FanHouse RoryMcIlroy

The list of players, both young and old, who would challenge Tiger Woods is a lengthy one. Thirteen years after Woods turned pro, we're still waiting.

Phil Mickelson has always been in the conversation, but names like Charles Howell and David Gossett were gone faster than they came. Sergio Garcia was the clear choice in the late '90s and early '00s, but 10 years after bursting on the scene at the '99 PGA Championship as a 19-year-old phenom, he's still searching for his first major victory. Real life sidetracked David Duval, also a legit threat to Tiger's legacy around the time of Garcia's emergence.

And now, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and Andreas Romero are often mentioned as likely candidates to unseat the world's best player.

Camilo Villegas is currently 4-under, good for second place at the Open Championship, one shot behind 59-year-old Tom Watson. It's early in Round 1 (at least on the East Coast; it's mid-afternoon in Scotland), but Villegas' Thursday 66 is noteworthy because, well, I picked him to win this week.

Actually, Camilo was my non-Tiger choice, but that's only because I'm not contrarian enough to pick against the best player in the galaxy when he's in the field. Whatever, as far as I'm concerned, it counts.

While Tiger Woods struggled his way around Turnberry, Villegas is in the clubhouse after an impressive round that started slowly -- a bogey on No. 1 -- and then got rolling. He went out in even par, but closed with three consecutive birdies, four in his final five holes.

You'll never believe this, I'm sure, but the favorite to win the 2009 British Open at Turnberry (starts Thursday, OMG, so excited!!!) is Tiger Woods. Go figure, right?

But it's not just that Tiger is favored so much as it is that he's getting the "05 Tiger at the Masters Treatment" really. Because, as you can see from our good friends at BoDog, he's the only guy even remotely near single digit numbers when talking about the odds to win; you can tell from the top five favorites:

In an effort to keep our golf visitors well informed on what is going on around the Internet, Range Balls is our weekly link dump. Every Tuesday during golf season, we will toss out some of the most interesting things we came across. If you have a tip, e-mail us at fanhousegolf@gmail.com. Enjoy the links.

-- You know what happens when you let a golf blogger lose on the grounds of an LPGA event with a camera and the always entertaining Christina Kim? Magic. Pure, Incredible, magic. [Wei Under Par]

Oh, Rory. Just when you were starting to make people in the golf world gush over your curls and incredibly powerful golf swing, you go and do this. You have the PGA Tour and European Tour giving you whatever you want to play in their events, and you sit around dogging the Ryder Cup, calling it an exhibition. You can't do that because it bothers people. And by people, I mean golfers, and by golfers, I mean Colin Montgomerie.

Working as a golf writer online, there are basically two rules you should know. First, anything Tiger Woods does is worth posting. Second, if isn't about Tiger, you damn well better mention the guy, because page views feed the kids, and Tiger equals page views.

The interesting part about that is, people get upset about it. "Why are you talking about Tiger?!" "Why not mention the leaders?"

As a golf fan first and writer second, I find myself reacting that same way to the television coverage. As I'm viewing the Players Championship right now, Tiger is seven shots back of the leader, Alex Cejka, yet we have seen every single swing Tiger has made. At that same time, I haven't seen but a handful of Ian Poulter shots, and he sits in second place alone.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

It wasn't supposed to be Sean O'Hair's week. This was about Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, jumping up the leaderboard on Thursday and sticking there until the last putt dropped. This was supposed to be Augusta continued. This wasn't supposed to be the week for a 26-year-old to finally cash in after five top-10 finishes in 2009.

The thing is, O'Hair's talent knows no bounds, and the guy that once had to run miles for each bogey he made is quietly becoming the best young golfer on tour. Sure, he's not flashy like Anthony Kim or as hopeful as Rory McIlroy, but this win was O'Hair's third of his career during a week at Quail Hollow that had one of the toughest non-major fields of the year.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Gay Crushes Field in Harbour Town -- One of the strange things about tournament golf is how people can navigate a golf course in totally different ways (big drives, short shots, putts, chips, bunker play), yet still finish 72 holes with a score that is nearly identical to others' rounds (see last week's Masters).

That was not the case on Sunday. Brian Gay, playing in his 330th event as a PGA Tour member, put a beat-down on the post-Masters field; a beat-down the likes of which had never managed done before at the Verizon Heritage.

Tiger Woods has a history of slow starts at the Masters. In 1997, his first trip to Augusta National as a professional, he fired an opening-round 70 that included a front-nine 40. He won by 12 shots.