Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – The Open Championship 2014

Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for The Open Championship 2014

This Week’s Tournament Preview

With the third major championship of the 2014 season kicking off at Royal Liverpool this week, fans will finally get a chance to see Tiger Woods go for major victory number fifteen. You can never rule Tiger out, but a lot of questions sill remain about Woods’ ability to win an event of this magnitude given his ongoing recovery.

The links style play at The Open Championship will inevitably prove to be a challenging and daunting test for this year’s star-packed field. This week we’ll be focusing on key links player statistics (especially with regards to fairway accuracy) however, rain is also a threat all week which should make things interesting at the normally fast Royal Liverpool.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Needless to say, we were quite disappointed with Chris Kirk missing the cut after coming into Deere Run with 22 consecutive cuts made. Although we lost one of our seven picks last week, we still managed to rack up a total of $929,034 in fantasy earnings with the help of other team selections that included Ryan Moore, Jordan Spieth, and Zach Johnson. Ryan Moore was a solid sleeper pick in most tier and salary-cap leagues last week as he finished T7 and earned $144,588.

With Stricker’s T11 rounding out last week’s picks, we managed to come in with a total of four of our seven picks in the Top 11 and we’re currently averaging just one missed cut per tournament this season (28).

The Field

This week nearly all of the world’s elite golfers will meet at Royal Liverpool and all eyes will be on Martin Kaymer, who will join defending champion Phil Mickelson and 86 other players in the top 90 world rankings. Kaymer has been one of the hottest players on TOUR this season with a major win and a PLAYERS championship already under his belt in 2014.

In other news, Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson will tee it up for his 37th Open Championship appearance and will most likely play next year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews as well before finally hanging up the PGA TOUR spikes.

We’ll be dissecting the field in detail this week looking for links-style superstars while taking last week’s Scottish Open results into consideration. You can’t rule out Fowler and Spieth, two guys who have shown up to major events consistently this season, and let’s not forget Justin Rose, winner in Scotland last week and once more two weeks ago at Congressional.

So do you pick the big guns like Scott, Bubba, Tiger, and Rory this week? Or mix it up with a long shot scrapper? We’ll break it down for you in our picks segment below.

The Course

Royal Liverpool Golf Club measures in at 7,312 yards and plays as a tough par 72. Designed back in 1869 Royal Liverpool is England’s second-oldest seaside golf course.

Tall fescue and deep bunkers will test the field and a terrible rainy forecast will threaten scores up and down the leaderboard.

Royal Liverpool enjoyed five decades as a regular stop for this major event but took a 39-year hiatus after the 1967 Open Championship. The Open finally returned in 2006 with Tiger Woods winning his 11th major of his career.

Photo by Royal-Liverpool-Golf.com

Weather Forecast for Hoylake, Wirral, England (from weather.com)

• Round 1: Thursday (July 16) 77 degrees, 30% chance of rain with PM showers.
• Round 2: Friday (July 17) 77 degrees, 80% chance of rain, with thunder/lightning possible.
• Round 3: Saturday (July 18) 76 degrees, 90% chance of rain.
• Round 4: Sunday (July 19) 69 degrees, 70% chance of rain, light rain expected.

2013 Results

It was all The Phil Mickelson Show across the pond last year after he notched a win at the Scottish Open and followed it up with his fifth major championship at the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield.

Mickelson finished 5-under with a 66 at Muirfield, a score which included four birdies in his final six holes. It was the lowest final round ever recorded at Muirfield and the score was good enough for Lefty to walk away with a three-shot victory over the 2013 FedExCup champion Henrik Stenson.

2013 proved to be a career year for Mickelson’s as he came off of a runner-up at the U.S. Open just five weeks prior to The Open Championship.

Here is a recap of Lefty’s surge at a challenging and fast Muirfield in 2013:

Phil Mickelson wins 2013 Open Championship Round 4 ESPN highlights

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Media

• Television Broadcasts
  • Thursday-Friday, 4:00am – 3:00 p.m. EST (ESPN).
  • Saturday, 7:00am – 2:30 p.m. EST (ESPN)
  • Sunday, 6:00am – 1:30 p.m. EST (ESPN).
• Radio Broadcasts
  • Thursday-Friday, 7:00am – 1:00 p.m. EST (ESPN Radio)
  • Saturday, 9:00am – 3:00 p.m. EST (ESPN Radio)
  • Sunday, 8:00am -2:00 p.m. EST (ESPN Radio)
• Mobile Broadcasts
  • Simultaneous coverage on The Open Championship 2014 App for iPhone and iPad.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes

We can all agree that just about any player in the field this week can win the Open, so instead of just printing out the field list and throwing some darts, we’re going to give you our best five picks to win based on a few different variables this week. We’ll be searching for links-golf superstars – guys who can handle high fescue, tough greens, swirling winds, deep bunkers and heavy rain.

However, unlike Muirfield last year, this track isn’t the toughest course that these guys have seen all year, in fact, the numbers prove that it’s easier than Pinehurst. With three par 5’s on the back nine (most say all three are reachable in two), we can see some drastic score changes in tandem with the terrible forecast that is predicted. Don’t just grab Phil and Tiger this week, do you’re homework…in fact, we’ve done it for you.

So far in 2014, our fantasy staff has picked seven winners in twenty-eight tournaments, along with 67 Top 10s, 19 Top 3s, and we’re still happily above the 85% (85.71%) “cuts-made” ratio. This stat is proven to be crucial in fantasy golf because as we always point out, missed cuts earn no money.

Try our picks this week to gain an edge over the competition and use our sleeper picks to help win your DraftStreet or other cash prize leagues. Don’t forget to take a look at our stats below.

Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win The Open Championship 2014

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Last Week’s Results:  Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the John Deere Classic

• Chris Kirk (Golficity Odds 8/1): MC
• Chris Stroud (Golficity Odds 15/1): T59 ($10,387)
• Jordan Spieth (Golficity Odds 18/1): T7 ($144,588)
• Zach Johnson (Golficity Odds 22/1): 2nd ($507,600)
• Harris English (Golficity Odds 25/1): T74 ($9,071)

Last Week’s Results: Sleeper Picks/Odds to Win the John Deere Classic

• Steve Stricker (Golficity Odds 35/1): T11 ($112,800)
• Ryan Moore (Golficity Odds 45/1): T7 ($144,588)

Fantasy Golf Predictions Stats: Season to Date

• Total Fantasy Dollars: $32,510,073 (Weekly average = $1,161,074).
• Total Top 10s: 67 out of 196 players picked (34.18%).
• Total Top 3s: 19 out of 196 players picked (9.69%).
• Total Missed Cuts: Only 28 out of 196 players picked (85.71%).
• Total Major Winners Picked: 1 out of 2 (50%)

Remember to visit the The Clubhouse to discuss this week’s picks for The Open Championship with other Premium Members.

(Cover Photo Credit)