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From a new major champion to another missing the cut, these bold predictions for the 151st Open Championship cover it all.
The season’s final major is here as the best professional golfers in the world will tee it up for the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
After an extremely entertaining Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open, the expectations for this final major are high.
Sitting at 7,383 yards, this par-71 course consists of only three par 5s. Two of those will play over 600 yards on 15 and 18. Five of the par 4s will play over 450 yards. However, it’ll be the final four holes that everyone should watch. That stretch of holes will challenge golfers.
This track will challenge the best golfer. The closing 609-yard 18th hole will be a doozy. The out-of-bounds line is tight so that it could produce a wide variety of scores.
A trip back to Hoylake is in store for Rory McIlroy coming off a big win at the Scottish Open. He won this tournament the last time it hosted here back in 2014.
McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler are the outright favorites. No one should forget about Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka.
There is still no Tiger Woods, which is disappointing because the Big Cat hasn’t played since the Masters. However, the buzz surrounding Hoylake and the 151st Open is intoxicating. Will McIlroy repeat at Hoylake? Will someone out of the blue win like Wyndham Clark’s stunning victory at the Los Angeles Country Club? Could we see another defending champion miss the cut?
Let’s move on to our Open Championship bold predictions.
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3. A former Georgia Bulldogs’ golfer will finish in Top 5
Six former Georgia Bulldogs are playing this week at the Open Championship. Harris English, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka and Brendon Todd will all tee it up at Royal Liverpool, hoping to take home the Claret Jug.
They won’t. However, one will finish inside the top 5, though. Brian Harman has played some incredible golf recently. This golf course could work to his advantage. He has three runner up finishes this season and five top 10s.
The last three weeks saw him tally a T12 at the Scottish Open, T9 at Rocket Mortgage and T2 at the Travelers. If he continues to play well, this course could really be his time to record another good finish.
English could have a strong week. However, with a new baby, there is no telling how he will play. He may play lights out, but it’s hard to predict. Straka recently won at the John Deere Classic. Outside of Harman, Straka is the guy that has a decent shot at a top 5.
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2. Defending champ Cameron Smith will miss the cut
2022 Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith is coming off a win in London on the LIV Tour. He is confident and desperately wants to win back-to-back Open Championships. However, that won’t happen this week. There are too many other players on hot streaks for him to repeat.
He may be confident about this week, but Smith will not play well. The pressure of being a defending champ is a lot to handle, and it’ll get to him.
Smith will instead miss the cut and head home early. He is playing well in the majors this season. In Augusta, Smith was T34. At the PGA Championship, he finished T9. In Los Angeles at the U.S. Open, Smith was solo fourth.
He may have played well up to this point, but it won’t happen at Hoylake.
1. Viktor Hovland wins the 151st Open Championship by four shots
The boldest prediction comes with Viktor Hovland. This is the year he will raise the Claret Jug. He won’t just win. Hovland will dominate and take home his first major by four strokes.
Hovland got over the hump recently by winning The Memorial tournament. That victory was his first “big boy” victory, and he played it like a mature golfer. Hovland looked like a different player that week, and it seemed like he turned a page.
In two of the three majors played, he has finished inside the top 10. Hovland was T2 at the PGA Championship and T7 at the Masters. Then at the U.S. Open, he was solo 19th.
The pressure of a major clearly has not bothered him.
In his two other appearances at the Open, Hovland finished T12 at Royal St. George’s and T4 at St. Andrews last year. He got close at the Old Course but came up short. This year that will not happen. Hovland trusts his short game more than ever, and it’ll help him rack up a massive first major championship victory.
