Jordan Spieth reckons the Open championship is the easiest major to win because bad weather can take half the field out of the running for the Claret Jug.
The 23-year-old, who won the Masters and the US Open in 2015, claimed victory on his last outing before this week’s Open championship with a play-off success at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Spieth’s best finish at the Open was the tied-fourth place he achieved two years ago but the Dallas golfer believes luck plays a huge part in deciding the eventual winner of the Claret Jug.
He said: “It could be anybody this week.
“At this tournament the draw can cut half the field, sometimes it is more or less 75 per cent.
“Most of the time there’s at least a group that gets the worst weather and it’s almost impossible to win the Open in those circumstances.
“There is nothing you can do apart from keep your head down, play as well as you can and see what happens after two days.
“This is my fifth Open and I have seen a bit of everything in the previous four years.
“It may be the easiest of the majors to win, if you had to pick a major, just because the draw can take out half a field.
“But the type of golf you have to play is totally different than what we see in the other three majors as it requires a lot of imagination and ball-flight control.
“I’m not saying it’s easy based on competition or anything like that, I’m strictly saying that because a lot of the time some of the field is thrown out and you’re actually playing against a smaller field your percentage chances go up.”
Spieth looked set to dominate world golf after his incredible 2015 season when he finished no worse than fourth in any of golf’s main four events and claimed two victories.
But, after a relatively disappointing 2016 by comparison, the Ryder Cup player believes his game is heading back in the right direction.
When asked if he is a better golfer now than in 2015, he replied: “In certain places.
“I haven’t been making as many putts as I did that year but I am striking the ball better than I did in ’15.
“I’ve actually been in better positions tee to green than I was that year.
“If I putted the same as ‘15 I’d be having a better year right now but it’s hard to do.
“I was in the top three or top five in strokes gained through putting in ’15 and ’16, and this year we’re just a little down but we’re close.
“Last year I was pretty caught in 2015 and this year I’m not.
“Hopefully we can have another one or two years like 2015 but as long as we keep trying to improve each part of the game and stick to the process then we will get the results we want.”