British Open 2015: Complete Guide to This Year's Tournament at St. Andrews
It would be easy to surmise that some of the excitement surrounding the 144th British Open dissipated when Rory McIlroy, the defending champion and an obvious favorite to contend again, suffered the total rupture of a ligament in his left ankle recently.
As expected, the injury suffered during a self-described "soccer kickabout" has sidelined the Northern Irishman for this weekend and the foreseeable future.
But while McIlroy's unfortunate absence is a blow, there are plenty of other golfers arriving at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, who now sense a greater opportunity to make their own mark at golf's most historic course. One is young Jordan Spieth, who will be attempting to conquer the third leg of golf's Grand Slam after already capturing both the Masters and the U.S. Open earlier this year.
The 21-year-old now straddles the wall of golf history, ready to clamber over into uncharted territory with what figured to be his most formidable remaining obstacle suddenly removed in the injured McIlroy. As Karen Crouse of the New York Times wrote following Spieth's warm-up victory in the John Deere Classic last Sunday:
"A target that Jordan Spieth thought, at the start of the year, was well out of his range suddenly seems as accessible as a drivable par 4. Spieth won his second consecutive start and his fourth title of 2015 on Sunday at the John Deere Classic to inch closer to golf's summit.
If Spieth extends his winning streak next weekend at the British Open at St. Andrews, he will supplant Rory McIlroy as the world No. 1 while becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the first three legs of the Grand Slam in a calendar year.
"
There are others hoping to rise up to prevent it from happening, of course, and there's much to know about who they are and all else that could and likely will play a role in the 2015 British Open.
All About St. Andrews
1 of 7
Americans think things, such as our country for instance, are historic or steeped in tradition when they are a couple hundred years old.
So let this sink in like a 60-foot putt: People have been playing golf at St. Andrews for six...hundred...years.
This will be the 29th Open Championship at the venerable course that held its first such tournament in 1873, when a golfer named Tom Kidd shot 91, 88 to win the two-round affair. He won 11 pounds for his effort—we kid you not.
The Old Course was so popular shortly after opening in the 1400s that King James II of Scotland banned golf for a time because he thought too many young men were playing it instead of practicing their archery. The ban lasted from 1457 to 1502, when King James IV fell in love with the game himself and lifted it.
Some will love it this weekend, and some will come to loathe it with all its quirky challenges, such as No. 17, the Road Hole, where the last time The Open Championship was held at St. Andrews in 2010, there were 55 double bogeys or worse scored by the world's greatest golfers.
How fickle can fate treat the best on the Old Course? In the 2010 Open, McIlroy, then only 21 years of age, shot a 63 in the first round for the lowest opening-round Open score in St. Andrews history. He came back the next day and carded an 80 on the par-72, 7,297-yard links layout.
Where to Watch
2 of 7
Here is the television schedule for daily coverage on ESPN (all times Eastern):
Thursday, July 16
ESPN, 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET
Friday, July 17
ESPN, 4 a.m. to 3 p.m ET
Saturday, July 18
ESPN, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, July 19
ESPN, 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET
There also will be live streaming available on the WatchESPN mobile application.
Biggest Storylines
3 of 7
Who's the favorite with Rory McIlroy out?
Spieth, of course. That is obvious. And while there still will be plenty of contenders to challenge him, the biggest storyline is Spieth and whether he can complete another leg of the Grand Slam. He's 21, the same age McIlroy was the year he opened the 2010 tournament with a 63 at St. Andrews.
Spieth is the kind of guy who knows that and has a keen sense of all the history he is chasing, so he's not likely to get rattled by much of anything.
Can Tiger Woods conjure up some old St. Andrews magic?
Woods is coming off a decent finish for a change (a tie for 32nd in the Greenbrier Classic two weeks ago), and he absolutely loves this place.
"It's the Home of Golf," Woods told Steve DiMeglio of USA Today. "It's history. And just to go out there and see all the different shots you can play is great. It's always special here." And while Tiger, at 39 and after numerous injuries in recent years, is nowhere near the player he was when he first stepped foot on the Old Course 20 years ago, there is a sense he might be able to rise up and make something special happen.
Does Rickie Fowler's win in the Scottish Open mean anything?
Fowler, like Woods, absolutely bombed at the recent U.S. Open, where he missed the cut. But now, Fowler comes in with some positive momentum, having won the prestigious Scottish Open last week. When Phil Mickelson hoisted the Claret Jug two years ago, he credited winning the Scottish Open a week earlier with giving him the confidence he needed to win his first and, to date, only British Open.
Top Pairings
4 of 7
There are some notable pairings for Thursday and Friday at this year's British Open. Here are just a few (all tee times are Eastern Time).
Thursday 4:33 a.m./Friday 9:34 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama
Enough said about Spieth. He's paired with Johnson, the man who choked away at least a playoff shot at Spieth in the U.S. Open by three-putting from 12 feet on the final hole and is still answering lots of questions about it and what it may have done to his psyche moving forward. Matsuyama is only 23 and is one of the PGA Tour's up-and-coming stars.
Thursday 4:55 a.m./Friday 9:56 a.m.: Tiger Woods, Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day
Woods seems poised to at least display some flashes of his old self, and he won the second and also the 10th of his 14 career majors on the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2000 and 2005, respectively.
Oosthuizen won the last Open played at St. Andrews by a whopping seven shots in 2010 and finished tied for second with Johnson in the U.S. Open. Day battled vertigo in a courageous effort at the U.S. Open and always seems to play well in majors.
Thursday 9:34 a.m./Friday 4:33 a.m.: Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson
Kuchar seemed to have the Scottish Open in hand before Fowler birdied three of the last four holes to beat him by a stroke. Mickelson always is a threat to get something going at a major, and Stenson continues to be one of the best players in the world to have never won one.
Thursday 9:45 a.m./Friday 4:44 a.m.: Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Nick Faldo
Fowler is coming off the Scottish Open win, while Odds Shark lists Rose as the fourth-best betting favorite to win (18-1 odds) behind only Spieth, Johnson and Fowler.
Faldo hopes to make his 58th birthday on Saturday special by playing well enough in the first two rounds to make the cut in what he has said will be his final Open appearance at the course where he won the second of his three British Open titles in 1990, per the Associated Press (via the New York Times).
Top Contenders
5 of 7
Dustin Johnson
Johnson made some interesting comments at his first British Open news conference Monday, blaming the bumpy greens at Chambers Bay for his inexplicable three-putt from 12 feet on the final hole of the U.S. Open when he needed a one-putt to win and a two-putt to force an 18-hole playoff with Spieth.
"I hit a good putt on the way back, and it just bounced and missed left," said Johnson, according to Golf Digest's Shane Ryan (h/t For the Win's Luke Kerr-Dineen) of his final miss at Chambers Bay, even though video does not seem to back up this claim. It will be interesting to see if he has any kind of hangover from the collapse as he makes his way around the Old Course.
Rickie Fowler
Fowler said it best after winning the Scottish Open, telling the Associated Press (via ESPN.com): "To win on a links golf course, my favorite style of golf, in Scotland and the week before The Open and going to St. Andrews, the home of golf, is great timing. I like my chances." Odds Shark listed his odds of winning at 16-1, with only Spieth (5-1) and Johnson (11-1) going off with better ones.
Justin Rose
Rose won the Scottish Open in 2014 but then went on to finish only in a tie for 23rd in the British Open the following week—something that Fowler may want to note. But Rose finished tied for second in the Masters this year and always is a threat on links-style courses.
Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen won going away the last time St. Andrews hosted The Open Championship. The fact he closed with such a flourish at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay recently makes it seem like he's poised to put together another great run on the Old Course.
The Dark Horses
6 of 7
Martin Kaymer and Shane Lowry
Kaymer, winner of two previous majors in his career, finally seems to be getting his game back together after blowing a 10-stroke lead in the final round of a tournament last January in Abu Dhabi.
Lowry played well for most of the weekend at the Scottish Open and brags of local knowledge at St. Andrews, of which he told Philip Reid of the Irish Times: "You need to be cautiously aggressive...and I know the course well enough, I know how to play it." Odds Shark listed the odds of winning for both of these golfers at 35-1 as of Monday.
Victor Dubuisson
Dubuisson, whom Odds Shark has listed as a 66-1 long shot, is an intriguing shot-maker who likely will win a major at some point in his career. Why not now? He finished tied for ninth in last year's Open Championship.
Graeme McDowell
McDowell, now 35, seems to have lost some of the edge that made him one of the best European players for many years running. But he played well enough at the Scottish Open last week and finished tied for ninth with Dubuisson and fellow Northern Irishman Lowry in last year's Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
Luke Donald and Lee Westwood
Donald closed with a 66 in his final round to finish tied for seventh in the Scottish Open and was tied for 11th in the last Open Championship played at St. Andrews in 2010. Both he and McDowell are listed as 80-1 long shots by Odds Shark, but somebody might cash in on big money by wagering on them or the likes of Lee Westwood, who finished second to Oosthuizen in 2010 and also goes off as an 80-1 long shot in this Open.
The Favorite
7 of 7
What more can be said about Spieth, the phenom who won't even turn 22 years of age until later this month?
He's letting his game more or less speak for itself. And after winning the John Deere Classic to become the first golfer since a young Tiger Woods in 2000 to win four times before the British Open, it's speaking loud and clear. (That incidentally was the year Woods won the first of his Open Championships at St. Andrews.)
Spieth told the Associated Press (via USA Today) that he believes he silenced critics who openly questioned why he would play the John Deere tournament instead of heading overseas early to supposedly better prepare for whatever may lie ahead at St. Andrews.
"I really didn't care anyways. I came here for a reason, and we accomplished that reason," Spieth said after winning the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois.
He sounds like a young man on a mission. That can't be good news for the rest of the British Open field.
All odds courtesy of Odds Shark and accurate as of Monday, July 13.
Joe Menzer, an author of six sports-related books, writes about golf and other sports for Bleacher Report while also working as a writer and editor for Fox Sports. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
.png?w=600 "New NBA Mock Draft 📝")
.jpg?w=600 "Offseason Moves for Every Team 👉")
