Less than a week after the world's best tennis players graced the British Isles, it is now the turn of golf's finest, who will battle it out at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake for The Open Championship.

The 156-strong field will be fighting for the title of Champion Golfer of the Year, after Cameron Smith lifted the Claret Jug in the competition's 150th edition at St. Andrew's a year ago.

US Open preview

Smith's win up in Scotland ultimately made more headlines later in the year, when the Aussie jumped ship from the PGA Tour to join the LIV Tour.

To defend his crown, Smith will need to follow in Brooks Koepka's footsteps after the American became the first LIV defector to win a major with his title at the US PGA earlier this year.

Wyndham Clark was the shock winner of last month's US Open though, claiming his maiden major despite starting the week outside the top 25 in the odds.

Clark held his nerve brilliantly on the par-five 18th to hold off a surging Rory McIlroy at Los Angeles Country Club.

That success means that the previous eight majors have produced eight different winners, illustrating the competitiveness at the top of the men's game currently.

McIlroy is hotly tipped to be a big contender again this week though after his fine recent form, with that second-placed finish at the US Open being followed up with a win at the Scottish Open last week.

The Northern Irishman made a bold, headline-grabbing comment prior to the start of the tournament, stating that he would rather retire than join the LIV Tour.

McIlroy backed up his strong words by claiming victory in The Open's precursor, with birdies on 17 and 18, two of the toughest holes on the course, to snatch the crown away from Robert MacIntyre.

Success in Scotland adds to McIlroy's set of National Open wins, having already won the British and Irish Opens, as well as the US and Canadian Opens across the pond.

Another of the reasons why McIlroy is so fancied this week is because he was the last winner at Hoylake - nine years ago.

That was just the second time in recent history that the Open has come to Wirral after the 2006 championship, when another golfing legend Tiger Woods came out on top.

Unfortunately for the British fans, Woods will not be present this year after his physical breakdown earlier in the year, meaning he will not play again until 2024.

The men who finished joint-second behind McIlroy here in 2014 have both had their ups and downs since, but Rickie Fowler is in a much better place than Sergio Garcia right now.

Garcia has defected to LIV and failed to qualify, while Fowler is currently playing his best golf in almost a decade.

Fowler's victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the start of July was his first win on tour in over four-and-a-half years, and made sure he crowned his excellent 2023 with a title.

In his 10 tournaments this year, Fowler has finished in the top 15 in all but one of them, while also claiming a top-five finish in the US Open.

Fowler's showing at LACC largely proved that he is still capable of claiming a first-ever career major, but after leading for the first three days, he eventually faltered on the Sunday to finish five shots behind the winner Clark.

World number one Scottie Scheffler remains the most in-form man in the world though, despite not winning a title since the Players Championship back in March.

Scheffler has finished top five in all of his last seven events, but has continuously just come up short to a myriad of different players who have slightly edged it over the course of the week.

The most remarkable feat out of them all is that in his last 19 events, Scheffler's worst finish was T-12.

No player has shown this kind of consistency since Woods was around and dominated, so Scheffler just needs the majors to go with it.

Jon Rahm again enters another major as the man going under the radar, like he did before his Masters success back in April.

Understandably so though, because since then, Rahm has not particularly set the world alight with his performances, missing the cut in his last outing at the Travelers Championship, and recording a T-50 at the US PGA.

Rahm has only achieved one solo top-10 finish since his success at Augusta National, but the two-time major winner should never be discredited.

One of the big names going through a complete crisis of confidence at the moment though is Justin Thomas, as the 2022 US PGA champion continues to play a long way below his level.

After another mediocre display at the Scottish Open, Thomas starts the week outside the top 20 favourites at a major for the first time since before he won his first over six years ago.

Thomas's American compatriot Collin Morikawa is another man struggling for form at the moment, as his form has evaded him ever since he was crowned Champion Golfer of the Year back in 2021, with no wins on the Tour since.

Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele will lead the group of players still chasing a first major title, with the pair having teetered on the edge of claiming one of the four for numerous years now.

English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton both enter the week with that same dream, but their shortcomings were on display again at the Scottish Open, with both faltering on the final day once more while in contention.

Instead, the supporters' best chance of a home-grown winner may come from Matt Fitzpatrick, a man who has proved he has the mettle to win a major after his success at the US Open last year.

Course guide

There have been some notable and some subtle changes to the course since it last hosted The Open back in 2014.

The 136-yard par-three 17th is a brand-new addition to the course, and the designers hope it will offer a dramatic, penultimate-hole challenge, overlooking the River Dee.

Another notable change has been to the bunkers - one of links golf's most infamous hazards.

The pot bunkers at Hoylake have been flattened slightly, meaning shots are less likely to roll into the centre of the sand, so difficult angles and stances may face players who find the hazard.

Other more subtle changes have seen the 13th green have an area of runoff added, while the 18th has been extended to 609 yards.

Remarkably, the fourth green is the only one left on the course which remains unchanged since it was opened all the way back in 1869.

There is much variety in the final stretch, with two par fives over 600 yards at 15 and 18, and a new par-three 17th none of the players will have experienced before.

The weather will play a huge factor in the scoring as is always the case at a links course, and the strength of the wind and amount of rainfall will decide whether the winning score is similar to the 17-under-par McIlroy won with in 2014, or closer to level par.

Heavy rain and threat of thunderstorms forced play to stop at 8:30am on Monday morning's practice round, with the course being evacuated, and more rain is forecast over the weekend.

We say: Scottie Scheffler to win

The unpredictability of links golf makes calling a winner even more difficult than in the other US-based majors, and after Clark's surprise win at America's National Open, many less-heralded names will hope to follow in his footsteps.

There are plenty of names the home support can get behind, with Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose among the British and Irish players to look out for.

It is approaching a decade since McIlroy won a major, but he is in great form, it is just a question of whether he gives himself too much to do after the first two days, and if his putter will go cold on him again.

The likes of Rahm, Thomas, Morikawa and Jordan Spieth among others will hope to put recent dips in form behind them, while Fowler enters the week as one of the most in-form Americans.

However, Scheffler's supreme form unsurprisingly makes him second-favourite behind McIlroy, and his ability to persistently find himself battling at the top in every tournament he enters makes him our pick to claim the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool. body check tags ::

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