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Garcia: bookies favourite

Tiger Woods may not be here, but the Open Championship is bigger than any one player and always will be.

The fact that the world number one is not going to be here is a blow to the golfing fans that only get a rare opportunity to see their heroes each year.

And it's a shame for the British golfing public that Tiger is not going to be at Royal Birkdale this week, but I don't believe that there will be an asterisk against whoever wins like everyone seems to be suggesting, or that it will be a hollow victory.

Of course there's always a buzz when Tiger is in the vicinity and there are always huge crowds that follow him, which produces a great atmosphere.

But whoever wins this week will still have the Claret Jug proudly displayed on their coffee table come next week and they will not care!

Ultimately though Tiger's absence has opened up the door and I think a lot of guys coming into the Open Championship will fancy their chances.

Favourite

Sergio Garcia is the bookies' favourite and rightly so I think. He showed at the London Club the other week that a new putting stroke was clearly working especially on the last day where he holed numerous putts, something that he hasn't done in a while.

It just sounds better and looks better when he hits the ball and we all know that Garcia's Achilles heel has been his putting. If he had putted even half-decently during his last round at Carnoustie, he would have beaten Padraig Harrington last year and been Open champion.

Graeme McDowell has been in an astonishing run of form as well, winning twice this year including at Loch Lomond just the other week, so he will be full of confidence, but the Open Championship is a step up in class.

He's riding on the crest of a wave at the moment having secured what looks like a place in the Ryder Cup team for Valhalla, so it's all very positive for him and we might see him figure. But I'm not sure I see him as an Open champion just yet.

British hope

The British public would obviously love to see a homegrown player win at Birkdale and it's a real shame that Padraig Harrington has picked up a wrist injury, because you would have loved to see a fit and healthy Harrington trying to defend his title.

But at the end of the day, he's not in the automatic 10 for Valhalla at the moment and he needs to kick on. This is a chance for him to get some money and really do some damage to the points system to get into a Ryder Cup place.

Lee Westwood is another player in great form and he proved at the US Open that he is the guy that should really step up to the plate now and become a Major champion.

He has won 28 tournaments world wide and it was a magnificent performance from him at Torrey Pines where he did everything but win.

So many players have crumbled when playing against Tiger Woods on the last day of a major championship, but he didn't. In fact he actually took the lead at the ninth and kept it for a further few holes and it looked like he was going to be the US Open champion at one point.

The confidence he would have gained from that has given him the belief that he can win a Major and why not The Open Championship.

The course

The course itself looks in absolutely brilliant condition and is exactly what an Open golf course should look like.

There's obviously been a lot of changes to the course from 10 years ago and I think it's going to be a really tough test, particularly if the wind continues to blow as it has been.

But I think it will prove to be another great and exciting championship.