Mickelson, others bank on Woods’ absence at British Open

13.07.2008

Next week’s British Open will enter unusual territory when a major championship is held without Tiger Woods for the first time in more than a decade. The American world number one has been sidelined for the rest of this year while he recovers from reconstructive knee surgery, opening the door for players such as Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia.

Woods has triumphed six times in the last 14 majors, a remarkable record in a game renowned for its fickle nature, and his absence from any tournament clearly opens up the field. Midway through last month, bookmakers William Hill listed him as favourite to win the Open at 5/2. After Woods ended his playing schedule for the year, Els and Garcia were automatically installed as joint favourites at 12/1.

A three-time champion at the Open, Woods will be sorely missed at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, North-West England but Mickelson and his rivals plan to take full advantage. “It’s going to have a negative effect .... on television ratings, on fan interest and so forth,” world number two Mickelson said of Woods’s absence from the oldest major championship.

“But I think it also opens an opportunity for a number of players to come through and maybe win tournaments that they might not have won. “If you look at (Jack) Nicklaus’s 18 majors or (Tom) Watson’s eight, I don’t look back at the field they played. I just look back at the tournaments they have won. “I haven’t won a major in a couple of years and it would mean a lot to me to win an Open championship, as well as the PGA (Championship),” added the American left-hander, who clinched the most recent of his three major titles at the 2006 Masters.

Els, British Open champion at Muirfield in 2002, accepts that any player winning a major without Woods in the field is likely to have his victory accompanied by an asterisk. “If the best player of this generation is not there, whoever wins next week is going to have to answer questions,” the South African said. “‘Do you think you would have beaten Tiger if he was here?’ It’s just one of those things.

“Although we will miss him, and especially the media will miss him, the game of golf is there and the Open championship will be played whether Tiger is there or not.” Garcia, beaten by Irishman, Padraig Harrington in a playoff for last year’s Open at Carnoustie, held a differing view over Woods’s first no-show at a major since the 1996 PGA Championship.“I don’t think it will affect it at all,” the 28-year-old Spaniard said. “I don’t think there’s going to be less people there. The British crowds love golf and before Tiger was playing, the Open was still great.