Odds World Rankings President Cup Stand. The Royal Troon Golf Course has been good to Americans, producing winners from the west side of the Atlantic the last four times the British Open was played there. While that sounds good for Tiger Woods and defending champion Tom Lehman, the 126th Open beginning Thursday also comes at a time when many of the top players in the world are at peak form.
Contenders are everywhere and from every corner of the globe.
No one has been hotter than U.S. Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa. Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal all seem to have their games back. Throw in Jesper Parnevik of Sweden, New Zealander Frank Nobilo and Costantino Rocca of Italy and the chances of an American winning the world's oldest golf tournament for the third consecutive year seem remote. The one thing that the British Open has always seemed to bring forward is the best player that year seems to have won it on so many occasions. Besides playing well, Woods and Els also have the length and touch needed to win at Troon, stretched along the west coast of Scotland on the Irish Sea.