Golf: The Open Championships

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The historic Open Championship is the oldest of the 4 major golf championships and is the only major to take place outside of the USA. First played at Prestwick in 1860, 8 players battled it out for the title, playing just 3 rounds of the 12-hole course. It takes place every year on one of number of reputable links courses in the UK.

This year’s Open takes place between Thursday 19th July and Sunday 22nd July 2007 at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland. The return of the Open to the Carnoustie course is certainly something that many of the older, more experienced players will be a bit apprehensive about. You have to go back to 1999 for the last time that the Open was played at this course and it was certainly a tournament that will not be forgotten, no mater how much everyone concerned would like to. Eventual winner, Paul Lawrie, would probably admit that wind swept, rain hit tournament of 1999 will not be remembered for his triumph, but for a little known French Golfer named Jean Van De Velde. With victory almost certainly to be his, Van De Velde only needed a double bogey 6 on the final hole to seal the win, but after a wayward tee shot and a large quantity of his time spent in sand, water and rough, he finally putted (and only just!) with a triple bogey 7, taking the tournament to a tantalising play-off in which Scotsman Paul Lawrie held his nerve to take the title.

Unsurprisingly, this is the only time that The Open has been won by a Brit in the past 14 years, however, many fans are quietly confident of a British victory this year with a lot of rising stars and familiar faces finding some form of late.

Key British Players

Justin Rose Originally born in Johannesburg, 26 year old Rose now represents England. Arguably in the greatest form of his career, he has already come so close to winning a major championship this year at the Masters in Augusta. Justin Rose turned pro in 1998 after finishing in an impressive 4th place at the Open Championships even though he was a low ranking amateur. After a disappointing few years on the European and PGA tours, Rose has now found the sort of form that has people targeting 2007 for Justin's first major victory and after finishing 5th and 10th at the Masters and US Open respectively, a victory at the Carnoustie Golf Links could be on the cards.

Paul Casey Paul Casey has finished in the top 10 in the US Open and the Masters this year, potentially setting him up for an equally good finish at this year’s Open Championship. Casey, who was born in Cheltenham, took a golf scholarship in America at Arizona State University. In 2000 he broke the Pac-10 championship scoring record, previously held by Tiger Woods and he also won the English Amateur Championship back-to-back, in 1999 and 2000. More recently, Casey won the HSBC World Match Play Championship in 2006, and in January 2007 he reached a career high rank of 13th in the world.

Luke Donald Currently ranked 9th in the World, Luke Donald is enjoying what is arguably his finest season since turning pro in 2001. Although he has not won a trophy in 2007, Donald is definitely in good form and can be considered to be a real contender for these years Open. With a brief stint as Europe's highest ranked golfer on the PGA Tour, and still only aged 22, Luke Donald certainly has a promising career ahead of him and maybe he can make this year's Open his first major success.

Colin Montgomerie Will 2007 be the year in which Colin Montgomerie, 5-time major championship runner up and 8-time European Order of Merit winner finally claims the first major championship victory of his career. ‘Monty’ famously came close to victory in the 2006 US Open, until a wayward tee shot and a series of errors on the 18th hole on the final day of the tournament lead to the Glaswegian having to settle for second place. Since then he has not made much of an impact at the major tournaments, missing the cut in each tournament since his US Open misery, although he is currently ranked 6th in this year’s Order of Merit.

If any of the British hopefuls are going to win this year, they are most likely to have to fight it to the wire with World Number 1, Tiger Woods, who will undoubtedly be looking to build on his success at the Open Championship last year by claiming this year’s title. Tiger will be looking to make this his 13th major victory, and his first of 2007. After coming so close to winning this year’s Masters and US Open, it could be 3rd time lucky for Tiger in 2007.

Pairing's for Round's 1 and 2 There are some fascinating pairings for the opening round at this years Open Championship. The one that has caught everyones eye is a group consisting of world number one and current champion Tiget Woods, previous Open champion Paul Lawrie and in-form Englishman Justin Rose. This is certainly a pairing to watch. Other noticable pairings include Michael Campbell, Darren Clarke and Chris DiMarco who will be followed by Retief Goosen, Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard. 3 time Open champion Nick Faldo has been paired with Trevor Immelman and Carl Pettersson.

Stats about the Open Here are some interesting statistics on the history of The Open

Most Wins 6 - Harry Vardon

Record Score to Par -19 - Tiger Woods, 2000

Lowest Aggregate Score 267 - Greg Norman, 1993

Biggest Winning Margin 13 Shot - Tom Morris snr, 1862