The European Tour’s Race to Dubai travels to England this week for the return of The Open Championship at Royal St. George's.
Following the postponement of last year's event, Shane Lowry makes his long awaited defence of the Claret Jug. But who will win the fourth Major of the year this time around, and who should be in your Fantasy Team?
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Expert Picks
_Our expert picks will be brought to you every week by Sky Sports Presenter Kit Alexander and former Ladies European Tour player, coach and presenter Sophie Walker. The duo also co-host their own weekly _Fantasy Golf Youtube Channel.
Kit's picks
You can follow Kit on social media here: _@KitOnTheCourse (Twitter), @KitOnTheCourse (Instagram)_
Louis Oosthuizen
The South African has finished as runner-up in the last two majors, and he now arrives at the one he’s actually won before back in 2010 at St Andrews. His Open record since then has been a bit of a mixture, with a couple of missed cuts, a T2 in 2015 and a T54 at Royal St George’s in 2011. He tops the PGA Tour in ‘strokes gained - putting’ and he’s 10th in ‘strokes gained - around the green’. That excellent short game will be very handy this week.
Matt Fitzpatrick
The 26-year-old arrives off the back of a play-off loss at the Scottish Open, and he’s been playing well all year. His relatively low ball flight is ideal for links golf and he’s a sensational putter. He’s still looking for that big breakthrough result in the majors but he got his best Open finish of T20 last time out at Royal Portrush. I fancy him to have a run at adding the Clarey Jug to the Silver Medal he won as leading amateur in 2013.
Justin Thomas
The world number three hasn’t been in his best form since winning the Players Championship in March, but he led the field in ‘strokes gained - off the tee’ and ‘strokes gained - around the green’ on the way to an encouraging T8 finish in Scotland last week. He found his feet in his fourth Open appearance with a T11 last time at Royal Portrush. A bit sharper with his approach play this week and he’ll be right in the hunt
Sophie's picks
You can follow Sophie on social media here: @SophWalks (Twitter), @SophWalksGolf (Instagram)
Jon Rahm
The Spaniard won his first major at Torrey Pines and I get the impression the floodgates will open. Rahm has fallen to world number two after his 7th finish last week at the Scottish Open so will be wanting to move back to the summit of golf.
He's had eight top 10’s in his last fourteen major appearances, three of them coming in 2021. Rahm leads the SG total and scoring average (69.6) on the PGA Tour. A links specialist with two Irish Open victors on the European Tour is everyone's favourite to lift the Claret Jug.
Collin Morikawa
I was shocked by his T71 at last week's Scottish Open and think we will be also. I can’t see Collin letting that happen again.Royal St Georges will be a tougher test and the best iron player in the world will need to lean on his exceptional stat of inside 30 feet from 170-200 yards. The world number 4 has had three top tens in a handful of majors including that win at the PGA Championship. Royal St George’s is a tough test tee to green, he tops that stat on the PGA Tour.
Tyrrell Hatton
An English man winning at Royal St Georges, wouldn't that be a story. Tyrrell has good form around links courses, winning the Alfred Dunhill twice. The world number 10 has recorded three top 10’s at The Open and many see this championship as his best chance at winning a major. Hatton was 18th at the Scottish Open last week and on his eighth appearance at The Open he will be looking to beat his best finish of 6th in 2019.
