British Open – McIlory, Tiger and…John Daly?

Some players are still on the course. Heck, some players haven’t even teed off, but it really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mater because he stage has already been set for this year’s British Open at the famous Old Course at St Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

Oh, sure, Martin Kaymer, the young German sensation still has to tee off and Edoardo Molinari, who won the Scottish Open last week, hasn’t lifted his driver out of his bag. Graeme McDowell and Phil Mickelson haven’t gotten close to starting on the back 9 yet, but, again, it just doesn’t matter.

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It doesn’t matter because either one of two things is going to happen from the end of Thursday, unless the golfing gods are laughing at us once again, to the end of Sunday at St. Andrews. Either Tiger Woods will once again prove himself to be the best golfer in the world or Rory McIlroy, he who missed the cut at both the Masters and U.S. Open earlier this year and the heir apparent to Tiger’s crown, will run away with the Open Championship.

It could be 1997 all over again but instead of Augusta National it’s St. Andrews. Instead of a mixed Thai/African-American it could be a curly-haired cherub faced boy from Ireland.

What about Justin Rose who came into this after winning 2 out of the last 3 PGA Tour Events? He finished his 1 st round at a respectable -2. Padraig Harrington? He entered the clubhouse at +1. Ernie Els? The giant South African shot a -3.

Those aren’t bad scores. Not bad at all, but Tiger and Rory are the story and will probably remain the story well into Sunday. Tiger shot a -5. That’s a 67 on the Old Course and usually a score like that would send shockwaves throughout the British Isles, but in this case it became nothing more than a secondary blip on the massive European golfing screen.

That’s because Rory McIlroy shot an amazing, alarmingly awesome, -9. The people who need to be alarmed are Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood and every golfer on the planet. McIlroy, who finished 2 nd in the Race To Dubai, the Euro Tour’s version of the FedEx Cup, in 2009, has suffered through back problems for most of 2010. There were flashes of brilliance earlier this year, like the 62 he shot in the 4 th round of the Quail Hollow Championship in May, but nothing like this.

Rory walked off the Old Course with a 63. Many golfing fans expected it. McIlroy entered the 1 st round as a +1400 third choice, after Tiger at +500 and Ernie Els at +1200, in the golf sportsbook. Many sports gamblers, I for one, felt that McIlroy’s immaturity and still stiffening back would lead to his downfall.

That might still happen. I hope it doesn’t. I want to see it. I want to see Tiger Woods, the man who changed golf, battling it out with the Irish wunderkind. I want to see the master against the natural.

Woods vs. McIlroy should be the story on Sunday, but one thing might stand in its way. John Daly, golfing’s version of the crazy drunk uncle who lives in the attic, shot a -6 to put himself into 2 nd place behind McIlory. Daly, most likely, will fall totally out of it after tomorrow’s 2 nd round, but if Big John could muster something out of that bloated, ravaged, frame of his, then who knows?

Heck, put him into the mix to! Daly, Tiger and Rory battling it out for St. Andrews’ glory! Can you think of a more awesome Sunday?