Excellent Match-ups at the Open Championship

RopeItGolf · July 17, 2012

T-minus three days until the start of The British Open. The Open Championship kicks off very early Thursday morning for those of us on the east coast. The first group tees off at 1:19am Eastern Time (that's 6:19am local time), followed by other pairings that tee off about every ten minutes, until the last group at 11:11am Eastern Time.

Here's a look at some of Thursday's notable pairings (all times are listed in Eastern Time):

4:09am Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, and Zach Johnson

Current champ Darren Clarke has a tough pairing this year; Els already has three major wins with one coming at The Open (back in 2002), and Zach Johnson is fresh off his John Deere Classic Victory; Johnson also has one major of his own (Masters 2007)

4:20am Lee Westwood, Yoshinori Fujimoto, and Bubba Watson

Westwood is ranked third in the world, but is still looking for his first major title, but he's no stranger to The Open with 17 trips to the tournament and four Top-10 finishes; Bubba Watson is looking for not just his second major win, but his second major win this year

4:42am Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, and Sergio Garcia

Tiger (ranked #4 worldwide entering The Open) is looking for his first major win since 2008's U.S. Open victory; he has three Open Championships (he won his first back in 2000 and then won in back-to-back years 2005-2006); but don't sleep on Sergio Garcia who is looking for his first major, but has seven Top-10 finishes at The Open

9:21am Rory McIlroy, Louis Oosthuizen, and Keegan Bradley

This has to be one of the toughest pairings on Thursday; each member of this group has one major tournament win, but Louis may have the upper hand â€“ his one major championship came at The Open in 2010

9:32am Rickie Fowler, Padraig Harrington, and Manuel Trappel (Amateur)

Fowler will be competing in his third Open Championship and is still looking for his first major win; he's playing alongside Padraig Harrington who has three major wins and is also a pro at the Happy Gilmore Shot

9:43am Luke Donald, Phil Mickelson, and Geoff Ogilvy

World #1 Luke Donald will be looking for his first ever major title while Lefty (ranked 16th in the world) is looking for his fifth; Ogilvy will be vying for his second major â€“ his first since his 2006 win at the U.S. Open

Thursday looks to be a great day of golf, so if you get a chance to wake up extremely early you should tune in.

Check out the article here: http://theropeit.com/article/british-tee-party

JMiller · July 17, 2012

I think you missed a few really goo contenders in your poll options, for the odds at various different betting locations if that is your thing is listed here:

http://www.oddschecker.com/golf/open-championship/winner

I am sort of an odds type of person I'd take anyone in the top 5 in the world to win, Lee and Luke both looking to break through this week... Tiger is looking to get over the wall of 14. I am kind of shocked that they have Padraig Harrington at such good odds.

RoverRick · July 18, 2012

Not a whole lot of choices on the poll, however, having done a poll before, I know I could not have done a better job. My four or five favorites are this;

Tiger Woods, I do not think that anyone should bet against Tiger, playing the way he has this year, and he is hungry for another major just to shut up the critics.

Luke Donald, not that I think he will win but it is who I am pulling for because it would be awesome for him to get the monkey off his back.

Phil Mickelson, because he also played great in Scotland last week, but when ever you fail to mention Phil, he plays well. And I always pull for him.

Kyle Stanley is my dark horse. If Tiger does not win this probably be won by some first time major winner, and in this case it is Stanley.

I may come back and edit if I decide i like another one.