The 2012 Open Championship will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire, England.  St. Annes was founded in 1886 and was the site of the first Women’s British Open. The course was originally designed by George Lowe and then redesigned in 1919 by Harry Colt. The last time that the Open Championship was played at St. Annes was in 2001 and won by David Duval. St. Annes is a very unique course in the fact that the opening hole is a par 3.  It is the only Open Championship course to ever do that. St. Annes is the only Open Championship course to have three par 3s on the front nine. St. Annes has two-hundred bunkers, with first nine being featured on the first hole.

Many of the world’s best golfers are coming in to the Open Championship looking to capture their first major victory.  Some of those players are Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Jason Dufner.  It would easy for Tiger Woods to be the favorite coming into the tournament, but honestly the field has a better chance to win then he does after the way he has performed in the past two majors.

Two huge story lines coming into this week’s tournament are can Darren Clarke successfully defend his Open title, and will Phil Mickelson be able to win his first Open Championship. The player who has the best chance to win the Open this week to me is Luke Donald. He has been waiting a long time to win a major and I think this week might be his week.