And the British Open winner is …

The British Open kicks off in just a few hours, but it wouldn’t be a true major championship without our picks. With so many names having a good shot at this Claret Jug, our experts looked deep into the field to see who they really think will walk away on Sunday the champion golfer of the year.

Jay Hart — Did you know Ian Poulter is 38? He’s one of those never-won-a-major guys who you think will get one, only he’s 38 now and time is running out. Should he win this weekend? No way, not with a buggy wrist and certainly not on a course where he missed the cut the last time The Open was held there. But because he should have won one by now and hasn’t, I’m picking him to win when he shouldn’t. Plus, I love his pants.

Kevin Kaduk — The Swede will open play in the spotlight as part of Tiger’s group but Henrik Stenson will finish it all alone as he finally breaks through to win his first major. Stenson finished T-4 at Pinehurst and T-14 at Masters. He has three top-five finishes at The Open in his career, including a runnerup to Phil Mickelson last year. This time, though, he gets it done.

Jay Busbee — It’s time. Henrik Stenson is 38, which surprised the heck out of me, but with age comes (hopefully) some wisdom … and, not coincidentally, most of the recent winners of the Open Championship have been on the graying side of the ledger. Stenson has placed in the top four in three of the past four majors, and the fourth, Augusta, he tied for 14th. Not a bad run, and everything is setting up for him to claim his first major.

Shane Bacon — Nobody on the planet is playing the type of golf that we’re seeing from Justin Rose over the last few weeks. Rose won at Congressional while most of the attention was on the return of Tiger Woods, and made it two-for-two with his win on Sunday at the Scottish Open. Rose has the confidence going right now that you need to win multiple tournaments in a row, but he knows how important it is to snag a Claret Jug when you can, and I think this is the week he does it.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports