After a rain- and fog-filled Scottish Open, the golf world convenes on Merseyside for this year's playing of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
This year's British plans to be reminiscent of the days of Tiger at Royal Liverpool in 2006: baked-out grass and firm and fast conditions. That's the best kind of weather for links golf. Golf is at its most interesting when the ball is rolling, and Royal Birkdale being set up so the balls are going to be rolling forever is beyond exciting for me.
We can't forget that there is an opposite-field event this week as well, with the Corales Puntacana Championship. Here are the five picks for this week, as we look to find another opposite-field winner: Joel Dahmen, Austin Eckroat, Stephan Jaeger, Taylor Pendrith, Kevin Roy.
I'm not going to spend too much time in the preamble here, as I want to get to the rankings as quickly as possible, where there are plenty of setup-expectation thoughts. I do want to shout out myself for hitting the long-awaited double last week, with Tom Kim taking down the Scottish Open and Steven Fisk winning the ISCO. The vibes are at an all-time high at rankings HQ, so let's keep the train rolling this week in the final men's major.
Honorable Mentions: Sam Burns, Padraig Harrington, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Aaron Rai
9. Tyrrell Hatton
I'm going to be very honest; I almost put Padraig Harrington here as a "maybe we get a 2009 Tom Watson" performance. However, Tyrrell Hatton always seems to do just enough to be a factor in major championships on the weekend to necessitate being included in these rankings.
Hatton has finished in the top 10 in two of the three majors this year and is also a winner on LIV this year, for what it's worth (which is not much). In his last three starts, we've seen the Englishman put on great putting performances, which could prove to be the difference this week if the firm conditions get a ton of golf balls to the same landing spots.
8. Scottie Scheffler
Have we officially reached bottom for Scottie Scheffler? Obviously, a missed cut going into a major is not ideal, but it could be a positive since it would have allowed Scheffler to get to Royal Birkdale early and get some extra reps in.
The sky is not fully falling because we have to remember this is Scottie's first finish outside the top 25 in any event since August 2024. He's the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year, he's still the number one-ranked golfer in the world, and even Tiger had his struggles during his prime. I'm keeping my faith in Scottie.
7. Tom Kim
We didn't get the Scottie renaissance, but we did see the rebirth of Tom Kim this weekend. He's been around for so long that it's hard to remember that Tom Kim is only 24 years old, and he already has come back full circle from a major slump.
If he can repeat his iron and short-game performance that he showed in Scotland, then he can run away with the Claret Jug this week. Kind of like what we saw from Chris Gotterup last year when he got across the pond, I wouldn't be surprised if the TGL star finds another strong performance in a major this week.
6. Collin Morikawa
Finding form again with a T17 at Shinnecock and a third at Travelers, Collin Morikawa may be the true forgotten man coming into this week. A previous Open champion in his first start in 2021, Collin hasn't had a great British track record since, missing the cut in three of the four subsequent Opens.
However, this year's weather is probably as close as we have come to the weather at Royal St. George's, so I would expect to see Collin piece things together, especially in a year when his putting numbers have been near his career best.
5. Russell Henley
If we get another winner like we did with Brian Harman in 2023, it'll be Russell Henley this week. It took him a little while to find his footing on links-style courses, but Henley has found his groove, finishing fifth in 2024 and T10 last year at The Open.
Henley has always been someone that I wish played a little bit better in the majors, and while he's still had his bad weeks here and there, his ceiling has been raised in majors, as we saw with his T3 at Augusta this year. I'm not worried about his lack of relative distance off the tee; I think the Georgian's elite wedge play and solid putting will keep him right in the thick of things this week.
4. Rory McIlroy
If you erase the weird fog holes on Saturday, Rory McIlroy probably ends up winning the Scottish Open last week. In the Mcilroy v. Scheffler debate this week, I think the Northern Irishman is in a better spot right now, and has shown much more consistent strong performance at The Open.
He's finished in the top 10 in three of his last four Open starts and seems really desperate to find his first multi-major season since 2014. McIlroy also finished T4 at Birkdale last time it hosted in 2017, so there's a clear comfort with this track. The all-time great can very easily add to his resume this weekend, and the race to double-digit majors for Rory McIlroy would be well and truly back on.
3. Wyndham Clark
A T4 at last year's Open along with his strong play at Scottish Opens has filled me with confidence in Wyndham Clark's ability to play across the pond. Fun fact: his T13 at the Scottish last week is his worst finish on Tour since the PGA Championship.
Being able to showcase the ability to win a major championship always improves their standing in major weeks in my eyes, and Wyndham being able to take down multiple U.S. Opens is a great sign.
Winning this year at Shinnecock also bodes well, because I think the way Shinnecock played may end up being relatively similar to Royal Birkdale this year. Clark is red-hot, he's shown the ability to play across the pond, and he could end up with a third major championship to his name come Sunday afternoon.
2. Chris Gotterup
I truly think we have witnessed the birth of a true "linksmaster" in Chris Gotterup's ascension in golf. Sunday was a bit of a disappointment for him at the Scottish Open, but I think he just ran out of gas with how long Sunday ended up being.
Considering how dried out and short Birkdale is going to be playing this week, Gotterup's distance off the tee can prove to be a huge advantage if he can chop off considerable amounts of distance that shorter hitters may not be able to. We've seen a few first-time major winners at The Open in recent years, and Chris Gotterup feels like someone who could join that list this weekend.
1. Matt Fitzpatrick
I know, an Englishman hasn't won the Open since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992. But if there's one guy who could break that losing streak, then Matt Fitzpatrick could be the one to bring it home.
Short game is going to be huge for everyone this week, and Fitzpatrick has statistically been the best player on Tour around the greens so far this year. With top-five finishes in three of his last four starts, the 2022 U.S. Open champion should be coming into this week exuding confidence. He fits a lot of trends that recent Open champions have followed, and he's playing maybe the best he ever has. I think it's Fitzy's time to find a second major.
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