By Matthew Kersey
Don Best Sports

The 137th British Open returns to Royal Birkdale for the first time in a decade. The focus for the 2008 British Open championship should be on the players in the field, but the focus has shifted to those who won't be.

The top ranked player in the world, Tiger Woods, is out for the rest of the year recovering from his second knee surgery of the year and the defending British Open Champion, Padraig Harrington, is nursing a sore right wrist. Luke Donald was forced to withdraw Friday due to a sore left wrist and Kenny Perry, in a rather odd decision, has decided to fulfill his prior commitment and will play in the US Bank Championship instead. With so many of the top players out or injured this major championship is truly up for grabs.

Harrington insists he will be ready to go Thursday, but the question still remains, how will his sore wrist affect his play? Harrington had to cut his practice round short Tuesday after only finishing nine holes and didn't hit any shots from the rough. Wednesday, Harrington only got two holes in before his caddie, Ronan Flood, attempted to shut him down for the day following an approach to the green which left Harrington wincing in pain. After consulting his medical staff he returned to the course for some additional preparation.

Harrington is determined to play this week, but don't be surprised to see a "WD" next to Padraig's name by the weekend.

The hottest player in golf right now, Kenny Perry, will be playing competitive golf this weekend, but not where you may think. Perry will be playing in Milwaukee at the US Bank Championship. He made a commitment to play at this event prior to the start of the season and has decided to stick by his controversial decision.

Perry has won three of the last seven Tour events he has played in and may have been the favorite had he entered this tournament. Despite all of this and the criticism from the media, Perry's focus is on playing his way into the Ryder Cup and not in the British Open.

With this depleted field it may seem difficult to pick a winner, but there may be a few golfers to take a long look at before placing any bets.

Sergio Garcia is the early favorite and after falling just short of the Open Championship last year, losing to Harrington in a playoff. This may just be the year where he captures his first major championship.

Justin Leonard is another golfer who you may want to take a look at, as his low-flying draw sets him up perfectly for success at Royal Birkdale.

Anthony Kim, Trevor Immelman, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, and Geoff Oglivy all have a legitimate chance to win this major championship as well.

Stay away from Phil Mickelson who has only two top ten finishes in fifteen Open Championships. Mickelson also hits the ball much too high and should struggle with the narrow fairways and turbulent winds that await him at Birkdale.

Check out our golf odds.