British Open: Who will win - Woods, Westwood or Clarke?

Now that the British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, has gotten going, analysts and predictors are coming up with their opinions as to who is going to win this time - Would Darren Clarke will be able to defend his title or is it either of the Woods: Tiger Woods or Westwood.

The Pundits at BBC have started predicting and picking their winning choices.

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For Ian carter, BBC golf correspondent, Lee Westwood is the choice.

And for Rob Hodgettes, the BBC Sport golf writer, it is the other woods - the Tiger Woods.

Follow the interesting debate at BBC Sport / Golf and let us see whose predicted player wins the British Open this year.

British Open: Can Tiger Woods regain top spot?

Can Tiger Woods regain top spot at British Open? [photo: Pubpepper]

What are the chances of Tiger Woods regaining the top spot he once enjoyed? Can Tiger Woods again be the world’s top golfer with a victory at this week’s British Open, specially after nearly three years of dishonour – a stunning collapse of status, popularity and earning power; a turn as a tabloid luminary; a stint in rehabilitation; a glassy-eyed public apology; leg operations; a divorce; a swing change; and the firing of his coach and his caddie?

Well Montreal Gazette's Bill Pennington thinks so.

Pennington is of the view that despite falling out of the top 50 in the world rankings late last year, Woods has won three PGA Tour events in 2012 and swiftly put himself in sight of the top spot, a position he held for 281 successive weeks from 2005 to 2010. To become the world’s new No. 1, Woods would have to win this week – ending a victory drought in major championships that dates to June 2008 – and the current No. 1, Luke Donald, would have to finish lower than a tie for third.

Read more:Montreal Gazette

Sun shines on British Open

The rain relented and the sun finally shone on Royal Lytham & St. Annes on Wednesday, boosting hopes of an uninterrupted British Open.

However, there's standing water in a half dozen of the 206 bunkers and some greens are softer than expected on the eve of the tournament.

Despite one of Britain's worst summers, organizers said Lytham "is in pretty good shape going forward," especially with forecasters predicting good weather over the weekend.

Read more: Fox News

Squash: Maria progresses at British Open

Maria Toor Pakay on Monday became the first Pakistani woman to qualify for the main rounds of the British Open currently progress at London’s famous O2 Arena.

Maria, who was born in South Waziristan but is now settled in Toronto, defeated England’s Emily Whitlock in an epic encounter in the final qualifying round to make the cut for the main draw.

The left-handed Maria took 46 minutes to oust Whitlock 11/5, 4/11, 8/11, 11/6, 11/7 to earn the right to feature in the main rounds of the prestigious tournament.

Maria is Pakistan’s best-ranked female player. She claimed that honour at just 16. In May 2008, she rose to number 66 in the international rankings — her career-best position to date. Currently she is ranked No 89 in the world. 

Last year, she moved to Canada where former world number one Jonathon Power took her under his wings. Since then Maria has shown substantial progress and is now working hard to make it to the top-25 world rankings.

[ via The News International ]