THE number of SA players at this year's Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes has doubled since the tournament was last played at the Scottish links 11 years ago.
Seven South Africans teed off in 2001 and this year 14 men from these shores will challenge for the Claret Jug, underlining the rude health of SA golf. World No4 Tiger Woods goes into today's tee-off as favourite to win and jump to No1.
Bookmaker William Hill is offering odds of 9-1 on Woods lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday, with England's Lee Westwood and Luke Donald 14-1 and 20-1 respectively to win the title on home soil.
This year, of the 14 South Africans competing, five are major winners and two - Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen - have won the British Open in the past decade.
Els's 2002 Open triumph at Muirfield was his third and last major. It seems almost impossible that Els has never added to his major tally after winning his third by 32.
But Els's supposed best years coincided with Tiger Woods's dominance and the emergence of Phil Mickelson.
The Big Easy has not won a major in 10 years. Yet he goes into the tournament as a good dark horse thanks to a season that saw him in contention at the US Open in June until the back nine on Sunday.
If Els brings his form and growing confidence to Lytham, he will be near the top of the heap going down the stretch. Els has played well at Lytham, finishing in a tie for second in 1996 and a tie for third in 2001.
The other South Africans are Thomas Aiken, Tim Clark, George Coetzee, Andrew Georgiou, Retief Goosen, Branden Grace, Trevor Immelman, Jbe Kruger, Garth Mulroy, Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne and Grant Veenstra.
Els in fine form for Lytham
THE number of SA players at this year's Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes has doubled since the tournament was last played at the Scottish links 11 years ago.
Seven South Africans teed off in 2001 and this year 14 men from these shores will challenge for the Claret Jug, underlining the rude health of SA golf. World No4 Tiger Woods goes into today's tee-off as favourite to win and jump to No1.
Bookmaker William Hill is offering odds of 9-1 on Woods lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday, with England's Lee Westwood and Luke Donald 14-1 and 20-1 respectively to win the title on home soil.
This year, of the 14 South Africans competing, five are major winners and two - Ernie Els and Louis Oosthuizen - have won the British Open in the past decade.
Els's 2002 Open triumph at Muirfield was his third and last major. It seems almost impossible that Els has never added to his major tally after winning his third by 32.
But Els's supposed best years coincided with Tiger Woods's dominance and the emergence of Phil Mickelson.
The Big Easy has not won a major in 10 years. Yet he goes into the tournament as a good dark horse thanks to a season that saw him in contention at the US Open in June until the back nine on Sunday.
If Els brings his form and growing confidence to Lytham, he will be near the top of the heap going down the stretch. Els has played well at Lytham, finishing in a tie for second in 1996 and a tie for third in 2001.
The other South Africans are Thomas Aiken, Tim Clark, George Coetzee, Andrew Georgiou, Retief Goosen, Branden Grace, Trevor Immelman, Jbe Kruger, Garth Mulroy, Charl Schwartzel, Richard Sterne and Grant Veenstra.
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