British Open

The British Open, or the Open Championship as many refer to it, is being played at St. Andrews in Scotland this year in the 144th edition of the famed tournament.  This year, Jordan Speith is dominating the conversation as he seeks his 3rd straight major and is coming off a win last week at the John Deere.  Here's my top 5 prediction.

1.  Jordan Spieth (9/2)  Not the best odds, but I laid off of him last week at 3/1 and we saw what happened.  The winner of the Masters and U.S. Open has won 6 of his last 20 starts overall and has finished top-3 eleven time during that stretch.  Got to figure he'll be in the mix come Sunday and he's the hottest player right now.

2.  Ricky Fowler (16/1)  With all the high winds expected through Saturday, it may seem crazy to have two American players on top of the leaderboard, but Fowler is coming off a win at the Scottish Open last week and with his recent win at the Players in May, I believe he might be ready to finally get a major.

3.  Sergio Garcia (33/1)  Garcia is also still without a major win and he may not get one, but this weekend in St. Andrews may be as good a chance that he'll get for a while.  He finished tied for 2nd in last year's Open to Rory McIlroy, who isn't here this week due to an ankle injury.

4.  Justin Rose (18/1)  This is more of a gut pick than by the numbers as Rose has a terrible British Open record.  In 1998 he finished 4th but his best finish since was just a 12th place showing in 2007.  Still, Rose is ranked #8 in the world and has a 2013 U.S. Open in his pocket and will have the "home country" advantage in his favor.

5.  Paul Casey (33/1)  Another Englishman who I believe will be in the mix come Sunday afternoon.  Casey finished 3rd at St. Andrews in 2010 and his 2nd place finish at the Travelers three weeks ago shows he is playing well coming in.  Many in Great Britain give him a better chance than fellow countryman Rose.

There's 156 golfers in the field, so expect to see some unexpected names on the leaderboard throughout the tournament.  It's also a little strange that the absence of world #1 McIlroy isn't a bigger story, but the possibility of Speith taking his third major of the year and having a chance at the grand slam has muted the impact of him not being here.

Good luck!