Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
I was keen on Jennifer Kupcho to do well at the Scottish and the Open but she looks to be fighting a little with her game and, with a host of really good players finding form as they head to Muirfield, I’ve started looking elsewhere for a winner.
LYDIA KO opened with a pair of 65s at the Scottish before her putter ran cold and with Muirfield playing firm and fast, I suspect she will be able to control her ball better than most.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
It wasn't the win I was hoping for last week, but CHARLEY HULL was solid at the Scottish Open for a share of 18th after a thrid place at the Evian.
Long off the tee, a shot shaper and dogged competitor, Muirfield is a great match for this Englishwoman who will continue her homeland's success of the week on the big stage.
Looked a major winner early in her career before a slow patch, but will reach that potential t some stage soon I am tipping.
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Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
What an enthralling week this is shaping to be. On a course that demands relentless application to the task, attitude won’t completely trump aptitude at Muirfield but will go a long way in the race.
Some will point to her ‘failure’ to convert a 54 hole lead last week as reason to doubt LYDIA KO but I’m going the other way.
There will be no 10-under Sundays from the field this week and if the Kiwi can get herself within a couple of shots starting the final round she will be the player to beat.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
Jimmy told me I needed “a little lie down” after my recent bollocks, so granted me the week off last week, which prevented me from telling you that Ayaka Furue would win the Scottish Open, so I’m sorry about that.
Anyway, writing from Jamaica is as easy as I thought it would be, so we should be OK from this point on, mon …
The only problem is, I seem to be losing focus after a few letters, so we’ll just have to see how we go.
Still can’t believe she didn’t win at Troon in 2020, stormed home for fifth at Carnoustie, so it seems logical that the best current major player in the world gets the job done at another epic Open venue.
I think becoming the world No.1 after winning both big Open events on either side of the Atlantic would surely set us pundits up for a fight that she should be the country’s pre-eminent female athlete (among a cast of many, mind you).
Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
MINJEE LEE will like how she rounded out the Scottish with a 68 and she will derive some confidence from that finish.
She will be nipping at the heels of Lydia Ko and I would love to see the pair of them play in the final pairing on Sunday.
At that point, I hope I’m wrong with my winning prediction.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
Despite Rod Morri's suggestion below, I do in fact watch a fair amount of golf, and would like to think I know a bit about the game that consumes my professional and personal life.
So with that in mind, I am bucking the trend here and going for an outsider in the non-outsider category with STEPH KYRIACOU.
The St. Michael's member had a good major finish in France and showed she gets the links game last year at this event.
Forgive the missed cut last week, that's going to happen with Steph from time-to-time, and if the wind blows she will be right at home.
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Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
Anybody not tipping MINJEE LEE in this category perhaps doesn’t watch or know anything about golf?
The West Australian is one of the game’s genuinely elite players and every time she tees up is among the favourites, including this week.
Like all in that special class, the tougher the course the better her chances and that is true this week at Muirfield.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
Anyone who has seen LINN GRANT swing a golf club knows she is a superstar on the horizon. Of course, she beat everyone in the mixed field event in her home country a few months back, which was her third win in Europe this year.
Her missed cut last week was her worst result so far in 2022, having also had nine top-10s in ten events.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
Good to see that after their respective weeks off from the tipping caper that Messrs James and Hayes have adjusted the definition of an outsider's odds!
NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN not only owns one of the best names in golf, but is due to bounce back after a brutal run of late where the golfer's worst nightmare of weekends without work have become her norm.
She is better player than that, shown in her Thailand win this year that she almost followed with another, and the Dane was very good at this event last year until the closing stages.
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Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
A competitive category this one but I’ll take the French woman MAUDE-AIMEE LEBLANC.
Not only a great name which would look fabulous engraved on the trophy but showed some links class last week in finishing top-10 at the Scottish Open.
Just her second start at this major but first on a links course (Woburn 2016 her only other appearance) and as good an outside chance as anyone.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
MAO, SAIGO. This phenom has FIVE wins in Japan this year, hasn’t finished worse than 44th in majors this year and was third at the Evian goat track just a fortnight ago.
Plus, she aligns perfectly with little-known Japanese players stealing the show in the UK – and is a graduate of the Nihon Wellness Sports University, which is definitely where I should have gone.
Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
The Wyndham Championship was the breakthrough event for WEBB SIMPSON on the PGA Tour, winning the title in 2011.
He hasn’t won it since, but he’s given it an almighty shake every year for the past five years. Since 2017, he’s finished 3-T2-2-T3-T7 and has a scoring average of 65.55 for his past 20 rounds in the event.
If he doesn’t this week, I guarantee he’ll be in the top-five.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
I tip him too often, but how can you not be confident a win is just around the corner for ADAM SCOTT, one of the real nice guys of professional golf and a man our colleague Adrian Logue once described as "hot as breakfast".
The Queenslander should have won this last year if not for a bad putt on the first hole of sudden death and arrives with some birdie filled golf in recent weeks. One bad round or big mistake is what is keeping 'Scotty' from another win, and that won't be an issue around one of the better courses on the regular PGA Tour rota.
Scott salutes at Sedgefield ... now that's a headline I can get around.
Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
Lots of players under lots of pressure with the season coming to an end but one player not feeling any of it will be the impressive young Korean JOOHYUNG KIM.
Has quietly earned special temporary membership of the PGA Tour and has nothing to lose in a week where that’s not true of everyone. If the teenager is as good as many think he is a win this week is not out of the question.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
Welcome to the 300th event in North Carolina in the past few months. Sorry, Jimmy, I know. Time for my “medicine”.
KIM, SI WOO. Broke through here in 2016 and has since been fifth (2019), T3 (2020) and P2 (2021) with a scoring average of 65.8 in those 12 rounds. That’s good enough to get the W here this week.
Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
Belgium’s THOMAS DETRY had been playing some quality in the month leading up to a fortnight break. Now he’s back and will be looking to extend that run of form that included a top-10 finish at the Scottish Open.
He’s still looking for his breakthrough DP World Tour win and this might just be the week on a course where his length will give him a slight advantage.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
Bit of a mixed bag field here playing on a golf course that does the opposite of Sedgefield, but that doesn't mean my man ESPEN KOFSTAD won't be up for it this week.
Missed the cut last week to end a run of top-20s that included two stateside, this bloke can flat out play, has a great story and takes his chance to earn wider acclaim in Wales.
Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
He’s been on the golf roller coaster the past couple of years but came within a whisker of victory last week and will go one better this week.
He’s also the featured guest on an upcoming episode of our podcast, The Thing About Golf, so go EDDIE PEPPERELL.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
Doesn’t quite fit the three-letter theme I’m rolling here, but FILIPPO CELLI is a headline writer’s dream whose letter count is only just over three (for all the old sub-editors and compositors out there – yeah, I see you!).
Celli is still an amateur – the low one, at that, as silver medallist at St Andrews recently – and, by my admittedly dodgy research, is yet to miss a cut in top-level professional events. Has a wise head on young shoulders and I want to be the first to get on this bandwagon among this rabble.
Brendan James – Golf Australia Editor
Korea’s BIO KIM can nudge his way closer to the world top-100 with a victory in Jakarta.
Four top-10s and a win since February make him one of the form players in Asia at the moment and I expect he’ll be there when the whips start cracking on Sunday afternoon.
JIMMY EMANUEL – Golf Australia Deputy & Digital Editor
Despite my earlier challenge to his words, Rod does actually know a thing or two, and it is evidenced in his tip below mine for this one.
TODD SINNOTT is a magnificent player who has had a terrible run when trying to establish himself in the pro game.
Tricky course for the big hitting Victorian, but what is arguably most impressive about his play is his short game that gets overlooked due to his prodigous drives. And that will help here as they make the loops of the housing development at a Muirfield but not style of golf course.
Rod Morri – Golf Australia magazine contributor and The Thing About Golf podcast host
There is no shortage of Australians in the field this week at a tournament that has been kind to our players over the years and that happy relationship will continue with TODD SINNOTT getting across the line this week.
Between injury and the pandemic, it has been a lost few years for the former standout amateur but an international victory to go with his TPS Victoria win earlier this year is a logical next step on the road back.
Mark Hayes – Man About Golf
KIM, SIHWAN. Has cooled appreciably after a hot start to the 2022 season, so must lift to maintain his lead in the tour’s order of merit standings. Will find the tighter layout of Pondok Indah to his liking.
So far, our so-called experts have combined to tip 20 winners in 2022, with 131 of their picks recording top-10 finishes that week and a best return of $25 for Matt Fitzpatrick to win the U.S. Open (tipped by Jimmy Emanuel and Rod Morri).