The Open / Steven Rawlings / 13 July 2009 / Leave a Comment

Steve rejects last year's surprise hero Greg, in favour of straight hitting Tom

After last year's heroics from Greg Norman at Royal Birkdale, where he finished an extremely respectful third, after going into the final round with a two shot lead, I thought I'd take a look at the Top Seniors market.

His performance was in stark contrast to that of Sandy Lyle, who caused a bit of a furore when he withdrew after ten holes in horrendous weather because his fingers were numb!

Sandy fared much better at this year's Masters where he finished a brilliant 20th and he will be keen to try and banish the memory of last years debacle but 32nd is the best he's managed in the last ten years and he's readily dismissed.

This is just the fourth time Turnberry has been used for the Open Championship but this market contains two previous course winners. Tom Watson finally got the better of his great rival Jack Nicklaus by a solitary stroke back in 1977 in a tournament that's now fondly remembered as the 'Duel in the Sun'. The affable Watson, fast approaching 60, still plays the game to an astonishingly high standard and with five Open wins can't easily be dismissed. But that's what I've done.

I'm also going to overlook the other course winner and last year's hero Norman, who took the title here back in 1986. I've a feeling that last year was very much a one-off and the media attention and high expectations that are inevitable this time around may be his downfall.

The presence of Norman, after last year's efforts, creates a decent price for my pick, Tom Lehman, who can still mix it on the PGA Tour. Although now 50, Tom has rejected the easy life of the Champions Tour for now and still plies his trade with the young'uns, and not without success either. He led this year's Transitions Championship after three rounds and has had plenty of other respectful efforts lately. His straight hitting is made for Turnberry and at anything above [3.3] he's a really solid selection.

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