Golf Power Rankings: What is in Store for The Open at Turnberry

The U.S. Open turned out to be a strange Major that ended up in the hands of Lucas Glover.

Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, one and two in the Golf Power Rankings respectively, played well enough to get into the top ten in the U.S. Open, but neither really got it going. Now, Lefty says that he’s probably not going to make it to the British Open, but he’s been so good this year in limited play that he has to stay in the rankings…at least for now.

Let’s take a look at the rankings.

Golf: Power Rankings

** With British Open Odds

1. Tiger Woods +200- - After only 8 events, Tiger has 7 top tens including 2 victories and 2 6th place finishes in both Majors. He is currently 4th in the FedEx Cup standings. After 8 events…

2. Phil Mickelson +1500 - - Lefty has played in 12 events in 2009 and has 2 victories as well. His 2nd place finish at the U.S. Open and 5th place finish at the Masters means that he’s really on this year. He’s currently in 3rd place in the FedEx Cup standings. Golfers around the world hope that he makes the British.

3. Kenny Perry +4000 - - The winner of this past week’s Traveler’s Championship has taken home 2 trophies this year and has finished in the top 10 7 times. He usually skips the British Open, but we’ll see this year. It’s nice that he’s gotten over the Masters meltdown that he suffered in April.

4. Zach Johnson (Field +600) - - 5 top tens, 2 victories and a second place ranking in the FedEx Cup standings makes Johnson a formidable opponent for most of his peers on the links. He’s part of a seriously good field to win this year’s British.

5. Geoff Ogilvy +3000 - - Ogilvy hasn’t been the same for a while but he did so well earlier this year, with wins in the Mercedes-Benz and WGC-Accenture, that it’s difficult for me to leave him out of the top five. This short game maestro will have to be on his game for the British, but like Kenny Perry just proved, it can happen at a moment’s notice.

6. Steve Stricker +5000 - - Stricker isn’t part of the field to win the British in the BetUS online sportsbook and he shouldn’t be after a victory in the Crowne Plaza, a 2nd in the Northern Trust, a 3rd in the Bob Hope, a 4th in the Transitions, and a 6th in the Masters.

7. Brian Gay (Field +600) - - When Brian Gay is on, he could very well be one of the best in the world. The man is ranked highly in a lot of key categories and he’s already won two tournaments this year, the Verizon Heritage and St. Jude Classic. He is probably the top golfer in the Field in the sportsbook to win the British.

8. Lucas Glover (Field +600) - - The winner U.S. Open as part of the Field in the sportsbook? Is that right? Before bettors begin to believe that Glover can’t win another Major this year, and that the U.S. Open victory was fluke, they have to realize that Lucas finished 2nd in the Quail Hollow and 3rd in the Buick Invitational before his U.S. Open victory.

9. Sean O’Hair (Field +600) - - What is Sean O’Hair doing as part of the Field to win the British Open? He has 6 top tens out of 14 starts this year, a victory in the Quail Hollow, a 2nd in the Arnold Palmer, a 4th in the Mercedes-Benz, and a 5th in the WGC-Accenture.

10. Nick Watney (Field +600) - - Watney only has 3 top ten finishes this season, but he’s ranked 10th in the FedEx Cup standings and he won the Buick Invitational and finished 2nd n the WGC-CA. He can also drive the ball about as far as anyone on this list.