2010 British Open Predictions: The start of the 139th Open Championship is just a few hours from getting underway as the first group is scheduled to hit the tee box at St. Andrews Links at 1:30am ET Thursday morning. While the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Rory McIlroy stand a good chance to win this weekend, there is still a solid crop of senior players competing in the tournament, and, as Tom Watson showed last year, they occasionally have an ace up their sleeve. 2010 British Open Predictions at Bodog.com have posted odds on the top senior player at this year's event; not surprisingly, the aforementioned Watson is listed as a 9 to 4 favorite to finish ahead of his counterparts.
Tom Watson is no stranger to British Open success having won golf's oldest major on five separate occasions. The Kansas 
City native recorded victories in 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, and 1983. While the eight time major winner's best golfing days are behind him, he proved last year at Turnberry that the older generation can still keep pace with the young bucks.
Watson shot a two under par 278 for the tournament and finished second to Stewart Cink after falling apart in a playoff. The 60 year old Stanford graduate shot a 65 in the opening round and led the tournament after two rounds of play with a 36 hole score of 135.
Watson finished 18th at the Masters in April and 29th at the U.S. Open in mid-June; he has three top 10 finishes in four Champions Tour events this season.
Also included in Bodog's top senior player odds are former British Open Champions Tom Lehman, Mark Calcavecchia, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, and Nick Faldo. The five players have combined to win seven Open Championships, with three of those victories belonging to Faldo. The 52 year old Englishman won the event in 1987, 1990 (St. Andrews), and 1992. Faldo might be a bit rusty, though, having not played in any tournaments this year. He missed the cut at Turnberry last July with a seven over par 151.
Lehman, who is listed at 3 to 1 odds to best his cohorts, has missed the cut twice in five PGA events this year, including the U.S. Open last month. The 51 year old Minnesota native, who won the 1996 British Open, does have four top five Champions Tour finishes this season (six events), though. He also won the Senior PGA Championship in late May at the Colorado Golf Club.
Bodog.com 2010 British Open Predictions: Top Senior Player at the Open Championship
Tom Watson 9/4
Tom Lehman 3/1
Mark Calcavecchia 13/2
Tom Pernice 8/1
Loren Roberts 8/1
Mark O'Meara 10/1
Peter Senior 14/1
Sandy Lyle 16/1
Nick Faldo 25/1
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