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Sunshine Brightens Prospects for Open
Inspired Fowler Hopes to Stretch US Major Streak
Gary Player sees European win at Open
Sunshine Brightens Prospects for Open
LYTHAM, England, July 18, 2012 (AFP) - Sunny skies finally greeted golfers at Royal Lytham and St Annes on Wednesday as weather forecasts on the eve of the 141st British Open called for dry conditions throughout the tournament.
More rain was expected overnight, the lastest drenching in a deluge of wet weather that has seen record levels of rainfall soak the northwest of England this summer, creating dense rough, penal and thick, for wayward shots.
"The champion on Sunday I doubt will have won from the rough," said Royal and Ancient Golf Club chairman Peter Dawson. "There's a premium on hitting fairways this week. If you stray a long way off you are going to be penalized."
There's no thought of allowing lift and clean rules for muddy balls and all of the 206 formidable pot bunkers scattered across the 7,086 yards of the par-70 links layout are expected to be dry and ready to test golf's greatest.
Tiger Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, seeks his fourth British Open crown and his first major title since the 2008 US Open on the well-bunkered tract.
"The bunkers are staggered differently here," Woods said. "There are some forced carries where you have to force it and then stop it or try and skirt past them. You can't just either lay it up or bomb over the top."
Woods, who has three US PGA titles this season, will try to add his name to a list of Open champions at Royal Lytham that includes Bobby Jones, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin and Seve Ballesteros.
"There has to be some shape to shots. I think that's one of the reasons why you've seen, I think, the list of champions here have all been just wonderful ball strikers," Woods said.
World No. 1 Luke Donald and World No. 3 Lee Westwood of England seek their first major titles while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, ranked second, tries for a second major after his breakthrough in last year's US Open.
Americans will try to claim their fourth major title in a row, which would give them possession of all four major crowns for the first time since Phil Mickelson won the 2004 Masters.
Jim McArthur, chairman of the R and A championship commitee, said officials will try to enforce stringent pace of play rules at the Open, although skeptics will believe penalties are coming only when they see them imposed on golfers.
Officials want each threesome in the first two rounds finished in four hours and 30 minutes and weekend pairs to play the course in three hours, 45 minutes.
"We have obviously got to take into account the weather conditions and other mitigating circumstances, but we would have no hesitation if we felt the players were over time to take the appropriate action," McArthur said.
"We are intent on doing what we can to improve the pace of play in golf."
The tournament begins for every player with a wicked par-3 first hole that demands precision off the tee.
"Psychologically it is different because you have to be on your game right away," Woods said. "You can't just hit a ball in the fairway any distance you want. You have to hit the ball a precise number."
Inspired Fowler Hopes to Stretch US Major Streak
LYTHAM, England, July 18, 2012 (AFP) - Rickie Fowler, a proven British Open threat at age 23, has greater inspiration this week after watching fellow Americans become first-time major champions at golf's past three major events.
Fowler shared fifth at last year's Open at Royal St. George's and tied for 14th in 2010 at St. Andrews in his British Open debut but he has been unable to crack the top 25 in six other major starts away from the links on home soil.
"I love links golf," Fowler said. "I just like the amount of options you have playing a links golf course. You can be as creative as you want and hit a variety of shots throughout the round."
This year that passion is stirred by desire after Fowler has seen Keegan Bradley win last year's PGA Championship, Bubba Watson take this year's Masters and Webb Simpson win last month's US Open.
If the Claret Jug falls into American hands this week, as it has in the past two Opens staged at Royal Lytham and St Annes, then US golfers will own all four major titles for the first time since 2004.
"With guys like that winning a major and being their first major, it has been a lot of fun to watch but also just kind of a kick in the butt to get out and make me want it more," Fowler said.
"It is fun to watch them win and watch some of your good friends win, but at the same time you would rather be there than them."
Fowler was pleased to achieve one of his milestones two months ago at Quail Hollow by winning his first US PGA Tour title, defeating countryman D.A. Points and 2011 US Open winner Rory McIlroy with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
"Where I get the most confidence is the way I've been playing since April or May," Fowler said. "And with getting my first win at Quail Hollow, that's definitely where I will draw the most confidence and the way I've been playing versus seeing which guys have won and knowing how strong the fields are.
"Just knowing that I've been playing well and it has been recent, that's definitely where I'll be drawing on most... just giving myself the chance, like last year being in contention and having a chance on Sunday playing in the second to the last group."
In all, 15 different players have won the past 15 majors and Fowler finds that more fun than having a dominant figure such as 14-time major champion Tiger Woods being the man to beat every time a major event comes along.
"It's fun knowing that there's a full field of guys and almost anyone can win, not saying OK there's a 50 percent chance that this guy is going to win, we'll try to give him a run, if not we'll play for second," Fowler said.
"As a player I think it's a lot more fun playing against a handful of guys fighting it out for a championship versus trying to beat down one guy and play for second in a way."
Fowler, who fired a 79 in his first British Open round two years ago at wind-swept St. Andrews, learned some perseverance lessons last year by watching Tom Watson, a five-time British Open champion, battle through a rainy round.
"He just looked like he was hitting his shot and walking forward and moving on," Fowler said. "I knew it was important to play the first few holes solid. We could make up a lot of ground, which we did.
"It ended up being a lot of fun for me. We got off to a good start and definitely made the most out of the Saturday."
I Can Win Again, Says Duval
LYTHAM, England, July 18, 2012 (AFP) - Eleven years on from the highpoint of his golfing career, David Duval, against all the odds, believes he can win the British Open for a second time. 
The American's victory at Royal Lytham in 2001 came at a time when he was a member of golf's elite and a former World No. 1 who was seen as being one of the biggest rivals to Tiger Woods.
What followed was the stuff of nightmares as a succession of injuries and self-doubts saw him plummet down the world rankings and left him despairing over the state of his game.
Despite the occasional good tournament, Duval remains mired in a decade-long slump which has seen him make just two cuts in 13 tournaments this year. He has missed the cut in five of the last seven British Opens.
But still he soldiers on and asked if he really felt he could rediscover the magic to win again at Lytham this week, Duval shot back: "Absolutely. I feel good about what I am doing.
"I played well last week in Moline at the John Deere. I kind of was talking to my caddie about it a little bit.
"This is going to sound really weird and crazy; if anything, I almost played a little too well.
"By that I mean I hit, I don't know, 31, 32 out of 36 greens, hit most all the fairways, and just, you know, you keep having all these chances and you keep missing, and it's like, damn, you know? Never could get anything rolling."
At the height of his golfing powers in April of 1999, Duval shot a record-equalling 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Classic. That same year he rose to the World No. 1 spot, replacing the young Woods for 14 weeks.
He was seen by many as being a metronomic, poker-faced player who hid behind dark sunglasses and seldom let his emotions show.
But that proved to be a false perception, proof of which was his sensitive and thoughful winner's speech immediately after his Open triumph.
Duval's occasionally troubled personal life settled down as he met and then married his wife Susan in 2004. They had two children together while Susan had three older children from an earlier marriage which Duval, 40, happily adopted.
Sadly for the golfer, while he found personal stability and contentment, he experienced increasing problems with his fitness that he has struggled to get under control.
"I've worked my tail off," he said.
"Unfortunately for me I've had multiple nagging little injuries. I've had tendonitis in both shoulders; I've got it in my elbows; I have bone bruises in my knees right now; I have a back problem that's well documented; had tendonitis in my wrist; I've had vertigo.
"So, I mean, there's a laundry list of problems. And that stuff, you know what, frankly it wrecks golf. It wrecks your golf game."
In hindsight, Duval said he should have stopped playing in early 2002 and taken two years off to fully mend the aches and pains that have haunted him ever since.
On the emotions he felt returning to Lytham for the first time since 2001, Duval said that he was boosted by just seeing his name written in gold ink on the club's wooden champions' board.
And he also felt the weight of history and tradition that surrounds the Open Championship and the "special week" that surrounds it.
All it needs now he says is for all the ingredients to come together at the right time.
"I love playing the game. I'm really good at it," he said.
"I believe in what I do. I believe in myself as a person. I believe in myself as a golfer and I know I can play as well as anybody.
"It's just a matter of everything just needs to fall into place a little bit. I need to feel a little better."
Gary Player sees European win at Open
LYTHAM, July 18, 2012 (AFP) - Golf legend Gary Player belueves that US golfers will be denied a clean sweep of the four majors at the British Open played over the Royal Lytham and St Annes links this week. 
The 76-year-old South African, who won his third and final Open Championship at Lytham in 1974, points to the wet and windy weather conditions that are set to make the course a stern test for the entire 157-strong field.
That he sees working in favour of those golfers who are most used to it.
"If I look at what the weather man is saying, this Championship, in my opinion, is favouring a European player," Player said.
"Anyone can win. So to try and predict winners is very difficult. However, I would love to see Lee Westwood win.
"He’s been working hard and came so close to winning that I think it might be his turn.
"A golf course like this is made for him, because it’s very narrow and he is a straight driver. Luke Donald is another who is always consistent and you don’t become world No.1 for nothing."
Americans have won the last three majors through Keegan Bradley at last year's PGA Championship, Bubba Watson at The Masters and Webb Simpson at the US Open, ending a long winless streak.
And another US win at Lytham would make it the first time since 2004 that Americans have held all four major titles at the same time.
Despite his inkling for a European win, Player has said that he would not rule out Tiger Woods ending a four-year-long drought by lifting his 15th major.
"He is a force to be reckoned with again. He has a good mind, is very focused and is playing smarter golf than he did before," Player said of Woods.
"Tiger will be right there at Lytham, I am sure, but the other big debating point, of course, now that he is back to something like his old self, is: can he match Jack Nicklaus’ total of 18 major Championships?
"I always felt that Tiger, who has already won 14, would do it, but the lost two years have hurt him.
"That’s eight major Championships that have slipped by. I think if he is going to do it, he has to win one major Championship this year.
"That means The Open or the US PGA in August. When he’s playing well, he’s much better than anybody else. I would be surprised if he doesn’t do it."