2019 Open Fantasy Golf picks
After successfully predicting Gary Woodland’s victory at the US Open can our Fantasy Golf expert end the year with another winner with his 2019 Open Championship Fantasy Golf picks?
Form is a major factor leading up to the Open with five of the last six winners recording a victory in their five starts prior to the Open. Zach Johnson is the anomaly out of the six players but he still managed three top 10 finishes prior to his win at St Andrews in 2015.
If you’re looking for course form at Royal Portrush then there’s only the 2012 Irish Open to look, with Jamie Donaldson coming out on top.
Other notable players who finished inside the top 10 were Rafa Cabrera Bello, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Francesco Molinari and Graeme McDowell.
2019 Open Championship Fantasy Golf picks
Xander Schauffele is building a very impressive major CV with five top 6 finishes in his nine major starts.
The American has also taken to links golf well, with a T20 and T2 in his only starts at the Open.
He put himself in a fantastic position to win his maiden major at Carnoustie last year but unfortunately he couldn’t capitalise on being the last group out, like his playing partner Jordan Spieth.
Despite having just one start at The Open Patrick Cantlay is a player with a lot of potential this week and he had a solid week at Carnoustie in 2018 and finished inside the top 15.
Like his fellow countryman Schauffele, Cantlay is starting to build a great reputation in the majors and came so close to sealing his first at this year’s Masters but faded away in the final holes.
His T21 finish at the US Open means he has finished inside the top 30 in his last five major starts and has missed a cut at one since the 2018 Masters.
Adam Scott will be searching for Open redemption once again this week as he tries to ease the pain of the 2012 tournament.
The Australian has a fantastic recorded at golf’s oldest major with seven top 25s since 2011 which includes a run of four straight top 10s between 2012 and 2015.
Scott has turned his form around since his missed cut at the 2018 US Open, notching five straight top 20s which includes two top 10s at this year’s US Open and PGA Championship.
Webb Simpson is my outside pick to finish well at Royal Portrush this week and it’s hard to wonder why the American’s major form doesn’t get talked about more often.
His lowest major finish since the start of 2018 was his T29 at this year’s PGA Championship. Simpson played well at Carnousite last year but couldn’t make a run at the championship and fired a final round of 73.
My Fantasy Golf go to player Rafa Cabrera Bello has been in fantastic form over the last month or so on the European Tour, recording three top 10s in as many starts.
The Spaniard struggled at Carnoustie last year but will be looking to his performance at Royal Birkdale for inspiration where he finished inside the top 5.
It’s hard to ignore Bernd Wiesberger heading into Open week coming off the back of a T2 at the Irish Open and a victory at the Scottish Open.
The Austrian is showing great signs that his game is in the right shape for links conditions, however, be wary as his Open form isn’t great, failing to finish higher than T64 in his last five starts at the Open.
Keep up to date with all the action from Royal Portrush with NCG’s dedicated Open microsite as well as on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
