The Open Championship predictions: English duo set to fight it out for Troon title
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- Royal Troon hosts the Open for the 10th time and the first time since 2016
- No golfer has won more than one Major in a season since Brooks Koepka in 2018
- Recommended bets:
- Tyrrell Hatton to win and each-way
- Tommy Fleetwood to win and each-way
- Tom Kim to win and each-way
The final men's Major of the season begins at Royal Troon Golf Club, Scotland, on Thursday when the best players in the game battle for the Claret Jug at the 152nd Open Championship.
World no.1 Scottie Scheffler leads the betting again at 11/2 but the unique links test which the Open poses could help to narrow the gap between the Masters champion and the chasing pack.
Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion at Hoylake, is 15/2 as he bids to bounce back from the heartache he suffered at the US Open a month ago.
In-form Hatton can end England's long Open wait
It is 32 years since an Englishman last got his hands on the Claret Jug but Tyrrell Hatton's recent form suggests he could follow in the footsteps of 1992 champion Nick Faldo by claiming victory on Sunday.
Hatton has underwhelmed in Majors generally but his best Open result came at Royal Troon in 2016, when he finished fifth as a relatively unfancied runner behind winner Henrik Stenson.
The Buckinghamshire man has links pedigree, twice winning the Dunhill Links played at two Open venues in St Andrews and Carnoustie, and he arrives in Scotland in fine form having won LIV Nashville last month before finishing third at LIV Andalucia on Sunday.
A trip to Valderrama, which hosted LIV Andalucia, is not necessarily ideal prep for a windswept Troon but both venues demand accuracy off the tee and there is no doubt that Hatton is in fine form ahead of his latest tilt at a Major breakthrough.
Links master Fleetwood is made for Troon test
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Born and raised in Southport, Tommy Fleetwood is arguably as well versed in links golf as anyone in the Open field and he also has a strong chance to end 32 years of hurt for England's golfers.
Fleetwood was third at the Masters in April and has been producing consistent PGA Tour results over the last few months.
All areas of his game are firing which suggests that elusive Major victory will not be far away.
The Ryder Cup hero was a runner-up in the 2019 Open at Portrush, fourth at St Andrews in 2022 and 10th last season.
He is also boosted by the return of regular caddie Ian Finnis after heart surgery.
Kim poised to challenge for maiden Major crown
Tom Kim is just 22 years old but he has already shown that he is well equipped to handle links conditions having finished in a share of second behind Brian Harman at Hoylake in last year's Open.
Kim has finished third, sixth and 15th in the last three editions of the Scottish Open, closing with a 64 on Sunday, and that performance should have him spot-on for a crack at a first Major title.
