British Open Field 2012: Highlighting Stars Sure to Crumble This Weekend

Lately, when it comes to the majors you don't want to be one of the guys expected to win. It's almost like being guaranteed to fail. 

The last nine major winners have been first-time major winners, which means the odds are against the Rory McIlroys and the Tiger Woods and the Phil Mickelsons, no matter what the Vegas oddsmakers say. 

Or, the odds could be against them simply because lately they've failed to produce on the world's biggest stages. McIlroy has been an instant implosion the moment he hits the first tee, Tiger has been able to stick around atop the leaderboard a little while longer before inevitably falling, despite being among the favorites in each of the 2012 majors. 

Here's a look at why Tiger and some of golf's biggest stars are bound for more downfalls. 

Rory McIlroy

Poor Rory. He just can't seem to get his act together.

At 16-1, he has the fourth-best odds to win it all this weekend, but that's par for the course these days. Before the tournament starts, he's always one of the favorites to win, but even as early the first round it's evident that he can't deliver. It's been that way ever since he won the U.S. Open in 2011.

It's been embarrassment after embarrassment for McIlroy, and this year has been no different, at least in the majors. He tied for 40th at Augusta. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open.

Maybe it's just the pressure, because McIlroy hasn't been all that bad at the lesser PGA Tour events. He won The Honda Classic in early March, he finished third at the Cadillac Championship and he lost in a playoff at the Wells Fargo.

But at The Open, when the pressure's on, it'll be a miracle if he can make par in the first round.

Phil Mickelson

Like McIlroy, Lefty has faced a lot of expectations this year and has been unable to deliver. He came close to becoming a legend by winning his fourth Masters this year. He headed into the final round just one shot back from the lead, but alas, he fell apart in the final round, shooting a 72.

Mickelson's last three outings have been outings he surely wishes he could forget. He withdrew from the Memorial, tied for 65th at the U.S. Open and he missed the cut at The Greenbrier Classic. The U.S. Open was especially painful for Mickelson. He shot a 76 in the opening round and a 78 in the fourth to finish a whopping 16-over.

Though he's never won the British Open, Mickelson tied for second last year. But given the way he's been playing recently—and his struggles in the final rounds of this year's majors—it's hard to believe he can pull off a win at Royal Lytham & St Annes, as reflected by his 33-1 odds. 

Bubba Watson

Watson may be one of the most likable characters in golf, but he's not someone who generally strikes fear in the hearts of his opponents. And even so, he won the Masters this year becoming yet another first-time major winner to score a big upset.

But as many predicted, Watson's brilliance at Augusta was sort of a one-time deal. Since earning his first green jacket, he's missed two cuts—once at the Memorial and once at the U.S. Open—and finished in a tie for 18th at the Zurich Classic. Now, he has 40-1 odds to win The Open.

His last outing, however, held some promise. He tied for second at the Travelers Championship, shooting a 66 in the first round and 65's in the last two to finish 13-under. 

Despite his sporadic heroics, you still get the impression that most of the time even Watson doesn't think he stands a chance. Last month, when he was paired with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open, he tweeted that he wished he could just sit back and watch the two legends like the rest of the world.

You never feel like the Tigers and the Mickelsons of the world ever think they're not going to win—that's the difference.

In the first round at The Open, he lingered near the top of the leaderboard with Tiger—certainly a good sign, especially given the fact that early frustration is often his downfall—but you can never be too sure with Bubba, no matter how well he starts off. 

Luke Donald

Donald has to be one of the most accomplished golfers who's never won a major. Like Tiger and Rory McIlroy, he always seems to be one of the favorites beforehand, and he lingers near the top of the leaderboard in the early going.

Yet on Sunday he's never there, and he's rarely mentioned in the same vein as Tiger, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy.

So what's the problem? He's the top-ranked golfer in the world, he's consistent, he has five PGA Tour wins in his career and 61 top-10 finishes. He currently has the second-best odds of winning The Open at 14-1.

But he just can't get the job done when it matters the most.

Take this year's Masters when he finished tied for 32nd because he couldn't break a 73 until the final round. Or, take the U.S. Open, when he missed the cut. You can't complain about a lack of respect when you're not winning the tournaments that guarantee it.

Donald can keep racking up those top-10 finishes in the events that nobody cares about. All anyone's going to remember is how he plays when the whole world is watching, and under those circumstances he hasn't been able to impress anyone this year.

Tiger Woods

An unpopular choice I know. Everyone wants to believe that Tiger has a win coming his way, but truth be told, we've all been saying that since he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. Yet there have been two majors since then and zero wins for Tiger.

At Augusta he wasn't even close. At the U.S. Open he was great for two days and awful for the next two. That's why you can't put too much stock in his early British Open performance, no matter how good he looked in the first round. 

But because Tiger keeps managing to rack up wins—he has three this year, which is the most he's registered since Before Everything in 2009—we refuse to give up hope. The truth is, we can hope all we want, but Tiger just hasn't looked good enough recently to win.

As Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun points out, Tiger's shortgame at the Greenbrier was terrible a couple of weeks ago—how can he expect to rebound from that with a win at Royal Lytham? That's like trying to bounce back from a 10-game hitless streak with four home runs off Justin Verlander.

Even Jack Nicklaus recently told the New York Daily News that Tiger can win that elusive 18th major, but "as each tournament passes, his chances become smaller." For the third straight time Tiger's the favorite (8-1) at a major, and for the third straight time he's bound to disappoint.