Turnberry is a course fit for champions so Tiger should feel perfectly at home
IT’S no coincidence that on each of the three occasions that Turnberry has hosted the Open Championship that the player standing on top of the world rankings has gone on to become champion.
For me, that speaks volumes for the condition of this beautiful Ayrshire course – not least for the dominance of Tiger Woods, searching for his 15th Major title this weekend.
Turnberry is looking the best I have ever seen it. With its clean bounces, it is a course which rewards the best golfers restricting the element of luck to an absolute minimum. This was all too evident when Nick Price (1994), Greg Norman (1986) and Tom Watson (1977) won here previously, and that has to make Tiger an even hotter favourite than ever.
That said, I also feel this is a course that could lend itself to a strong European challenge, in particular from Sergio Garcia and Tiger’s playing partner today, Lee Westwood.
Both Garcia and Westwood are masters at hitting the greens but are often let down by their putting. Here, the greens are a lot smaller and play very true and the difference between always being to within 25-feet here, as opposed to 40-50 foot putts at St Andrews, could prove extremely beneficial to both these guys.
Young Irishman Rory McIlroy is another who falls into that category and I’m looking forward to see how he fares this weekend.
If it’s omens you’re looking for, how about taking a punt on defending champion Padraig Harrington? For the last two years, the Dubliner has followed up winning the Irish PGA Championship by landing the Open title, and, yes, you’ve guessed it, Harrington completed a hat-trick in his homeland at the weekend with a seven-shot victory at the European Club. Prior to that, Harrington had missed the last five cuts on the European and PGA Tours, but this is a man who knows how to win a Major and this victory would have done his confidence the power of good.
Unfortunately, Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has been in the news for the wrong reasons this week, but don’t be surprised to see him raise a few eyebrows. Monty is happy going under the radar, insisting he will never win a Major, but don’t you believe it. He has a driving range and driving school here and knows the course like the back of his hand. With Tiger, naturally, such an overwhelming favourite, Monty, at such long odds, could well be a dream for each-way punters.