Much of the pre-championship talk this week will centre around the leading lights; Rory, Scottie and Tommy being three of them. Three of the last four winners have all been American, then there was Aussie Cam Smith and his success at St Andrews.
But there’s value everywhere and all manner of markets and we’ve highlighted three players who are either bang in form or who have some course form that might be repeated this week.
Ryan Fox
- Age: 38
- World ranking: 32
- Open appearances: 8
- Best Open finish: T16 2019 (Portrush)
- Pro wins: 19
The New Zealander’s best Major finish in 24 starts came here six years ago. Then Fox shot three under-par rounds around the Dunluce course and he’s a genuine links specialist with a handful of high finishes in Ireland, including a play-off loss to Russell Knox at Ballyliffin.
Otherwise he’s a winner of the Dunhill Links (Old Course, Kingsbarns, Carnoustie) and two years ago he moved to the next level when he captured the PGA Championship at Wentworth, like Portursh a Harry Colt layout.
Fox didn’t even qualify for Augusta this year but he’ll be there next year. This season he knocked off two wins on the PGA Tour in just four starts, at the Myrtle Beach Classic and then in Canada, and he captured both in extra holes.
It would come as very little surprise to see the Kiwi bouncing around the leaderboard this week with his no-nonsense approach and excellent approach play.
Harry Hall
- Age: 27
- World ranking: 73
- Open appearances: Debut
- Best Open finish: N/A
- Wins: 3
There’s always something very romantic about backing someone who’s come through Final Qualifying. The Cornishman makes his first Open appearance after back-to-back 67s at Burnham & Berrow and you only have to go back to Dan Brown’s Open debut 12 months ago for some inspiration. Justin Rose also came through at Burnham & Berrow last year when he was tied for second.
Hall has enjoyed an excellent season – he broke through with his maiden win last year – and, in his last seven starts, he’s finished inside the top 25 on the PGA Tour.
This is a nice little story that might be repeated if Hall is a threat this week. Hall is a member at West Cornwall and recently he was a part of a special match to celebrate former member Jim Barnes’ Open victory at Prestwick.
“We played 27 holes at Prestwick and we had an awesome day,” said Hall. “Prestwick reached out to Phil Rowe, who was a Walker Cupper in 1999 and grew up at West Cornwall, as did Jim Barnes, who won the last Open at Prestwick 100 years ago. We took eight or nine guys from West Cornwall against eight or nine guys from Prestwick and we had a little match.
“We played 18 holes betterball in the morning and then all 16 of us went out and played in the same group. We played foursomes, an eight-team event, we played eight holes elimination so one team got eliminated each hole and two made it to the last one – what a great day.”
Tony Finau
- Age: 35
- World ranking: 45
- Open appearances: 8
- Best Open finish: 3rd 2019 (Portrush)
- Pro wins: 9
Bear with me. The main sighting of Finau this week is with a putting contraption and his work on the greens has been generally very mediocre this term. He’s on nobody’s radar and his last victory came in Mexico in 2023.
But he still had a top three at Pinehurst in 2024, along with a load of impressive finishes, and this year it’s been ordinary rather than poor.
But the real lighthouse in the gloom is his third-place effort here last year. The American shot rounds of 68-70-68-71 to finish up two shots short of Tommy Fleetwood in second.
And if you did want someone to be able to flight the ball down then Finau would be somewhere near the top of many lists.
Finau said: “The second shot on 11 on Saturday. I hit a perfect drive when it was raining and blowing sideways. I had 206 front and 228 hole, so I pulled out my 2-iron, raining sideways, blowing 30 off the left and tried to hit a running hook up there. That was by far the most challenging shot I had to face all week.
“The fescue to the right of the green and the bunker to the left and the fescue to the left. Trying to hook it into the wind. Just keep it down and run it up the slope.”
Finau’s a class act, still inside the world’s top 50 and his price does not reflect that.
Read next: Where are they now? The last 10 Open Championship winners
The post Revealed: Three massive under-the-radar picks for Open 2025 glory appeared first on Golf365.
Article Link: The Open 2025: The $62m top 50 golfer with a BIG chance of Open glory