British Open 2012: Underdogs with Legitimate Chance to Win Claret Jug

The last nine golf major champions have been first-time winners.

Don't be surprised if that streak is pushed to 10 this weekend at the Open Championship.

When it comes down to it, that streak isn't all that surprising. Golf is a sport where your highs and lows can come on consecutive days. Even if you are the best in the world, you aren't guaranteed to beat everyone else, which is often true in all other sports. 

The best golfers can go multiple years without winning a major, and it isn't shocking. 

What is shocking, however, is that only two major winners since the start of 2009 have been ranked inside the top 10. 

Talk about unpredictability. 

With that being said, here's a look at some golfers outside the top 10 who have a legitimate chance at making a run at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

Zach Johnson

Does it feel like a cop-out picking the No. 11 ranked golfer in the world? A little bit, but he certainly deserves to be on this list.

Despite winning last week at the John Deere Classic, Johnson continues to be overlooked. 

That win was Johnson's second of the season, and he now has five top-10 finishes, eight top-25s and has made the cut 16 times in 17 tourneys. 

Johnson, according to most odds, is being pegged to finish in the middle of the pack, but he's much more likely to find himself on the leaderboard on Sunday. 

As a side note, only one American has won the Open Championship in the last five years, so Johnson is the only player from the good ol' US of A that I'm including here, even though there are others I feel are logical choices.

Aaron Baddeley

According to ESPN Stats and Info, Royal Lytham is going to be, well, dangerous:

"

Royal Lytham & St Annes, site of this year’s Open Championship, has a total of 205 bunkers, most of any Open Championship venue. #TheOpen

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 17, 2012"

So, why not go with Baddeley?

The Australian may only be ranked 50th in the world, but he's fourth on the tour in scrambling from the sand and sixth in sand save percentage.

Whoever takes home the Claret Jug will have to be able to make plays out of the sand, and Baddeley, who has two top-10 finishes this year, is a sneaky candidate to do so. 

Ian Poulter

An Englishman hasn't won the British Open since Nick Faldo shot a 12-under at Muirfield back in 1992, so, logically, someone has to win it soon. 

If I'm not allowed to pick Lee Westwood or Luke Donald, I'll go with Poulter. 

The 36-year-old, who has yet to win a major but finished second at this tournament in 2008, is a solid player out of the sand, is accurate off the tee and, at the very least, won't kill himself with stupid mistakes.

Poulter has made all nine cuts on the PGA Tour this year, finished seventh at the Masters and is a good bet to make some noise yet again. 

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