Tuesday 18 July 2017 17:48, UK
The Open always has been unique among the four events which define greatness in the sport of golf, never more so than now.
With the US Open increasingly venturing to new or at least remodelled courses and the PGA set to head to Quail Hollow for the first time next month, only this grand old championship now exists on a rotation of classical, largely unchanged links courses in the UK and, soon, Northern Ireland.
As a result, it's more likely we'll get a bizarre result and the sport's movement towards youngsters like Jon Rahm will surely be less marked. In fact, four of the last six winners of the Claret Jug were 40-plus, and one more was 39.
However, the exception was Rory McIlroy at Hoylake three years ago, and there must be every chance that another young superstar emulates him with Jordan Spieth (14/1 with Sky Bet) the man to beat at Royal Birkdale.
Unlike McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, Spieth arrives in form having won the Travelers in sensational style last time out, holing a bunker shot for the ages to beat Daniel Berger in a play-off.
Moments of magic like that are already the hallmark of Spieth's blossoming career and with two majors in the bag already, he's fancied to put himself in pole position in the race for a career slam - only this and the PGA remain.
Birkdale has a habit of producing truly elite winners - Padraig Harrington and Mark O'Meara, for instance, had both won majors within the preceding 12 months - and of the best in the world right now, none is better equipped for what lies ahead than Spieth.
Rickie Fowler might be the biggest danger and seems sure to play well, but at the prices preference is for Hideki Matsuyama (20/1 with Sky Bet).
Both are looking for a major breakthrough but whereas Fowler has spurned a couple of chances, Matsuyama has done precious little wrong and was knocking on the door again when second at Erin Hills last month.
He's since tuned up in the Irish Open, a big plus given that it was again played on a links course, and with a previous T6 at Muirfield to his name definitely has the game for links golf.
What's more, Birkdale is known to be firm but fair, one of the flattest Open layouts and a course which rewards strong iron play. Just like Spieth, Matsuyama is among the best in the world in that regard and can show it by going close.
With such generous each-way terms on offer - Sky Bet pay a massive 10 places - it's also worth scanning the bigger prices, with Brian Harman (125/1 with Sky Bet) getting the vote.
This brilliant putter finished alongside Matsuyama when second in the US Open, doing very little wrong on a course which put a lot of pressure on his long game.
Birkdale is considerably shorter and Harman has held form since, while he played really nicely at Hoylake a couple of years ago, so there's no reason he should be as big as 150/1 in places.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking Americans aren't equipped for this - the likes of Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton have won an Open this century, not to mention Stewart Cink, Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Tiger Woods, and Harman has the game to at least go close.
One key pointer to major winners is a victory earlier in the season, which all three of the above have, and it's worth adding Arnold Palmer champion Marc Leishman (45/1 with Sky Bet) to the staking plan with that in mind.
Leishman has two top-five finishes in the Open to his name - in fact he should've won it at St Andrews - and will relish difficult conditions at a course where Aussies have done well in the past.
He was fifth last time out, a continuation of arguably his best year on the PGA Tour, and has no weaknesses in an all-round game.
Branden Grace (45/1 with Sky Bet) hasn't won this year but he's extremely good at peaking for majors, as he's shown with four top-five finishes in the last three years.
Granted, they've all come in the US, but Grace is a Dunhill Links winner who seems sure to contend for the Open at some stage.
He arrives on the back of a top-20 finish in the Scottish Open, which represents a perfect sighter for an event which has crowned two South African champions since the start of the decade.
Finally, I can't escape the fact that in the last two Opens at Birkdale - 1998 and 2008 - an amateur has hit the frame, and both were English.
This year's batch look very solid and Harry Ellis (750/1 with Sky Bet) could be the pick of the prices.
He fought back from a losing position to win the Amateur Championship recently and at as big as 1000/1 must be worth a very small bet to hit the frame.
Remember, as well as amateurs placing here, there were four inside the top 30 at St Andrews two years ago and one of them shared sixth. Something similar will do.
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