18th July 2006
The oldest major championship gets underway tonight at Royal Liverpool Golf Club with a record 23 Australians vying to become the tenth Aussie winner of the famous Auld Claret Jug.
Tiger Woods $5.00 heads The Open betting market with IASbet from big hitting lefty Phil Mickelson $11.00 and world number three Vijay Singh $15.00 while last month's winner of the US Open, Geoff Ogilvy $29.00 is the shortest priced of the Aussie contingent.
No Australian has won The Open since 1983 when Greg Norman shot a final round 64 at Royal St George's.
The Hoylake layout has been baked sunshine with a birdie bonanza expected this weekend.
A record low score is being freely tipped by Hoylake's links manager who said that without wind, the winning score would be around 18 under. Tiger Woods holds the record for the winning score at an Open Championship, 19 under when he won the Open in 2000 at St Andrews.
| Game | Odds |
|---|
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| Date | Tournament | 2004 Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 27-30 | Chrysler Championship | Vijay Singh |
| Nov 3-6 | The Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola | Retief Goosen |
| Nov 10-13 | Franklin Templeton Shootout | Hank Kuehne/Jeff Sluman |
| Nov 17-20 | WGC World Cup | England |
| Nov 26-27 | Merrill Lynch Skins Game | Fred Couples |
| Rank | Player | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiger Woods | USA |
| 2 | Vijay Singh | FIJ |
| 3 | Phil Mickelson | USA |
| 4 | Retief Goosen | SAf |
| 5 | Ernie Els | SAF |
| 6 | Sergio Garcia | ESP |
| 7 | Jim Furyk | USA |
| 8 | Adam Scott | AUS |
| 9 | Chris DiMarco | USA |
| 10 | David Toms | USA |
Adam Scott is regarded as the most exciting young Australian golfer since Greg Norman. At the age of 23 years, eight months and 12 days, he became the youngest winner of The Players Championship on the US PGA Tour, an event considered by many to be the game's fifth Major.
Scott is a four-time winner on the US PGA Tour. His initial breakthrough came at the 2003 Deutsche Bank Championship after a second round 62 set up a four stroke win and saw Adam break into the top 20 in the World Rankings for the first time.