British Open 2013: Players Who Will Struggle to Rebound from Poor Showing

While some of the top golfers in the world are playing for the Claret Jug on Sunday, a few others are watching from home after poor performances at Muirfield.

The Open Championship has not been easy for most of the field, as there are just a few players who are under par for the tournament. Here’s a look at the latest leaderboard for the third major of the 2013 season:

Looking forward, those who didn’t have the best few days in Scotland will be attempting to turn things around in the coming weeks. They can’t afford to fall into a slump—or in some instances, continue to slump. Some had embarrassing rounds at Muirfield and need to fix their weaknesses before it’s too late.

Here’s a look at the next few tournaments on the PGA Tour:

So, which golfers aren’t going to bounce back after a forgetful week at The Open Championship? Here’s a look at three big names who you should expect to struggle for a few more weeks—and potentially all the way through the PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy’s tough year on the PGA Tour continued this week with a poor performance at Muirfield. McIlroy shot an eight-over 79 on Thursday, which put him in a tough position to make the cut. He was better on Friday, but not by much. He was four over in the second round and got cut at 12 over.

McIlroy has been largely inconsistent recently. After a top-10 finish at The Players Championship back in May, he tied for 57th place at the Memorial Tournament and then tied for 41st place at the U.S. Open. This was only the fourth time that McIlroy hadn’t performed well enough to play the weekend at the major tournament.

McIlroy is the defending champion at the PGA Championship, but it seems extremely unlikely that he’ll be able to win the title in back-to-back years. He’s really just been all over the place lately and has not looked like one of the best players in the world for quite some time. Expect to see him another poor couple of rounds from him. 

Rickie Fowler

Rickie Fowler has had a very up-and-down season, and his terrible pair of rounds at The Open Championship could be the beginning of another downward trend. Fowler had been playing well on the PGA Tour recently, as he had finished in the top 25 in the last three official events he entered.

Fowler’s success didn’t carry over to this week, though. He was seven over after Thursday and 12 over after Friday. His putter was his worst enemy throughout the two rounds, as he needed 3.5 putts per green in regulation. He wasn’t very accurate from the tee box either. He only hit 50 percent of the fairways.

This week could just be a fluke for Fowler, but it’s going to take a lot for him to overcome his previous struggles at the PGA Championship. He was cut last year and didn’t break the top 50 in the two years prior. Fowler really needs to turn his game around if he wants to avoid missing back-to-back major cuts.

Luke Donald

Luke Donald didn't play nearly as well at The Open Championship as he did at the U.S. Open (tied for eighth place) a few weeks ago. Donald had a terrible first round at Muirfield, as he finished the day at nine-over. He had three bogeys on the front nine, then three more and two double-bogeys on the back nine.

Things did get a little bit better for Donald on Friday. In the second round, he shot two-under on the front nine, but the back nine again gave him trouble. He had three bogeys to put him at one-over on the day and 10 over for the tournament.

In two rounds, he needed 3.3 putts per green in regulation.

Donald is still seeking the first major victory of his career. He’s finished in the top 10 on eight occasions, two coming at the PGA Championship. He finished tied for 32nd last year at the major. Donald could use a good showing at the next few tournaments to get his confidence back, but for now, he seems like a long shot for the final major.

*All statistics are courtesy of PGATour.com and ESPN unless otherwise noted.