Repeat winners at the majors

After last year's tip on the majors, that no top ten player would win a major, I am going to tip that the majors will be won by players who have won it in the past this year.

I think good course management, patience and the ability to handle the pressure are going to be the major concerns this year.

There are a lot of very good younger players out there with very good chances to win but i feel that they are to agressive in their game and when it comes down to the crunch I think it will be their downfall.

So get on some of your favourite past winners even if you go for places i think you will come out on top this year.

Happy golf betting!

Watson & Cink shoot up world rankings

Following their playoff for the Claret Jug at Turnberry this weekend, former number 33 Cink and 1374 Watson moved to 9 and 104 respectively.

Cink will hope to move on from his first major and claim more - following the example perennial also-ran Padraig Harrington set in 2007. However it's more likely he'll join the ranks of Ben Curtis and Lucas Glover in the "nice guys who won a major" category. Sorry, Stew.

The world rankings in golf are somewhat farcical - it's basically a case of who can get to number 2 behind Tiger, or number 3 behind Phil these days.

New world rankings:

1 Tiger Woods 10.82pts

2 Phil Mickelson 8.53

3 Paul Casey 6.60

4 Kenny Perry 6.21

5 Sergio Garcia 6.02

6 Steve Stricker 5.88

7 Henrik Stenson 5.88

8 Geoff Ogilvy 5.74

9 Stewart Cink 5.04

10 Jim Furyk 5.01

11 Vijay Singh 4.84

12 Martin Kaymer 4.80

13 Camilo Villegas 4.69

14 Lee Westwood 4.65

15 Sean O'Hair 4.39

16 Padraig Harrington 4.33

17 Anthony Kim 4.22

18 Robert Karlsson 4.21

19 Ian Poulter 3.97

20 Lucas Glover 3.94

Twitter Watch: Poulter checks out Turnberry

Love or hate Ian Poulter, he's certainly a character. And where better for this natural extrovert and dodgy speller to spread his wings than on current social flavour of the month Twitter. He's got around 250k followers - still some way off American Stewart Cink on over 500k but he's catching.

Ian's Twitter feed.



The master and the apprentice?


View from the 10th tee.


View from the 11th tee.


View from the 12th tee.


View from the 13th tee.



View from the 14th tee.



View from the 15th tee.




View from the 16th tee.




View from the 17th tee.




View from the 18th tee.

Ten best rounds in the British Open Championship

1. Paul Broadhurst, St Andrews, 1990
Broadhurst was the first player to shoot 63, a feat that has never been bettered.

2. Greg Norman, Turnberry, 1986
A course record 63 on Friday set Norman up for his first Open.

3. Paul Lawrie, Carnoustie, 1999
Many forget Lawrie hit an excellent 67 in awful conditions to make up a 10 shot deficit. That's because Jean Van De Velde self-destructed in front of the gallery, and even got his feet wet.

4. Jodie Mudd, Royal Birkdale, 1991
So nearly a 62, Mudd missed a 20 footer at the last to card an impressive 63.

5. Isao Aoki, Muirfield, 1980
Aoki break the course record set hours earlier with a stunning 63.

6. Ian Baker-Finch, Royal Birkdale, 1991
A third round 64 helped the Australian to a surprise victory.

7. Jack Newton, Carnoustie, 1975
Newton fired a course record 65 but lost to Tom Watson in a play-off.

8. Tiger Woods, Royal Troon, 1997
In his second performance at The Open, a young Woods carded an impressive 64 and got himself into the mix. Though he didn't win the trophy, he won many fans and headlines alike. It remains Woods' best round at The Open.

9. Tom Watson, Turnberry 1994
A second round 65 gave the 44-year-old Watson the half-way lead.

10. Colin Montgomerie, Royal Lytham & St Annes, 2001
The Scot hit 65 for a lead of three shots in the opening round but still failed to win the Claret Jug.

Top ten Open champions

1. Harry Vardon

Younger Golf fans may not know the name but you should - he won six Opens, more than any other. A record that I doubt will be broken for a very long time.

2. Tom Watson

Waton won five Claret Jugs on five different links golf courses. A fabulous player, his highlight being the "duel in the sun" victory at Turnberry in 1977. It lives long in the memory as the sun hasn't been spotted in the region since.

3. Peter Thomson

Thomson won five Opens and richly deserves his spot at number three. The victories came in just a twelve year span too.

4. James Braid

Braid won five Opens from 1901-1910 and retired in 1912. Some record!

5. Young Tom Morris

Admittedly Young Tom did compete in a different era with less competition but he still won the title four times and also holds the record for youngest winner - 17 years and 181 days.

6. Old Tom Morris

Old Tom also won four titles and holds the record for oldest winner - 46 years and 99 days.

7. Jack Nicklaus

The greatest golfer of them all surprisingly only notched 3 Opens in his 18 major haul. Jack always gave it his best and was unlucky not to add more titles.

8.Tiger Woods

The man who would be king has three titles - so far. Who'd bet against Woods adding more before his career is over? Not me.

9. Seve Ballesteros

The charismatic champion won three Claret Jugs and his extraordinary recovery game earned him the nickname of "car park champion" in 1979.

10. Nick Faldo

Faldo won three Opens and put Britain back on the golfing map. The abrasive Englishman has more under-par rounds at the Open than anyone else.

Top ten Open Championship debuts

With the third major of the season fast approaching, people are looking to Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson to step up and claim it. But the Open has a history of throwing up unlikely winners. In this article we take a look at the men who have won it at the first attempt.

1. Tom Watson, Carnoustie, 1975
Watson won at the first attempt in a play-off against Jack Newton. The American would go on to win five Opens in total, eight majors overall.

2. Ben Hogan, Carnoustie, 1953
Ben Hogan also won at the first attempt, in a play-off and at Carnoustie. This was the last of Hogan's nine majors.

3. Willie Park, Prestwick, 1860
The Scotsman has gained fame for being the first Open champion. The field at that time contained just eight golfers. Park went on to win four claret jugs in total (okay, okay, so they weren't actually jugs until a good while later.

4. Ben Curtis, St George’s, 2003
Curtis was an unknown before the championship and is hardly more famous now.

5. Tony Lema, St Andrews, 1964
Lema won this major just two years before his career was cruelly cut short by an aircraft accident. This was his first visit to St Andrews.

6. Tom Kidd, St Andrews, 1873
Kidd won the first Open ever to be played at what came to be known as the home of golf.

7. Harold Hilton, Muirfield, 1892
Amateur Hilton was the second Englishman to win the Open.

8. Jock Hutchison, St Andrews, 1921
A play-off victory made Hutchison the first American champion.

9. Denny Shute, St Andrews, 1933
Shute won three majors but this victory was his first and perhaps best.

10. Mungo Park, Musselburgh, 1874
Park was brother of Willie (#3) perhaps most famous for going to sea for twenty years only to return and claim the Open championship in his hometown.

Open Championship purse confirmed

Next week's British Open Championship at Turnberry has bucked the downward trend in golf by offering the same purse as last year: £4.2 million.

The winner will take home a cool £750,000.

However, due to the pound's increase in value against the dollar, any potential American champion would take home $282,236 less than 2008's championship at Royal Birkdale.

Golfers with most second place finishes in majors

Sure, sure, everyone is interested in the big guys - the 18 majors for for Nicklaus or the 14 for Woods. But what about the guys that have finished second a lot? Is second place first loser or just the guy who challenged hard and missed out?

Who would you think had finished second the most? Take a look at the list and see for yourself:

Jack Nicklaus - 19
Greg Norman - 8
Sam Snead - 7
Tom Watson - 7
Ernie Els - 6
Ben Hogan - 6
Phil Mickelson - 6
Byron Nelson - 6
Gary Player - 6
Harry Vardon - 6
Ben Crenshaw - 5
Raymond Floyd - 5
Byron Nelson - 5
Arnold Palmer - 5
Tiger Woods - 5
Billy Casper - 4
Seve Ballesteros - 3
David Duval - 3
Sergio Garcia - 3
Walter Hagen - 3
Bobby Jones - 3
Tom Kite - 3
Gene Sarazen - 3
Fred Couples - 2
Nick Faldo - 2
Jim Furyk - 2
Retief Goosen - 2
Bernhard Langer - 2
Davis Love III - 2
Nick Price - 2
Curtis Strange - 2
Lee Trevino - 2

Only players that have finished second twice or more were included. If we missed anybody then leave a comment and we'll check the history books!