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Golf Digest, July, 2001 by Peter Thomson

A classic course with classic winners

1974 (defending champion Tom Weiskopf): South Africa's Gary Player won his third Open handily, but added drama on the final hole by putting left-handed from against the Lytham clubhouse.

1979 (defending champion Jack Nicklaus): Spaniard Seve Ballesteros' magical run of five major titles began with the "Car Park Open," named for his great escapes.

1988 (defending champion Nick Faldo): Returning to Royal Lytham, Ballesteros needed a final-round 65 to stave off Nick Price for what proved to be Seve's last hurrah in a major.

1996 (defending champion John Daly): Tom Lehman led by six strokes after a third-round 64 and finished with a 73 to win by two and become the first American pro to win at Lytham.

RELATED ARTICLE: Open picks

GOLF DIGEST Contributing Editor John Huggan analyzes the field for the 130th British Open:

Until Tom Lehman in 1996, no American professional had won an Open at Royal Lytham. The course generally favors pure ball-strikers and long hitters who draw the ball. Tiger Woods won the silver medal as leading amateur in '96, and called his Friday 66 "the round that convinced me I could play with the professionals." Now, of course, the professionals need convincing they can play with Woods. The odds, with each player's best Open finish and results from the past three Opens:

Odds/Player                  Best    '98   '99      '00

The favorite
3-1     Tiger Woods             1      3    T7        1

Second tier
10-1    Ernie Els              T2    T28   T24       T2
10-1    Vijay Singh            T6    T18    MC      T11
12-1    Phil Mickelson        T11     79    MC      T11
16-1    Darren Clarke          T2     MC   T30       T7
16-1    Davis Love III         T7      8    T7      T11
18-1    Lee Westwood          T10    T62   T18      T64
20-1    David Duval           T11    T11   T62      T11
20-1    Bernhard Langer         2     MC   T18      T11
20-1    Tom Lehman              1     MC    MC       T4
20-1    Colin Montgomerie      T8     MC   T15      T26

Keep an eye on
25-1    Thomas Bjorn           T2     T9   T30       T2
25-1    Jose Maria Olazabal     3    T15    MC      T31
25-1    Nick Price              1    T29   T37       MC
30-1    Padraig Harrington     T5     MC    29      T20
30-1    Jesper Parnevik         2     T4   T10      T36
33-1    Sergio Garcia         T29    T29    MC      T36
33-1    Miguel A. Jimenez     T26     WD    MC      T26
35-1    Mike Weir             T37     --   T37      T52
40-1    Angel Cabrera          T4     --    T4       MC
40-1    Michael Campbell       T3    T66    MC       MC

Sleepers and longshots
50-1    Justin Leonard          1    T57    T2      T41
50-1    Robert Allenby        T10    T19    --      T36
50-1    Retief Goosen         T10     MC   T10      T41
50-1    Jim Furyk               4     T4   T10      T41
50-1    Aaron Baddeley         --     --    --       --
60-1    Hal Sutton            T10     --   T10       MC
60-1    Bob May               T11     74    --      T11

Other exempt players: Appleby, Azinger, Baker-Finch, Ballesteros, Begay,
Brooks, Calcavecchia, Charles, Cink, Coceres, Coltart, Couples, Daly,

DiMarco, Dyson, Elkington, Faldo, Flesch, Franco, Fulke, Gronberg, Jacklin,
Janzen, Steve Jones, Katayama, Kite, Lawrie, Lonard, Lyle, Maruyama,
McGinley, McNulty, Miller, J. Nicklaus, Norman,

O'Connor Jr., O'Meara, Orr, Joe Ozaki, Paulson, Pavin, a-Pettersson,
Player, Phillip Price, a-Quinney, Roberts, Rogers, Romero, Sato, Taniguchi,
Toms, Trevino, Triplett, Vaughan, Watson, Weiskopf.

Note: Other exemptions include the top 50 players on the World Ranking
as of May 31.

Key: T: tied for position; MC: missed cut;

WD: withdrew; --: did not play; a-amateur

TV: July 19-20 (ESPN), 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (first two rounds); July 21 (ABC),
9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (third round), 5:30-6 p.m. (highlights); July 22 (ABC),
8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (final round), 5-6 p.m. (highlights).