2014 Open Championship: 5 Bold Predictions

By Danny Norris | Jul 15, 2014

The 2014 Open Championship is just a little over 24 hours away and I’m personally really feeling jazzed about. Typically, I always love watching The Open, it gives me an excuse to stay up/wake up at 4:00 AM ET, but with the sports schedule opening up, and the talent that’s here in Merseyside, England, this year there’s just an extra sort of buzz. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Anyway, this article will me making some outlandish predictions at this year’s Open Championship that may (won’t) or may not happen (definitely will not). With that said, let’s get to it and we’ll start off with a big one.

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Tiger Woods misses the cut

A lot of things have changed since 2006. Tiger Woods’ life has completely changed, Woods’ swing has completely changed, and Royal Liverpool looks and will play differently. Royal Liverpool is much greener, and will play a little bit softer. It’ll still be firm, but softer and Woods hasn’t typically never played well in soft conditions.

Woods is coming off back surgery, coming off a missed cut at Congressional, and here at Royal Liverpool he’ll have to be very accurate off the tee and I just don’t think he will be. It’s great that Woods is back, he generates a lot of buzz, obviously, but I don’t think it’s realistic to expect much from him.

Matt Kuchar highest finishing American

Matt Kuchar has gotten to that point in his career where he’s figured out how to play links style of golf. Kuchar has made the cut at The Open in three of his last four years and in his last two years he finished T-9 and T-15 last year.

With his swing and style of play I think Kuchar has a great shot at winning. And what I love is that Kuchar seems to be under-the-radar. The media isn’t talking about him and with Kuchar not playing since the Travelers Championship, I think Kuch has sort of fallen off some fans radar just a little bit. I think Kuchar is good for a top 10, top 5 and I believe he’ll be the highest finishing American.

Victor Dubuisson, Thongchai Jaidee, Mikko Illonen, Jamie Donaldson, Francesco Molinari, Stephen Gallacher, and Joost Luiten all make the cut

This is sort of random and maybe not that bold, but I gotta tell you that I was struggling a little bit in finding a 5th prediction. There were some I could use, but it was a bit too silly, so here we are. These seven golfers who are floating under-the-radar and I think will play well here.

Marc Leishman: Highest finishing Australian

Now, this one’s pretty good, yes? This is nice and bold, but one I think has a legitimate shot at happening because Leishman plays really well in windy conditions. Adam Scott is the obvious favorite, but that’s just it, there’s just a feeling I’ve got that Scott just won’t be competitive this week. I don’t know, It’s just a feeling and I think Leishman will finish higher than fellow Aussies Jason Day, Matt Jones, and company.

Miguel Angel Jimenez wins the 2014 Open Championship

Hey, why not!? You gotta love Jimenez and he’s been in contention a number of times and he’s been playing very well this year. Not only that, but the British Open has had winners of late well into their 40’s and Tom Watson nearly won here five years ago at the age of 59. So, hey, why not the 50 year old, most interesting golfer in the world?