British Open Results 2012: Top Finishers Who Will Thrive at PGA Championship

On to the next one.

Adam Scott is going to have trouble recovering from the Open Championship. He played his first 72 holes better than anyone else only to absolutely collapse on the final four. Second place has never been so disappointing.

Ernie Els, the person who benefited most from Scott's meltdown, however, isn't too worried for his 32-year-old Australian friend (via PGA Tour Twitter):

"

Els: "First of all... I feel for my buddy Adam Scott. You're a great friend of mine. You're going to win many of these. Too much talent."

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 22, 2012"

The PGA Championship, which is less than a month away, might not necessarily be the one of "many" Els is talking about, but one thing is sure: Adam Scott will bounce back.

The public likes glorifying stories about athletes being unable to recover from certain catastrophic outings, but when it comes down to it, golfers need to have thick skin. They don't just fall apart on the drop of a pin. Even the best players have terrible rounds. You have to be able to forget that and move on.

Scott will do just that. He's an excellent player, he's won eight PGA tournaments and he's finished in the top 10 four times in his last seven majors, including a seventh-place finish at the PGA last year.

I don't expect any hangover from this weekend's showing.

Additionally, I anticipate a couple other golfers to use the momentum of Royal Lytham to thrive in South Carolina next month. Let's take a look.

Tiger Woods

Now that LeBron James has won an NBA championship, "Tiger Woods is a choke artist" is the new favorite slogan of the common naysayer.

Let me just put this out there: Woods is not a choke artist.

I don't think I've ever seen as much ridicule following a third-place finish at a British Open. Woods has struggled recently during the weekends of the majors, yes, but negative spells happen to every golfer.

He's also won three tournaments this year, more than anyone else on tour. He's also made the cut at every major. He's also, at moments, looked like the best golfer in the world for the first time in a long time. 

Woods may not be the killer he used to be, but he's to the point where I'm never going to bet against him before a tournament. The PGA Championship will be no different. 

Nicolas Colsaerts

I'm not exactly sure why, but I love the way this guy plays. He is a little up-and-down, as evidenced by his almost symmetrical 65-77-72-65 this week, but when he is on, he is an aggressive yet accurate player, and that can be a scary good combination. 

The 29-year-old Belgian has played in just four majors in his career. Way back in 2004, he missed the Open Championship cut as an amateur. 

After missing the cut at the U.S. Open last year, Colsaerts has burst onto the scene.

Last month, he finished in 27th place at Olympic Club and now he has a seventh-place finish at the Open Championship to boot. 

I'm betting the momentum continues. He's a sleeper next month. 

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