Golfbidder Tour Wrap It surprises nobody when the mantle of “favourite” for this week’s Open Championship jump from one of the world’s top players to the next, but few would have predicted it would settle on a man who hasn’t had a top 10 in the event since 1998. But by winning the Scottish Open, his second tournament victory in a row after the Quicken Loans National at Congressional, Justin Rose now heads the betting to secure the Claret Jug at Hoylake. In tough conditions on a classy and arguably more difficult links than the field may face this week Rose shot a stunning 65 at Royal Aberdeen to finish a comfortable two shots clear of Kristoffer Broberg and five from playing partner Marc Warren. The question now for Rose is can he make it a hat trick of wins on the biggest stage of them all in Liverpool? You need not look back too far for a precedent either; Phil Mickelson won at Castle Stuart en route to lifting The Open trophy at Muirfield 12 months ago. “I couldn’t have scripted it better,” said Rose after. “I’ve never won two in a row and I’ve certainly never won three in a row so I’m in uncharted territory. Elsewhere at Aberdeen the talent spotters were out on Sunday looking to see who was finding form ahead of Thursday’s Major. The reports that came back were that Stephen Gallacher and Rory McIlroy had both found their touch on the hard pan just in the nick of time. Gallacher shot a course record equalling 63 while McIlroy broke 70 for the third round out of four. “I see enough good signs in my game to give me some confidence heading into next week,” said an upbeat McIlroy drove the green on a 436 yard par-4 in round one. “I’ve had three good rounds here. If I can just string a fourth in there, it would be great and obviously going into next week, that’s what I’m going to try and do.” Defending Open champion Phil Mickelson arrived at Royal Liverpool this morning with the Claret Jug and he too can feel very chipper about his prospects having tied 11th after a Sunday 65 in Aberdeen. “I will just go there with a whole different confidence level and feel a lot less pressure to try to win it because I’ve already done it. That win last year is something that I will always cherish.” Meanwhile in the USA, the annual Groundhog payday for Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker that is the John Deere Classic didn’t quite go as planned for the stars as Brian Harman nipped in to steal the win. Harman had never even lead a PGA Tour event after any round before the weekend, but held a steady nerve to shoot 66 in the final group alongside former three in a row winner Stricker. In winning in the Quad Cities, Harman secured the 156th and final place in the field at Royal Liverpool and somewhat of a travel headache to get there in good time. In other news Colin Montgomerie can sit alongside Jack Nicklaus at Augusta next year safe in the knowledge that he himself is now a bona fide multiple Major Champion. Well sort of! Monty won the US Senior Open yesterday defeating Gene Sauers in a three hole playoff. The 51 year old adds the title to his Senior PGA Championship and will be aiming to complete a senior Major hat trick in the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl starting on July 24th. The other weekend winner was Mo Martin, one of the shortest hitters in the ladies game who won the Womens British Open in dream like fashion. Martin, one of the shortest hitters on the LPGA, scored her first eagle all year on the 72nd hole at Royla Birkdale to win by a single shot. Finishing one under she beat Shanshan Feng and Suzann Pettersen by one shot. Oh the irony, hope for short batter springs eternal.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:51:13 +0000
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