishing in a tie for 15th at this year's U.S. Open.

Stricker looked nearly unbeatable at this year's Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January, and he finished in a tie for fifth only a few days ago at the John Deere Classic. At 45-years-old, Stricker is running out of time to win his first major, but expect him to make another serious run at the Open.

Lee Westwood

It is hard to believe that Lee Westwood has not yet won a major in his storied career. The 22 time European Tour winner has also won events on the PGA Tour, the Asia Tour, the Japan Golf Tour, the Sunshine Tour and the PGA Tour of Australia. He has finished in the top 10 in 14 majors, yet Westwood still has not been able to earn his first major win.

He has certainly come close, however. Westwood finished in third at the 2008 U.S. Open, tied for third at the 2009 British Open and PGA Championship, and then notched second place finishes at the 2010 Masters and 2010 British Open. He then tied for third at a major apiece in 2011 and 2012.

Most recently, Westwood finished in a tie for 10th at this year's U.S. Open, and won by five strokes at last month's Nordea Masters in Stockholm. He hasn't missed a cut all year. The last time he did so was the 2011 British Open.

Westwood is the third ranked golfer in the world, and has never played better golf than he has over the past four years. It's likely just a matter of time until Westwood wins his first major, and this year's Open could very well be the major in which Westwood gets the one thing missing from his Hall of Fame caliber career.