British Open Field 2013: Players in Line to Capture PGA Major at Muirfield

Phil Mickelson needs two tournament titles to complete the career grand slam. I believe he stands a great chance of only needing the U.S. Open to pull off that feat after the 2013 British Open.

Mickelson is one golfer I have pegged who has a great chance to win the British Open. 

You will not find superstars Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy on this list. McIlroy has been in poor form all year, and he hasn't improved recently. 

Meanwhile, Woods has been nursing an elbow injury and hasn't played since the U.S. Open.

Here are three guys who have strong cases for being in contention. 

Phil Mickelson

After suffering yet another heartbreak at the U.S. Open, Mickelson is starving for redemption. At 43, Lefty knows as well as anyone that his window for winning majors is closing.

Of course, hunger for a win and the ability to pull it off are two different things, and there was a time when it didn't look like Mickelson would ever be able to solve the links puzzle.

However, he's adapted. He finished second at this event in 2011. Also, he won the Scottish Open last week in a playoff after sinking his putt following the masterful wedge shot captured in this video by Kyle Porter of CBSSports.com.

The Scottish Open has turned into a great warm-up for the British Open. Both of the last two Open champions (Darren Clarke and Ernie Els) have played that event. 

Mickelson is keeping himself out of trouble off the tee, and his short game is dialed in. I love his chances this week. 

Brandt Snedeker

It's dangerous picking Brandt Snedeker to win a major. Sure, there is a great chance he'll be in contention. However, there is nothing to suggest he can hold it together for four rounds of major golf.

One of his falls from the top of leaderboard—he's also had two at the Masters—came at last year's Open. The first two days, Snedeker looked like a player whose time had come. He tied the 36-hole British Open scoring record and held a one-stroke lead.

But he was pedestrian the last two days and finished tied for third.

While this is troubling, he is going to break through sooner or later. He's too talented not to. Prior to a rib injury knocking him out of play, he was a dominant force on the PGA Tour.

Now, he's rolling his game back to consistent excellence. He had a solid 17th-place finish at the U.S. Open and an eighth-place finish at the AT&T National.

Snedeker has a nice game for links golf. He has good touch on pitch and runs, and he is a great putter and iron player. 

I expect him to be in contention on Sunday. However, I'm not 100 percent certain there won't be another scene like this.

Matt Kuchar

Matt Kuchar hasn't had the heartbreaking misses in majors Snedeker has had, but he's also close to his breakthrough. I think he is going to win one this year, and it just might be the British. 

Kuchar's critics will point to his track record—both recently and at past British Opens.

He was red hot heading into the U.S. Open. He'd already claimed two PGA wins. One of those wins was the Memorial in his final start before playing Merion. In his start prior to the Memorial, he was runner-up.

However, he finished a disappointing 28th at the U.S. Open and an even more disappointing 49th at the Alstom Open de France.

And that is not as troubling as what Golf Digest's Mike O'Malley points out with this tweet:

What O'Malley doesn't point out—and what makes me shrug off all the negative trends—is that Kuchar is a different golfer than he once was. 

His consistency has been outstanding. Check out this graph of his top-10 finishes and wins on the PGA Tour since 2012 compared to the other two golfers on this list and the world's top three players, Woods, McIlroy and Justin Rose: 

Kuchar lags behind in wins, but he has been learning how to close the door. This is the first year he's had multiple PGA wins, and both came against top fields at the Memorial and WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. 

I expect a great tournament for Kuchar.