From favorites to party crashers, the 2022 Open at St. Andrews is truly wide open

St. Andrews, Scotland — Amid the chaos lies the winner of the 150th Open. The concoction of contenders at the top of the leaderboard combines players at different stages of their careers, and with mixed expectations and urgency.

There are those looking to end a long wait without a major, or for the world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler — who's in a blockbuster pairing with Dustin Johnson on Saturday — he's chasing a further feat in an already remarkable season. Then there are the home hopes, the first-timers and the group of LIV golfers looking to crash the 150th Open celebrations.

In short — predicting a winner of The Open has rarely been this difficult, or this is exciting.

St. Andrews has seen some fine battles over the years — and there are reminders everywhere from tales of yesteryear on this famous course of the narrow margins between golfing ecstasy with a spot among the greats and those infamous near-misses.

With the greatest respect, no one wants to be grouped with a Doug Sanders or a Costantino Rocca come Sunday — those were the poor players who saw victory ebb away at the vital moment when they had one hand on the Claret Jug.

Before the tournament started, Rory McIlroy said it would be «better for the game» if the winner was not from the LIV breakaway series. The CEO of the R&A, Martin Slumbers, tried to stay diplomatic in his pre-tournament news conference Wednesday when asked whether he agreed it'd better if he wasn't handing the Claret Jug to someone from that group of players, saying: «Whoever wins on Sunday is going to have their name carved in history. And I'll welcome them onto the 18th green. This is a golf tournament.»

But this closely followed him earlier saying LIV was «harming the perception of the sport.»