British Open

Fantasy Fix

We discuss Rory-mania, a golfer's love of tractors, Tiger's potential boy band, and of course, the Open Championship

Your British Open winner? Look no farther than this English duo.

British Open

Where: Sandwich, Kent, England

Course: Royal St. George's

Defending champion: Louis Oosthuizen won by seven shots at St. Andrews last year. In 2003, the last time the Open was contested at Royal St. George's, Ben Curtis claimed the claret jug despite entering the week ranked No. 396 in the world.

Purse: $7,300,000

This Week's Fix Six

1. Lee Westwood
2. Luke Donald
3. Sergio Garcia
4. Retief Goosen
5. K.J. Choi
6. Rory McIlroy

By Alex Myers

Follow on Twitter: @AlexMyers3

Photo by Getty Images

July 12, 2011

Welcome to another edition of Fantasy Fix, where we're glad to see Steve Stricker was taking notes on how to celebrate big putts while playing with Tiger Woods in all those international competitions. For one week, the void left by the 14-time major champion's absence was filled by the Strick Show and his dramatic win. That is, until you remembered that you were watching the John Deere Classic and not the Masters, of course. But it's time to turn up the excitement extra high again with the year's third major championship, one which is a particular favorite for those wishing to make a few wagers. We are peaking as well with our No. 2 choice winning for a second straight week and our No. 1 choice from last week, Zach Johnson, valiantly trying to track down Stricker before finishing T-3. Let's get to this week's thoughts before we lose our momentum.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Sandwich, England for the British Open. Despite the amount of withdrawals, this is a major championship and it comes with a trophy any player would eat a couple of pounds of deep-fried fish and chips to get his hands on.

Random tournament fact: The Open Championship was first contested in 1860. That's before the start of the Civil War in the United States and when Old Tom Morris was simply known as "Tommy Mo."

THE DEFENDER (EVENT)

Louis Oosthuizen (100-1 according to Ladbrokes.com). Has a man's love of tractors ever cost him a major championship? That's the risk "Shrek" took when he played in last week's John Deere Classic instead of heading to Scotland to prep for his title defense. The South African grew up on a farm and really wanted to compete in Illinois so he could check out John Deere's headquarters. He missed the cut, which gave him more time to get back across the pond -- or to try out some new models. Either way, we're not expecting a repeat.

THE DEFENDER (VENUE)

Ben Curtis (150-1). The Ohio native says he's glad to be back at the course where he picked up one of the most stunning wins in major championship history. Duh. The guy got more good bounces that week than your average pinball world champion does in a lifetime. Don't get carried away, though, and pick him in this spot. Curtis, who has fallen to 194th in the World Ranking, has just two top 10s in the past two and a half years. Then again, in 2003 he came in ranked No. 396...

MANDATORY MCILROY TALK

Rory-mania has gotten to the point that some betting parlors are listing him at 11-to-2 odds (Ladbrokes has him at 8-1). While I'm not surprised at the figure after his dominant performance at the U.S. Open, it's hard to justify it when he has to beat 155 other players in the field. Similarly, when it comes to filling out your fantasy roster, I think the odds of you making a move with him on your bench, while everyone else plays him, are much better than just following the crowd. Plus, after his romp at Congressional, he's giving everyone else two shots a round.

(SURPRISING) DUDS OF THE WEEK

Steve Stricker (33-1). As much as we love the Strick Show, we've seen this, um, show before. Stricker wins the John Deere Classic and then does nothing abroad the next week, with a T-55 and T-52 in the Open the last two years. Also, his last top five at a major came all the way back in 1999. By the way, how is it possible that Pat Riley trademarked the term three-peat? No one who won three in a row of anything before never thought of this? What am I missing?

Video: Rory brings the road hole bunker to his backyard

Jason Day (40-1). I continue to like this guy more and more, but this week, I don't have a good feeling about him. While I think it's great he showed respect to the John Deere Classic tournament officials by playing (he remains thankful to the event for giving him a sponsor's exemption when he was 18), it definitely wasn't in his best interest if he wants to win a British Open. Like Stricker, Day will now spend much of the beginning of the week getting acclimated to the time difference and the weather. Not to mention, at age 23, it's not like he has tons of experience playing links golf to fall back on. His Ernie Els-esque run of finishing runner-up in majors should come to a close here.

FAN MAIL BREAK

"Hey, bud. Sorry for all the confusion with my 'big' announcement that turned into much ado about nothing. You were probably worried I was going to shut it down for the year and I didn't mean to put you through any stress. Hopefully, my next big statement will be made on the golf course. Later, Tiger Woods."

Apology accepted, Tiger, though I was holding out hope that you were really going to announce the formation of a new singing/dancing group, the "Golf Men," to rival the recently formed "Golf Boys." I'm sure you could convince your pals Phil and Vijay to join you and if you need a fourth, I was in an a cappella group in college... OK, so Tiger didn't really write me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Please feel free to e-mail me with comments, questions or just to make fun of my picks. And of course, you can follow me on Twitter.