The 131st Open Championship will be underway starting Thursday. Here is a list of favourites going into the year's third major championship, and their most recent showing at the Open are in brackets.
- Tiger Woods (T-25th): Coming off two convincing wins at the Masters and the U.S. Open, Woods is a prohibitive favourite to capture another major this week. The Open title will give him the first three majors of 2002, leaving him the PGA Championship title away from completing the single-season Grand Slam. Off the course, he will have to deal with relentless media scrutiny as the pressure to pull off the Slam mounts. On the course, the key for Tiger this week will be to keep his tee shots on fairways and avoid tall, thick rough. With his patented, knock-down two-irons that travel farther than most players' drives, Woods will try to avoid all the bunkers as he did in winning the 2000 Open at St. Andrews.
- Sergio Garcia (T-9th): This 22-year-old brash Spainiard finished in the top-10 in the season's first two majors, displaying his talents to compete at the game's top level. However, Garcia shot 75 on Masters Sunday and 74 in the U.S. Open final round, when he was paired with Woods. He must have learned his lessons from those disappointing final acts, and having won the 1998 British Amateur Championship at Muirfield, Garcia is as familiar with the course as anybody playing this week. His improving trajectory control along with brilliant short game and accuracy off the tee suggest that Garcia will be a force to be reckoned with this week.
- Nick Price (T-21st): The 45-year-old veteran is enjoying a stellar season, having notched eight top-10s, including a win at Colonial. Price is also among the leaders in significant statistical categories, such as driving accuracy (7th), putting average (5th), putts per round (5th) and scoring average (3rd). Muirfield, at 7,034 yards, will bring more players than just long bombers into contention and Price, 1994 Open champ who is a superb ball-striker but a medium-length hitter, will be one of the beneficiaries.
- Ernie Els (T-3rd): The affable South African is a perennial contender at the Open Championship, having finished in the top-10 seven times in 11 career Open appearances, including two top-5s the last two years. Few golfers can match Els' combination of natural talent and composure, but he has taken some heat for not having seriously challenged Woods at recent majors. In an interview with the British tabloid The Sun this week, Els vowed to silence his critics at this Open. We will see if The Big Easy becomes The Big Nasty.
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