GOLF: The British Open

Finally, there's a sporting event to compete with baseball for my attention. I have high hopes for a very exicting Open Championship. This year's tournament is hosted by the Royal Liverpool Golf Club on their famed Hoylake course. Can't you just picture an overcast day with a pleasant light wind and a fine mist in the air? Only a frosty Guinness truly completes the image. Good stuff. So today's 1st round coverage of the British Open on TNT from 7:00am-7:00pm is TOTW.

Tiger Woods is always the favorite to win any major. And he'll be defending his title won last year at legendary St. Andrews. But Tiger's play has been shakey this year, including falling below the cut at the US Open. This course is said to be short with narrow fairways. That will keep his driver in the bag (or maybe in the clubhouse) and also deprive Tiger of a major edge he enjoys as a long hitter. Phil Mickelson looks to put memories of the US Open behind him. His first win at the British Open would certainly help. And Lefty is usually solid with his iron play, so he should fair well at Hoylake if he can make putts. But it might be too soon for Phil to forget about that amazing double-bogey collapse at the 72nd hole at Winged Foot.

Beyond the top guns, the tourney is wide open. I'm expecting Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk to make runs at the top of the leaderborad. Both have enjoyed solid 2006 seasons. And the local favorite will surely be Colin Montgomery. After many years as a heel, Monty has achieved the status of a lovable loser. For all his success in Europe, he's never won a major. But Monty finished 2nd at St. Andrews in 2005 and looked great in finishing 2nd last month at Winged Foot. I wouldn't be surprised to see the guy who looks like Mrs Doubtfire finally win his first Open at age 46.

My pick: Vijay Singh. I picked Vijay to win the US Open and he was in contention all weekend. So I'll try the pick one more time. Maybe Vij isn't at the top of his game anymore, but he's still in great shape and plays beautiful golf when healthy.

And here's a strong contender for the major championship of being the sexiest female athlete in the world, LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis.