Americans should dominate British golf Open

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 26

Americans should dominate British golf Open

NZPA-Reuter

Troon, Scotland

The deep and talented contingent of Americans should dominate the £250,000 British Open golf championships starting at Royal Troon today.

It is doubtful if any one country's golfers will ever match the Americans of 1977, who finished in the top 11 positions in the open at Turnberry, but the crop at Troon this year seems just as competent and could come close. Certainly they have the inside track in the bid for the glory and the £32,000 first prize which has gone to American golfers at ten of the last 12 opens, including six of the last seven. From Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus down, the Americans seem confident, well prepared and ready, and it is easy to name a dozen potential American winners without straining credulity. Watson and Nicklaus, the two top favourites, have each won three times and come fresh from yet another battle in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, California, last month, which Watson won. Watson, aged 32, said yesterday he was even better prepared for this event. “I'm doing more things well. I feel very good and fairly confident and I would like very much to do the double of winning the U.S, and British opens in the same year.", Nicklaus, aged 42, sounds less assured but has been having a good year and those who have played with him have been impressed. “He's playing very consistently and that is very important on

this course. I think he is the man to beat," said the 1979 champion, Severiano Ballesteros, of Spain, after a round with Nicklaus yesterday. After the big two, there is the Masters champion, Craig Stadler, called the “Walrus” for his drooping moustache and flabby physique. He is strong and hits long but is just as well known for his delicate touch play around the greens. There is the defending champion, the Texan, Bill Rogers, whose lack of length off the tee is compensated for by his consistent straight hitting on a course where that matters a lot. There is Ray Floyd, second, third and fourth in recent years and determined to win now; and another Texan, the consistent Tom Kite, and Jerry Pate, both high on the U.S. money list this year. There is a lot of support for two-time champion, Lee Trevino, despite a recent bout of back trouble which put him in hospital last week-end. “They stick needles in my back and inject me with cortizone and novacaine. It lasts about 18 days," said Trevino, aged 42. “It's not the old disc problem I used to have. It’s nerves in the small of my back irritated by scar tissue. ‘T'm not 100 per cent, but sometimes when you like a

place you can play hurt and play better than if you don't like a place. And I just love it over here." The experienced Larry Nelson, a Ryder Cup hero last autumn, along with two former champions, Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf, as well as the veteran, Arnold Palmer, the champion at Royal Troon in 1962, must all have chances. The men best equipped to combat the U.S. might are Ballesteros and the Australian, Greg Norman, while Isao Aoki, of Japan, merits consideration after a fine record in recent opens. Ballesteros, aged 25, has been in the doldrums in recent weeks since missing, the half-way cut at the U.S. open. Norman, aged 27, has two European victories just before the open and may be ready for a major championship. Aoki, the 39-year-old Japanese with the weird toeup putting style, has been joint seventh twice, joint eleventh and joint twelfth in the last four opens. The course, which became Royal Troon four years ago on the occasion of its centenary, is par 72 and measures 7067 metres. If it is not windy, its record of 276 may be broken. If the wind blows, 280 might be good enough.