THE OPEN PREVIEW he has been guilty of anything in 2013 it it trying too hard .
Form is temporary , but in McIlroy ' s case class is permanent . And there is no more classy golfer in the world . In saying all of that , if the wind gets up , you can discount him because he hits the ball so high .
And what of Els , who is the defending champion ? His victory last year surprised everybody and owed a great deal to Adam Scott ' s collapse during the final five holes , but Ernie has been in decent form all year . Much of it has been under the radar , but he wasn ' t far off the mark at Merion and he recently won in Germany . Despite his continued
use of the belly putter , the big man from South Africa remains suspect on fast greens , but he will find the surfaces at Muirfield more to his liking than anything he came across at the US Open , and for that reason he should be in contention from start to finish .
I will be keeping a close eye on the Italian sensation Matteo Manassero , who truly came of age when winning the BMW PGA championship at Wentworth . The Italian youngster has it all . Most important of all , he has the temperament to take the good and the bad in his stride .
Forget his tender years . If you are good enough , then age doesn ' t
come into the equation . And Manassero is good enough . He is a great each-way bet , and you will probably get him at odds of around 80-1 , which is quite laughable .
Picking a winner for any major championship is well nigh impossible but the odds on a first-time champion are slim . Muirfield has a reputation for producing great champions - Jack Nicklaus , Tom Watson , Faldo , Walter Hagen , Harry Vardon and Els all fall into that category and it is a safe bet that it will be a household name who is holding the Claret Jug aloft when the final putt has been holed .
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