British Open Favourites 2013: Breaking Down Top Contenders at Open Championship

Who will win the third major championship of 2013?

The field at Muirfield this week is packed with the top golfers in the world, and they’re bound to put on a show for the crowd in Scotland—and those watching at home. The best part of the British Open is that it’s been anyone’s tournament to win in recent memory. There have been five different winners in the last five years.  

But that doesn’t mean we should be counting out the biggest names already. Some of the best golfers out there have won major championships in the last two years. Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy are the most recent victors, and it wouldn’t be surprising if one of those three raised the claret jug on Sunday.

There are plenty of other golfers you need to keep an eye on too. Here’s a look at some of the top contenders to watch this week at Muirfield.

Tiger Woods

The hunt for Tiger Woods’ 15th career major championship victory starts Thursday.

Woods has won the Open Championship three times in his career, but he hasn’t claimed the claret jug since 2006. Since, the top-ranked golfer in the world only has one top-10 finish at the tournament. That came a year ago at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where Woods finished four strokes behind the leader, Ernie Els, to tie for third place.

Tiger has been unstoppable for most of the 2013 season on the PGA Tour. He has four victories on the year, the most recent coming at The Players Championship in mid-May. June was not a good month for him, though, as he tied for 65th place at the Memorial Tournament and for 32nd place at the U.S. Open.

Woods’ struggles at Merion can be attributed to his elbow, which he strained during the week, according to the Associated Press Golf.com. His elbow is “good to go” this week, per the report, so Woods should be in good shape to take the field by storm at Muirfield to win No. 15.

Adam Scott

Adam Scott enters Muirfield looking for redemption.

Last year's British Open was not a memorable one for the Aussie. Scott sat atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of the first and third rounds and was one shot back of Brandt Snedeker after the second. With a four-shot leading entering Sunday, it was expected he’d win his first major championship.

But that didn’t happen. Scott bogeyed two of the first three holes on the front nine and bogeyed the sixth hole to shoot two-over to start his day. The back nine wasn’t as much of a struggle—that is, until he stepped into the tee box on the 15th hole. He bogeyed the final four holes to finish five-over for the round.

Unfortunately for Scott, Els birdied the 18th hole to take home the claret jug. It was a disappointing showing from the Aussie, to say the least. Some may think his win at the Masters in April makes up for his stunning loss at Royal Lytham & St. Annes a year ago. While it might, a win at Muirfield would definitely do the trick.

Luke Donald

Luke Donald is still seeking the first major championship of his career.

The closest to the top of the leaderboard Donald has ever gotten at a major has been third place, where he finished at the 2005 Masters and the 2006 PGA Championship. He’s been hit or miss at the Open Championship the last four years. He finished fifth in 2009, 11th in 2010, got cut in 2011 and then finished fifth again last year.

Donald played very well at the U.S. Open this year, finishing tied for eighth after shooting six-over. It was his third top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in 2013. He recently played at the Alstom Open de France and really struggled to have a good showing before hitting the links in Scotland. He tied for 42nd after shooting six over.

You’ll be able to tell what kind of week Donald is going to have based on his play on the fourth, seventh, 13th and 16th holes—the par-threes. He ranks second on the PGA Tour this season at making birdie or better on par-threes, at 20.45 percent. If he isn’t making birdies on those, don’t expect to see him hoisting the claret jug.

*All statistics in this article were obtained via PGATour.com unless otherwise noted.