Open britannique : « Welcome back » !

Last year, for the first time since World War II, thebritish open did not happen. Canceled due to the global health situation, the oldest of the Majors, created in 1860, is therefore making a comeback in the agenda of the best players on the planet. The 149th edition will kick off this Thursday at Royal St George’s, the only course of the rotation located in the South of England, which receives it for the fifteenth time in its history. The Kent links, a par 70 created by Laidlaw Purves in 1887, will offer the world elite a sizeable golfing challenge, which should not, however, be excessively strong due to the weather conditions since sun, temperatures slightly above 20 ° C and a moderate breeze are announced throughout the week. Nevertheless the route, increased to 6,573 m this year, is in itself a formidable test with its holes exposed to the wind, never consecutively in the same direction, and marked out by deep pot bunkers including theHimalaya, a 12 m high trap in the middle of the fairway of hole n ° 4!

Two years after the memorable success of the Irishman Shane Lowry in front of his audience at Royal Portrush, the 2021 edition promises to be just as open and, as always British Open, potentially legendary. The favorites are legion, starting with the former world No. 1, the Spaniard Jon Rahm entered the Major winner’s circle last month at theU.S. Open. Even if the Basque has just been ejected from the throne by the previous occupant, the American Dustin Johnson, despite a top 10 at the Scottish Open last Sunday, he represents on paper the best chance of victory for a European, ahead of Tyrrell Hatton (10e), Rory McIlroy (11th) and Viktor Hovland (15th). The Americans for their part have landed in Sandwich in armada mode, occupying no less than thirteen of the top twenty places in the world! In the absence of the Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, the winner of the last Masters tested positive for Covid-19, the South African Louis Oosthuizen is the only “International” of the planetary top 20 present at Royal St George’s.

Finally, on the French side, there are five to line up this week in Kent (Matthieu pavon being currently second in reserve) to try to succeed The Open to Arnaud Massy, the only Habs winner of a Major one hundred and fourteen years ago in Royal Liverpool (and beaten in the playoffs right here in 1911). Victor perez, Benjamin Hébert, Romain Langasque and Michaël Lorenzo Vera, qualified via their classification at the Race to Dubai in 2019, were recently joined by Antoine Rozner, who took advantage of one of the many packages registered in recent days. Perez and Rozner will play their first British Open, while the other three have played it twice each. Remember that during the last edition played at Royal St George’s, ten years ago, Raphael Jacquelin had secured an excellent eighth place, six strokes behind Darren Clarke.